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Preserve

To Preserve Beef

A method for preserving beef using a salt and molasses brine with saltpetre and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

To Preserve Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Let the beef get thoroughly cold and firm.

  2. Rub salt into the beef and let it remain for 24 hours to draw off the blood.

  3. Drain the beef.

Make the brine

  1. Prepare the brine by boiling the water with salt, saltpetre, cayenne pepper, and molasses.

  2. Skim the brine well and let it cool.

  3. Boil the brine occasionally and skim off any scum.

Cure the beef

  1. Pour the cooled brine over the beef and keep it in this until ready for use.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Pepper + molassestop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together897 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Beef + molassestop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together606 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Is the meat being cured, so it firms and takes on the brine's flavour and colour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and blood from the meat and seasons it during curing.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its pink colour during long curing.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and helps balance the salty, spiced brine.

The step that matters

Skim the brine well and let it cool. Skimming removes coagulated proteins and scum that would spoil the brine's clarity and flavour. Cooling the brine before pouring it over the beef keeps the meat from partly cooking and warming into unsafe temperatures.

“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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