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Baked Beef

A large beef joint seasoned with spices, larded with suet, baked slowly for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Baked 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 the beef

  1. Rub the spices over the beef and hang it for 2 to 3 weeks in a dry place, renewing the seasoning occasionally.

  2. Wash off the spices with port wine and lard the beef by inserting large pieces of suet throughout.

  3. Place shredded suet under and over the beef, and cover it with flour-and-water paste, adding bay leaves or herbs if desired.

Bake and serve

  1. Remove the paste, bay leaves, and suet.

  2. Baste the joint.

  3. Sprinkle with salt and flour.

  4. Pass a salamander over it.

  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 6 to 8 hours, depending on size.

  6. If serving cold, leave the paste on until ready to serve.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. 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

Rump of beef
Forms the main joint; its long slow cooking turns the meat tender and juicy.
Suet
Adds fat that bastes the lean beef from within and keeps it moist during the long bake.
Black pepper
Contributes sharp, pungent flavour that penetrates the meat during the long hanging period.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the spice rub that seasons the beef.
Ground cloves
Provides strong aromatic warmth that flavours the outer layers of the meat.
Mace
Adds delicate aromatic flavour that complements the other warm spices in the rub.

The step that matters

Remove the paste, bay leaves, and suet before baking. The flour-and-water paste forms a protective crust that slows moisture loss. Removing it at the right point lets the surface brown and seasonings concentrate, while leaving it on too long can stop browning.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, allspice, clove, port wine, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, allspice, clove, port wine, flour. 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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