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Potted Beef

A preserved beef mixture packed in jars, seasoned with salt, mustard, pepper, cayenne, clove, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Potted Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the beef

  1. Place the beef in a small covered stone jar and set the jar in a saucepan of boiling water.

  2. Boil for four hours.

  3. Remove the beef from the water and let it cool.

Make the paste

  1. Chop the beef finely, then pound the chopped beef smooth in a mortar.

  2. Season the paste with salt, mustard, pepper, cayenne, and clove if desired.

  3. Add the gravy that ran out and melted butter, and mix well.

Pot and steam

  1. Pack the mixture into small stone or earthen jars and press the meat down firmly in each jar.

  2. Place the jars in a steamer and steam for one hour.

  3. Cover with a thin layer of melted butter.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Mustard + clovetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Provides the main protein that becomes tender and forms the spreadable paste.
Melted butter
Adds richness and moisture, and its top layer seals the jars against air.
Made mustard
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the beef and butter.

The step that matters

Press the meat down firmly in each jar. Pressing removes air pockets so the paste packs densely and holds together when chilled and sliced or spooned out.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mustard, pepper, butter):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mustard, pepper, butter. 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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