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Dutch, or Hung Beef

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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, or Hung Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Mix the coarse sea salt and saltpetre together.

  2. Rub the mixture thoroughly into the beef.

  3. Pour the treacle over the beef and season with black pepper.

  4. Cover and let it sit for four days.

Smoke

  1. After four days, drain the beef and smoke it for two weeks.

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).

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

What each ingredient does

Flank beef
The main meat that is cured and then smoked, becoming firm and sliceable.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it during curing.
Saltpetre
Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and gives it a rosy colour.
Treacle
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the surface brown during smoking.

The step that matters

Rubbing the salt mixture thoroughly into the beef. Salt and saltpetre only cure the parts they touch. Even coverage ensures the cure penetrates evenly and the meat is preserved throughout, not just at the surface.

“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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