Name: Corned Beef
Ingredients: 100 pounds beef; 3 pounds brown sugar; 2 ounces saltpetre; brine (enough to cover the meat)

Why it works: Beef and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,533 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Corned Beef

Ingredients

100 pounds beef
3 pounds brown sugar
2 ounces saltpetre
brine (enough to cover the meat)

Directions

Cover the meat with brine strong enough to float an egg for 24 hours.
Remove the meat and wash it in cold water.
Prepare a second brine, slightly weaker, by dissolving brown sugar and saltpetre in water.
Place the meat in the second brine, ensuring it is always covered.
If scum appears, scald and skim the brine, then cool and pour it back.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Beef + meattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Sugar + meattop 34% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,866 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,435 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).