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Hamburg Beef, Smoked

A method of smoking beef from Hamburg using salt, pepper, cloves, and saltpetre over 14 to 12 days.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove 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 ↓

Hamburg Beef, Smoked

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Rub a little common salt and coarse sea salt into the beef and let it sit for 2 to 3 days, turning it frequently.

  2. Drain and wipe the meat.

  3. Mix together the common salt, coarse sea salt, saltpetre, black pepper, and pounded cloves.

  4. Rub this mixture thoroughly into the beef and turn it every day for 14 days.

Smoke and serve

  1. After 14 days, drain the beef, roll it tightly in a cloth, and smoke it for 10 to 12 days.

  2. It can be cooked whole or in pieces.

  3. If boiled whole, press it under a weight until cold.

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. Pepper + clovetop 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 rump or ribs
Forms the meat that firms and holds its shape as it cures and smokes.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives it the characteristic cured colour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during curing.
Common salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during curing.

The step that matters

Turning the beef during the cure. Salt and curing mixture must reach all parts of the meat evenly. Turning it regularly keeps the cure in contact with every surface, so the curing is uniform and no area is left under-salted.

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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