Why it works: Meat and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 34% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,866 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
How to Pickle Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Pound the saltpetre and brown sugar into a powder and rub it into the meat.
Dissolve enough coarse sea salt in water to cover the meat, then boil and skim the brine.
Cool the brine and pour it over the meat in a pickling tub.
Cure the meat
For four days, remove the meat from the brine daily, rub in the saltpetre and sugar, and return it to the brine.
After four days, turn the meat daily in the brine for ten days.
The meat will be ready to smoke for eight days or can be kept as corned meat.
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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Meat + sugartop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,866 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Meat
- The main cut that the brine and cure penetrate and transform into corned meat.
- Saltpetre
- Helps keep the meat pink and cured-looking during the long brining period.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the meat and draws moisture out while the brine penetrates the cut.
- Brown sugar
- Adds a mild sweetness that balances the salt in the cure.
The step that matters
Turning the meat daily in the brine. The brine must reach every part of the meat evenly over many days. Skipping the daily turning can leave parts under-cured or uneven in colour and flavour.
“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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