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
Choose a piece of beef with little bone and sprinkle it with salt. Let it drain for a day.
Rub the beef with coarse sea salt, a small amount of saltpetre, bay salt, and cochineal powder.
Rub the pickle into the meat daily for a week, then turn it over.
After eight days, drain the meat from the pickle and smoke it for a few days.
To serve, boil the beef until tender and enjoy with greens or carrots.
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
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