Why it works: Beef and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,435 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Beef Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the beef
Mix the salt, sugar, and saltpeter well together.
Rub the mixture all over the beef and pack the pieces closely in a barrel.
Do not add water; the beef will create its own pickle.
Keep the beef until it is juicy before packing it.
Turn the beef and rub the mixture in often.
Tend the pickle
In warm weather, skim off any scum that rises and add a little fine salt.
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 + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,435 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Is the meat that is cured and firmed by the salt and sugar mixture.
- Sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, helping preserve the beef.
- Sugar
- Balances the salt's sharpness and adds sweetness to the cured meat.
- Saltpeter
- Helps the meat keep its pink color during curing.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture in often. Salt and cure must reach every part of the meat evenly. Turning and rubbing redistributes the mixture, so thick pieces do not stay under-cured or spoil while others are over-salted.
“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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