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Pressed Beef

A dish of brisket cured with spices, simmered with vegetables, then pressed into a firm loaf.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,189 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Pressed Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Rub the allspice, mace, and bay leaves into the beef and let it sit overnight.

  2. The next day, cover the beef with cold water and bring it to a boil, skimming off any scum.

  3. If the beef is not too salty, add a little salt to help the scum rise.

Cook

  1. Add the chopped vegetables and herbs tied in muslin to the pot.

  2. Simmer slowly for 3 hours.

  3. Remove the beef and take out the bones.

Press

  1. Shape the beef between two dishes and press it with a heavy weight until completely cold.

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. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Brisket
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and sliceable after slow simmering.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic flavor that penetrates the meat during the overnight rest.
Mace
Contributes a delicate, aromatic spice flavor to the beef.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle herbal aroma to the beef during curing and simmering.

The step that matters

Skimming the scum after the boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing it keeps the broth clear and the flavor clean, so skim as soon as it forms.

“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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