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Potted Beef

A preserved beef prepared by brining, baking, seasoning, and sealing in clarified butter.

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

Potted Beef

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Cure the beef

  1. Rub the beef with saltpetre and coarse sea salt.

  2. Let the beef sit in a pan for 2 days, basting daily with the brine.

Bake the beef

  1. Place the beef in an earthenware jar with all the skin and gristle.

  2. Add water.

  3. Cover with stiff paste.

  4. Bake in a 300°F oven for 4 hours.

  5. After baking, pour off the gravy for later use.

  6. Remove the skin and gristle.

Pot and seal

  1. Cut the meat into small pieces.

  2. Beat the meat in a mortar.

  3. Add some gravy, fresh butter, allspice, cloves, and pepper to season.

  4. Mix in anchovy flesh, minced tongue, ham, bacon, mushroom powder, curry powder, shalots, or sweet herbs.

  5. Pack the mixture into small pots or tin cans.

  6. Press it down.

  7. Cover with clarified butter to a thickness of ¼ inch.

  8. Seal with damp bladder.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,729 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Lean beef
Forms the main body of the potted meat, becoming tender and spreadable after slow baking.
Saltpetre
Cures the meat, helping it keep its pink colour and preserving it.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during curing, aiding preservation.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and moisture to the beaten meat, giving a smooth texture.
Clarified butter
Forms an airtight layer over the pots, sealing out air to help preserve the meat.

The step that matters

Beating the meat in a mortar. Meat must be broken down finely while still warm and moist so the mixture becomes smooth and spreadable. Fibres that stay coarse give a dry, crumbly texture once potted and chilled.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, clove, pepper, ham):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, clove, pepper, ham. 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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