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Hunter's, or Spiced Beef

A preserved beef seasoned with salt, saltpetre, allspice, black pepper, sugar, and optional herb powder, then boiled or baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hunter's, or Spiced Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cure the beef

  1. Hang the beef for 1 to 2 days.

  2. Rub the beef with a mixture of salt, saltpetre, allspice, black pepper, sugar, and herb powder.

  3. Remove the bone and turn the meat daily for 14 days.

  4. After 14 days, wash the beef with a soft sponge.

Cook the beef

  1. Place the beef in a stewpan and cover it with water.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Simmer the beef for 5 hours.

  4. Let the beef cool in the cooking water.

Bake and serve

  1. For baking, place the beef in a pan with sliced onion and water.

  2. Top the beef with suet.

  3. Cover the beef with a flour and water paste.

  4. Bake the beef at 350°F (175°C) for 6 hours.

  5. Once the beef is cold, remove the crust.

  6. Pour off the gravy for soups and sauces.

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. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Allspice + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef round
Forms the meat that is cured, cooked and sliced for serving.
Saltpetre
Helps the cured meat keep its pink color and firm texture during curing.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the long cure.
Moist sugar
Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cure.
Beef or mutton suet
Covers the meat during baking, adding moisture and richness.

The step that matters

Washing the beef after the cure. The meat has been salted and cured for 14 days, so it must be rinsed well and kept clean before cooking. Gentle washing with a soft sponge removes surface salt and residue without tearing the meat.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, allspice, pepper, sugar. 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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