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Beef

A beef dish pickled in a spice brine, then baked with fat until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pickle

  1. Combine the salt, sugar, whole pepper, long pepper, mace, allspice, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, basil, and white savory in 3 pints of water.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes. Skim.

  3. Let cool.

Cure the beef

  1. Rub the beef with a little salt.

  2. Place the beef in the pickle.

  3. Let the beef marinate in the pickle for 2 weeks.

  4. Turn the beef.

  5. Rub the beef often.

Bake and drain

  1. Place 1 quart of cold water and some suet or beef dripping in a large stewpan.

  2. Add the beef.

  3. Cover it with fat.

  4. Place a plate on top.

  5. Bake for 6 hours.

  6. Turn the meat halfway through.

  7. Let it drain as it cools.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Marjoram + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Allspice + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  5. Allspice + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Is the main food being preserved; the pickle and long cure penetrate and firm its texture.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping preserve it during the long cure.
Moist sugar
Balances the saltiness and adds a mild sweetness to the cured flavour.
Beef dripping or suet
Covers the meat during baking, sealing out air and keeping it moist.

The step that matters

Keeping the beef submerged and turned during the cure. Salt and spices penetrate unevenly if parts of the meat sit exposed or unturned, so some areas may cure poorly or spoil. Regular turning and rubbing keep the brine in contact with all surfaces.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, allspice, thyme, marjoram, basil, beef):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Rosemaryfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, allspice, thyme, marjoram, basil, beef. 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.

More pickled beef recipes

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