Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the beef
Trim the edges of the beef.
Press the beef under a heavy weight while hot.
Rub ¾ lb of coarse sugar into the meat.
Let it sit for 2 days.
Add 1 oz of saltpetre and ½ lb of coarse sea salt.
Let the mixture sit for 10 days.
Shape and tie
Remove bones and tough inner skin from the beef.
Sprinkle the under side of the beef with shredded parsley and herbs.
Roll the beef tightly.
Secure the rolled beef with a cloth and bind it with broad tape.
Cook and press
Boil the beef gently for about 5 hours.
After boiling, place it under a weight or in a press without removing the tape and cloth.
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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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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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Beef + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,866 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 main body of the dish, becoming firm and sliceable once cooked and pressed.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives it a characteristic pink cured colour and flavour.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it during the long cure.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds gentle sweetness to the cure.
- Treacle
- Adds sweetness, depth and a dark colour to the meat.
- Parsley and other savory herbs
- Add aroma and fresh savoury flavour inside the rolled beef.
The step that matters
Boil the beef gently for about 5 hours. Boiling vigorously toughens meat proteins and drives out moisture, so a gentle simmer keeps the beef tender and juicy over the long cook.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, pepper):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Rosemaryfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, pepper. 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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