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Pressed Beef

A slow-cooked beef stew that is pressed with weights after cooking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pressed Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Bind the beef with kitchen twine to keep its shape.

  2. If corned, place it in cold water; if fresh, use hot stock or water.

Cook

  1. Bring to a boil, skim carefully, then add the vegetables and peppercorns.

  2. Simmer gently for four hours, then remove from heat.

Press and serve

  1. Take off the twine, remove the bones, and place the beef in a dish.

  2. Cover with a board and add heavy weights; leave until the next day.

  3. Turn out and serve with a salad.

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Celery + turniptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 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

Brisket of beef
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender through long, gentle simmering.
Celery
Adds aromatic flavour to the cooking liquid as it simmers with the beef.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the cooking liquid.
Carrots
Add sweetness and flavour to the cooking liquid.
Peppercorns
Add sharp, aromatic spice that seasons the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Skim carefully after bringing to a boil. Foam and impurities rising to the surface can cloud the liquid and taint the flavour. Removing them early keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting, and the meat simmers more gently once the surface is calm.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, carrot, turnip):

  1. Parsnipfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Beetrootfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, carrot, turnip. 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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