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Pressed Beef

Pressed Beef is a cured beef prepared by brining, simmering, and pressing under weight.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,866 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Pressed Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut off the bones from the brisket of beef.

  2. Salt the beef, adding a little sal prunella to the brine and some spices.

  3. Let the beef pickle for about a week.

Cook and press

  1. Roll the beef and tie it in a cloth.

  2. Simmer gently in plenty of water for about 7 hours if whole, or 4 hours for the thin end.

  3. Remove the beef from the water.

  4. Take off the string and tie the cloth at both ends.

  5. Place the beef on a dish with another dish on top and weigh it down with 50 pounds.

  6. Let it cool completely.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cold, remove the meat from the cloth.

  2. Trim the meat.

  3. Glaze lightly.

  4. Serve garnished with fresh parsley.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brisket of beef
Main cut of meat that becomes tender and firm after slow simmering and pressing.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the meat and draws out moisture during the long pickling period.

The step that matters

Pressing the cooled beef. Weighing the beef down while it cools compresses the muscle fibres so the meat holds together when sliced. Cooling fully under pressure sets its shape and texture.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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