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Scarlet Beef

A salted brisket served stewed with savoy cabbage, onion, cloves, ham, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Scarlet Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Rub the brisket with saltpetre and let it sit for 24 hours.

  2. Rub it well with common salt and let it sit for 8 days.

Serve

  1. Serve with savoy cabbage, onion, cloves, ham, and vinegar, stewed together.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Cabbage + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together933 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cabbage + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Brisket of beef
The main cut that is cured and then cooked until tender.
Saltpetre
Helps cure the meat, keeping it pink and firm during the long salting.
Common salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it through the curing period.
Savoy cabbage
Adds bulk and a mild, slightly sweet vegetable flavour to the stew.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and sweetness as it softens in the stew.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the rich, salty meat and cabbage.

The step that matters

Rub it well with common salt. Salt must reach evenly through the thick cut over the full curing time; uneven rubbing leaves patches under-salted or spoiled. Saltpetre and salt together keep the meat safe and firm during the 8-day cure.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cabbage, onion, ham, vinegar):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Pepperfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cabbage, onion, ham, vinegar. 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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