Skip to main content
Main

Dutch Beef

A cured beef prepared by rubbing with brown sugar, saltpetre, and sea salt, then pressing and drying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Beef and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,435 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Dutch Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Cut the fat off the beef.

  2. Rub the lean part all over with brown sugar.

  3. Let it sit in a pan for 2-3 hours, turning it occasionally.

Cure

  1. Salt the beef with saltpetre and coarse sea salt.

  2. Let it sit for a fortnight, turning it daily.

Press and dry

  1. Roll it tightly in a coarse cloth.

  2. Press it in a cheese press for 1 day and night.

  3. Hang it to dry in a warm place.

Cook

  1. When ready to cook, boil it in a cloth until tender.

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Buttock of beef
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and sliceable when cooked.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and helps flavour the surface of the meat during the initial rub.
Saltpetre
Helps cure the meat and gives it its characteristic pink colour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the beef during curing.

The step that matters

Turning the beef during the fortnight cure. Salt and cure penetrate unevenly, so turning the meat daily keeps the brine and cure distributed and prevents spoilage on any one side.

“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.

You might also like

Roast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCorned BeefCorned Beef87 recipesBeef BrothBeef Broth67 recipes