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To Preserve Dripping

A method for preserving beef dripping by repeated boiling, straining, and cooling with spices and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

To Preserve Dripping

Ingredients

Directions

Clarify the dripping

  1. Boil the beef dripping in soft water.

  2. Strain the dripping into a pan.

  3. Let the strained dripping cool.

  4. Remove the hard fat from the cooled dripping.

  5. Scrape off the gravy from the remaining liquid.

  6. Repeat this process eight times.

  7. Once cold and hard, remove the dripping from the water.

Flavour and pot

  1. In a large saucepan, combine the dripping with bay leaves, cloves, salt, and pepper.

  2. Melt the fat.

  3. Strain the melted fat through a sieve into a stone pot.

  4. Let the contents cool completely.

Seal and store

  1. Cover the pot.

  2. Store the pot upside down to prevent contamination.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Beef + clovetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef dripping
Fat that sets firm as it cools, forming the solid body of the preserve.
Bay leaves
Add a herbal aroma that infuses the melted fat.
Cloves
Add a warm, spicy aroma to the melted fat.
Whole pepper
Adds a sharp, aromatic note to the fat.

The step that matters

Let the contents cool completely before covering the pot. Covering warm fat traps steam, and the moisture that condenses can encourage spoilage. Full cooling lets the fat set firm and dry before it is sealed.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper):

  1. Rosemaryfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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