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Brawn

Brawn is a boiled beef and bacon jelly set with gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Brawn

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Cut the beef into half-inch dice and remove the fat.

  2. Place the meat in a pan with enough cold water to just cover it and bring to a boil.

  3. Remove the scum that rises to the surface.

Simmer

  1. Tie the herbs, onion, and seasonings in a piece of clean cloth and add to the pan.

  2. Simmer gently for five hours.

  3. Cut the bacon into small dice and stir it in thirty minutes before the beef is done.

Set and serve

  1. If it's warm weather, add ½ oz. gelatine to ensure it sets firm enough to cut.

  2. Pour the mixture into a mold, remove the seasonings, and allow it to cool completely until firm.

  3. Turn out the brawn and slice it with a very sharp knife.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Shin beef
Provides the meat and connective tissue that break down into a savoury, sliceable body.
All fat bacon
Adds fat and rich flavour that carries through the jelly.
Gelatine
Helps the cooking liquid set firmly enough to hold its shape when cut.

The step that matters

Removing the scum after the water comes to a boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that cloud the liquid and can taste bitter. Skimming it early keeps the finished jelly clear and clean-flavoured.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, thyme, marjoram, meat):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, thyme, marjoram, meat. 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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