Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
To Corn Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Remove the bone from the beef and rub it with common salt.
Let it sit for 1-2 days.
Cure
Mix the sal-prunella, brown sugar, black pepper, coarse sea salt, cloves, nutmeg, and common salt together.
Rub the mixture into the beef thoroughly and let it sit for 14 days, turning it daily.
Dry and cook
Hang the beef in a dry place and smoke it if possible until needed.
Boil gently or bake in a deep dish covered with coarse paste.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 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 + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,495 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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 tender and savoury as it cures and cooks.
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during curing, helping preserve it.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the salt in the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Cures the meat by drawing out moisture and seasoning it deeply.
- Cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the cure.
- Nutmeg
- Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the cure.
The step that matters
Turning the beef daily during the 14-day cure. Salt and cure must reach every part of the meat evenly. Turning it daily redistributes the brine that forms as salt draws out moisture, so no area stays under-cured or spoils.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, sugar, pepper, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, sugar, pepper, nutmeg. 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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