Why it works: Sugar and beef 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 ↓
To Salt and Pickle Beef, in Various Ways
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Hang the meat for 2 days in mild weather or 4-5 days in winter before salting.
Trim the meat and remove any kernels from the fat.
Rub a little fine dry salt over the meat and let it sit overnight.
Drain the blood from the meat.
Cure the meat
Mix saltpetre and coarse sugar, then rub the mixture thoroughly into the beef.
After 2 days, add the common salt and rub it into the meat for 3 weeks, turning it regularly.
Wash off the salt, skewer the beef tightly, and bind it with tape.
Cook
Cover the beef with cold water and bring it to a boil.
Reduce heat and let it simmer gently for at least 5 hours.
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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Sugar + beeftop 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
- Saltpetre
- Helps the meat keep its pink colour and resist spoilage during curing.
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the beef while curing it.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the salt's sharpness and adds mild sweetness to the cure.
- Beef
- The main cut that is cured, then simmered until tender.
The step that matters
Simmering gently. Once the water boils, lowering the heat to a gentle simmer keeps the meat tender. A hard boil toughens muscle fibres and can make the outside dry or ragged.
“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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