Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil water slowly and press it under a heavy weight while hot.
Trim the edges of the beef slice.
Cure
Rub ¾ lb of coarse sugar into the meat at first.
Mix saltpetre, coarse sugar, bay salt, common salt, and pepper.
Cure the beef for 2 days, then add treacle and cure for an additional 14 days.
Optionally, add cloves and mace in the same proportion as for spiced beef.
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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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Beef + clovetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,462 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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
- The main meat that the cure penetrates and firms as it cures.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured beef its characteristic pink colour.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the harshness of the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it while helping preserve it.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness and a darker colour and depth to the cured beef.
The step that matters
Cure the beef for 2 days, then add treacle and cure for an additional 14 days.. Salt must work its way evenly through the thickness of the meat, which takes time. Rushing the cure leaves the centre under-seasoned and less preserved, so the full cure time matters.
Swap the clove
The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, pepper, mace):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, pepper, mace. 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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