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 ↓
Spiced Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Bone the beef.
Mix all ingredients together and rub the beef with the mixture.
Repeat daily for about 10 days, turning it over each day.
When sufficiently spiced, wash and scrape the beef.
Cook
Put the beef into a saucepan, just cover with cold water or stock, and bring to a boil slowly, skimming as needed.
Add a few blocks of vegetable for flavor and simmer gently for about 3 to 4 hours.
Remove the meat and press it between two dishes with a weight on top.
Finish
When cold, trim and brush with liquid meat glaze.
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.
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Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Flank of beef
- Forms the main body of the dish and carries the spices during curing and cooking.
- Salt
- Cures the meat, drawing out moisture and seasoning it through the long rubbing period.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the salt and adds sweetness and some depth to the cure.
- Ground mixed spice
- Provides the aromatic spiced flavor that defines the finished beef.
The step that matters
Simmering gently after bringing to a boil. Boiling hard toughens the meat's proteins and can break it up, so a slow, gentle simmer keeps it tender and moist for the long cook.
“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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