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Beef, Spiced

A spiced beef roast soaked in port wine and vinegar, then roasted with a forcemeat filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Port wine and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 598 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Beef, Spiced

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the inside of the sirloin in ⅓ cup port wine and ⅓ cup vinegar for 2 days.

  2. Prepare the forcemeat and spread it on the meat.

  3. Bind the meat securely.

Roast

  1. Roast the meat before a clear fire, basting with a mixture of ⅓ cup port wine and ⅓ cup vinegar.

  2. Cook until done, baste regularly.

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. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Port wine + allspicetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together400 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Inside of sirloin
Forms the main body of the roast, which holds its shape when bound and cooked.
Port wine
Adds moisture and sweetness, and its acidity helps tenderize the meat during soaking.
Vinegar
Its acidity helps tenderize the meat during the long soak and adds tang.
Forcemeat
Adds a moist, flavorful stuffing layer that keeps the lean roast juicy as it cooks.
Pounded allspice
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavor to the meat and forcemeat.

The step that matters

Soak the sirloin for 2 days. The acidic port and vinegar mixture slowly penetrates the surface and softens muscle fibers, so the full two-day soak is needed for even tenderizing and flavor.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, 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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