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Collared Beef

A preserved beef treated with sugar, salt, saltpetre, herbs, and boiled after curing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,866 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Collared Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Hang the beef in a damp place for 1–2 days to soften the outer skin.

  2. Rub the beef with coarse sugar and let it sit for 2 days.

  3. Mix saltpetre and coarse sea salt, then add to the beef.

  4. After 10 days, remove bones and tough inner skin.

Roll and boil

  1. Sprinkle the underside of the beef with chopped parsley and herbs.

  2. Roll the beef tightly and secure it with a cloth and broad tape.

  3. Boil the beef gently for about 5 hours.

Press

  1. While hot, place the beef under a weight or in a press without removing the tape and cloth.

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 + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + parsleytop 39% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,535 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Flank or rib beef
Provides the meat that is cured, rolled and boiled into a firm, sliceable collar.
Coarse sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the salty cure.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping preserve it during curing.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its pink colour and adds to its preserving during curing.
Parsley and other savory herbs
Add aroma and fresh savory flavour to the rolled meat.

The step that matters

Boil the beef gently. Boiling at a gentle simmer cooks the meat through without toughening it or breaking it apart. A hard boil makes the muscle fibres tighten and can cause the roll to fall open.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Pepperfits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar. 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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