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Dutch, or Hung Beef

A preserved beef rubbed with saltpetre, sugar, salt, pepper, and treacle, then smoked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Dutch, or Hung Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Mix saltpetre and coarse sugar; rub the mixture all over the beef.

  2. Let the beef sit for 2 days.

  3. Add coarse sea salt, common salt, and ground black pepper; rub thoroughly into the beef.

Finish and smoke

  1. After 4 days, pour treacle over the beef; rub and turn it daily for 2 weeks.

  2. Drain the beef and send it to be smoked.

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. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,435 recipes

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

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
The main cut that is cured, softened and flavoured through the salting and treacle rubbing.
Saltpetre
Helps the cure set the meat's colour and adds preserving action during the long rest.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and carries the cure into the beef, seasoning it deeply.
Treacle
Adds sweetness and a dark colour and flavour to the outside of the beef during curing.

The step that matters

Rubbing and turning the beef daily with treacle. Turning keeps the cure and treacle evenly in contact with every surface, so the salt penetrates evenly and the colour and flavour develop without dry or unevenly cured patches.

“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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