Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
To Pickle Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Mix salt and water until it can support an egg.
In a large container, combine 2 buckets of water, 1 pint of molasses, 2 pounds of brown sugar, and 6 ounces of saltpetre.
Skim the mixture well before adding the beef.
Pickle the beef
Allow the beef to pickle for 3 weeks.
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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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and sets its pinkish colour.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the brine.
- Molasses
- Adds deep flavour and dark colour to the brine.
The step that matters
Skim the brine well before adding the beef. Skimming removes scum and impurities that rise to the surface of the mixture. Leaving them in can spoil the flavour and cloud the brine during the long pickling period.
“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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