Why it works: Beef and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,435 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Preserved Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the brine
Mix the salt, saltpetre, baking soda, sugar, and water together well.
Pack the barrel
Sprinkle the bottom of a barrel with some of the salt mixture.
Place the beef in the barrel, adding a little salt between each layer.
Pour the brine over the beef and place a weight on top to keep it submerged.
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.
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Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,435 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- The main protein that the salt and brine cure and preserve.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, slowing spoilage.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's pink color and inhibits bacterial growth during curing.
- Sugar
- Balances the saltiness and softens the harshness of the cure.
The step that matters
Keeping the beef submerged under the brine. Meat that rises above the brine can spoil at the exposed surface, so the weight must hold every piece fully covered for the cure to work evenly.
“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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