Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Meat Cure
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Cut the meat into strips, removing all fat and gristle.
Mince the meat at least twice.
Make the mixture
In a saucepan, beat the minced meat with cold water or skimmed beef tea until it reaches a creamy consistency.
Use 1 teaspoon of liquid for every 8 teaspoons of meat pulp.
Add black pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Cook and serve
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 1.5 hours until the mixture is hot and the red color disappears.
Serve hot, optionally adding a softly poached egg white for the first few meals.
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 + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Slices of steak from the top of the round
- Provides the lean meat that forms the body and flavor of the cured meat.
- Cold water or skimmed beef tea
- Adds moisture so the minced meat becomes a creamy, spreadable mixture.
The step that matters
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Low heat and constant stirring cook the mixture gently and evenly, so it heats through without scorching or drying out while the red color disappears.
“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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