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To Collar Beef

A cured brisket prepared by seasoning, marinating, and baking in a sealed jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

To Collar Beef

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Cut off the end of the brisket.

  2. Bone the brisket.

  3. Sprinkle the meat with coarse sea salt and saltpetre.

  4. Let the meat sit for a week.

Season and roll

  1. Mix together nutmeg, Jamaica pepper, black pepper, lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, and parsley.

  2. Strew the mixture over the meat.

  3. Roll the meat tightly.

  4. Sew the meat in a cloth.

Cook and finish

  1. Place the meat in a large jar of water.

  2. Tie the jar closely.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  4. Remove the meat from the jar.

  5. Press the meat with a heavy weight.

  6. Once the meat is cold, remove the cloth.

  7. Keep the meat dry.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beef brisket
Forms the main body of the dish, and its lean and fatty layers become tender and sliceable when cooked slowly.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it deeply, helping to preserve it during the resting week.
Saltpetre
Works with the salt as a curing agent, helping preserve the meat and giving it a pink colour.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, sweet aromatic notes that spread through the meat after the spice mixture is rubbed on.
Jamaica pepper
Contributes a warm, clove-like aroma that rounds out the spice blend.
Lemon thyme
Adds a bright, citrusy herbal aroma that lifts the rich flavour of the beef.

The step that matters

Let the meat sit for a week. Salt and saltpetre preserve meat by drawing out moisture and slowing bacterial growth. The cure needs time to penetrate the thick cut, so skipping or shortening the rest leaves the centre under-seasoned and less well preserved.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, lemon, thyme, marjoram, parsley):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, lemon, thyme, marjoram, parsley. 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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