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 ↓
Beef, Pickled Round Of, for Hanging
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Mix the salt, sugar, and saltpetre together.
Rub the mixture well into the meat.
Place the meat in an earthenware pan.
Cure the meat
Turn the meat twice a week for 3 weeks.
Finish
After 3 weeks, drain the meat and bind it into shape with strong tape.
You can cook the meat immediately or hang it in a kitchen with a constant fire for 3 weeks.
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
- Round of beef
- Is the main cut that is cured, and its texture firms as the salt draws out moisture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and carries the cure into the flesh, helping preserve it.
- Coarse brown sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cured meat.
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps keep the meat's colour and adds a cured flavour.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture well into the meat. Salt and cure must reach every part of the meat to cure it evenly. Thin or missed areas can spoil or cure unevenly, so turning the meat during the cure helps the mixture spread through it.
“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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