Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
To Corn Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the beef
Remove the bone from the beef and rub it with common salt; let it sit for 1-2 days.
Mix the saltpeter, brown sugar, black pepper, coarse sea salt, cloves, nutmeg, and common salt together.
Rub the mixture thoroughly into the beef and let it cure for 2 weeks, turning it daily.
Hang the beef in a dry place and smoke it if possible.
Cook
To cook, boil gently or bake in a deep dish covered with dough.
For stewing, add just enough water to barely cover the meat and simmer for 4-6 hours.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Nutmeg + beeftop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,495 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Forms the meat that is cured, then cooked until tender.
- Saltpeter
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured beef its characteristic pink color.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during curing.
- Common salt
- Seasons the beef and draws out moisture during curing.
The step that matters
Turning the beef daily during the 2-week cure. Salt and curing agents penetrate unevenly if the meat is left in one position. Turning it redistributes the brine and cure so every part of the beef cures evenly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, nutmeg, beef):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, nutmeg, beef. 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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