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Dutch, or Hung Beef

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 saltpetre and coarse sugar; rub the mixture all over the beef and let it sit for 2 days.

  2. After 2 days, rub the beef with coarse sea salt, common salt, and ground black pepper; let it sit for 4 days.

  3. Pour treacle over the beef and rub it in; turn the beef daily for 14 days.

Smoke and serve

  1. Drain the beef and send it to be smoked.

  2. When ready to serve, soak the beef in cold water, boil it slowly, and press it under a heavy weight while hot.

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).

  2. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 firm and sliceable after curing and cooking.
Saltpetre
Gives the cured meat its characteristic pink colour and helps preserve it.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while helping to preserve it.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the curing stage.
Treacle
Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich flavour to the cure.
Coarse sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the salt in the cure.

The step that matters

Turning the beef daily during the 14-day treacle cure. Turning ensures every surface stays in contact with the cure, so salt and sugar penetrate evenly and no area is left under-cured or spoiled.

“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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