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Baked Beef

A 20‑to‑26‑lb rump of beef seasoned with pepper, allspice, cloves, mace, suet, and flour paste, baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Baked Beef

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the beef

  1. Rub the beef with black pepper, allspice, ground cloves, and mace.

  2. Hang the beef for 2 to 3 weeks, keeping it dry and renewing the seasoning occasionally.

  3. Wash off the spices with port wine.

  4. Lard the beef by inserting large pieces of suet throughout.

  5. Place shredded suet under and over the beef.

  6. Cover the beef with coarse flour-and-water paste.

  7. Add bay leaves or sweet herbs if desired.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderately heated oven (350°F/175°C) for 6 to 8 hours, depending on size.

  2. Baste the joint, sprinkle with salt and flour, and pass a salamander over it.

  3. If serving hot, remove the dough, bay leaves, and suet.

  4. If serving cold, leave the dough on until ready to serve.

  5. Serve with strong gravy or brown sauce.

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef rump
Forms the large central joint that becomes tender and juicy during long, slow baking.
Suet
Adds fat that bastes the meat from inside and outside, keeping it moist during long cooking.
Black pepper
Contributes sharp, warm aroma and flavour to the outer layer of the beef.
Flour-and-water paste
Forms a sealed crust that traps moisture and protects the meat during long baking.

The step that matters

Hanging the beef. Hanging for two to three weeks lets natural enzymes slowly soften muscle fibres and deepen flavour. Keeping the joint dry prevents spoilage, so the meat stays sound while it ages.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, allspice, clove, port wine, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, allspice, clove, port wine, flour. 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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