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To Salt Beef

A method of salting and curing beef with sea salt, saltpetre, bay salt, and optional cochineal and sugar, then smoking and boiling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

To Salt Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Sprinkle the beef and let it drain for a day.

Cure the beef

  1. Rub the beef with coarse sea salt, saltpetre, bay salt, and cochineal powder.

  2. Rub the pickle into the meat daily for a week, then turn it.

  3. After eight days, drain the meat from the pickle.

Smoke and serve

  1. Smoke the meat at the oven-mouth or send it to the baker's for a few days.

  2. To serve, boil the beef until tender with greens or carrots.

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. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Beef
The main cut that the salt and pickle penetrate and firm as it cures.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during the cure.
Saltpetre
A curing agent that helps the meat keep its colour and a cured flavour.

The step that matters

Using the saltpetre sparingly. Saltpetre is a strong curing agent, so too much can make the meat taste harsh and overpower the cure. Measuring it carefully, as the record advises, keeps the flavour balanced.

“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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