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Potted Beef

A preserved beef dish made by brining, baking, and sealing in clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cure the beef

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

  2. Let it sit in a pan for 2 days, basting daily with the brine.

  3. Place the beef in an earthenware jar with the skin and gristle. Add water. Cover with stiff paste.

  4. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 4 hours.

  5. After baking, pour off the gravy for later use.

Make the potted beef

  1. Remove the skin and gristle.

  2. Cut the meat into small pieces. Beat the meat in a mortar.

  3. Add some gravy, fresh butter, and seasonings. Beat until well combined.

  4. Pack the mixture into small pots or tin cans. Press down firmly.

  5. Cover with clarified butter to seal.

  6. Optionally mix in anchovy flesh, minced tongue, ham, mushroom powder, curry powder, shalots, or herbs for added flavor.

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the bulk of the potted meat, giving the finished texture and flavour.
Saltpetre
Cures the meat, helping it keep its pink colour and firm, preserved character.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the curing stage.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat, making the beaten meat smooth and spreadable.
Clarified butter
Forms a sealed top layer that excludes air and helps the potted meat keep.

The step that matters

Pack and press the beaten meat firmly into the pots. Pressing out air pockets before sealing with clarified butter helps prevent spoilage and keeps the texture dense and even.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, clove, pepper, ham):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, clove, pepper, ham. 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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