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Dutch, Ob Hung Beef

A preserved beef cured with saltpetre, sugar, salt, pepper, and treacle, then smoked and boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Dutch, Ob Hung Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Mix saltpetre and coarse sugar, then rub the mixture into all parts of the beef and let it sit for 2 days.

  2. Add coarse sea salt, common salt, and black pepper, and rub thoroughly into the beef.

  3. After 4 days, pour treacle over the beef.

  4. Rub and turn daily for 14 days.

Smoke and cook

  1. Drain the beef.

  2. Send it to be smoked.

  3. Soak in cold water.

  4. Boil slowly.

  5. Press under a heavy weight while hot.

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

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

  2. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the meat that is cured, smoked, boiled and pressed into a firm joint.
Saltpetre
Preserves the meat and gives it the characteristic cured colour during the long cure.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping preserve it during curing.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, helping preserve it during curing.
Treacle
Adds sweetness and deep flavour, and its sugars help the surface brown in the cure.
Coarse sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the salt during the cure.

The step that matters

Boil slowly. Boiling gently keeps the meat tender and prevents the outside from toughening or breaking apart while the centre cooks through.

“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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