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Baked Beef

A large rump of beef seasoned, larded, and baked for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Baked Beef

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the beef

  1. Rub the beef with pepper, allspice, cloves, and mace.

  2. Hang the beef to dry for 2 to 3 weeks, renewing the seasoning occasionally.

  3. Wash off the spices with port wine.

  4. Lard the meat by inserting large pieces of lard in various parts.

Wrap and bake

  1. Place shredded suet under and over the meat.

  2. Cover the meat with a paste made of flour and water.

  3. Optionally add bay leaves or herbs.

  4. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 6 to 8 hours, depending on size.

Finish and serve

  1. If serving hot, remove the paste, bay leaves, and suet.

  2. Baste the joint, sprinkle with salt and flour, and pass a salamander over it.

  3. If serving cold, leave the paste on until needed.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Rump of beef
Is the main cut that becomes the roast, providing the meat itself.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, aromatic seasoning that penetrates the meat during the long dry rest.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic flavour to the seasoned crust of the beef.
Lard
Inserted into the meat to add fat, keeping the lean rump moist during long cooking.
Shredded suet
Placed under and over the meat to add fat that bastes the joint as it cooks.
Coarse flour
Mixed with water to form a paste that encloses the meat and helps hold in moisture.

The step that matters

Baking for 6 to 8 hours at 350°F. A large joint needs a long, steady oven so heat reaches the centre gently; too high a heat dries and toughens the outer meat before the middle is tender. Checking size and timing matters because the cooking time depends on the weight of the roast.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, allspice, clove, port wine, meat, flour):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, allspice, clove, port wine, meat, flour. 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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