Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Spiced Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Mix together sal prunella, saltpetre, pounded spices, chopped garlic, and moist sugar.
Rub this mixture well into the beef.
Let it sit in the pickle for a week, turning and rubbing it daily.
Cook and press
Tie up the beef and place it in cold water.
Slowly bring the water to a boil, skim well, and then simmer for 2 to 3 hours.
Place the beef under heavy weights and serve cold.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,331 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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 sliceable after long simmering.
- Saltpetre
- Preserves the meat and gives it the characteristic pink-red cured colour.
- Sal prunella
- Adds salt-curing action that draws out moisture and firms the meat during the pickle.
- Moist sugar
- Balances the salt and spices and helps the cure develop a softer flavour.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent aroma that mellows during curing and cooking.
The step that matters
Slowly bring the water to a boil, skim well, and then simmer. Starting cold and heating gradually keeps the meat from toughening and lets impurities rise for skimming. A rolling boil would agitate the meat, make it tougher, and cloud the liquid.
Swap the garlic
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, mace, cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg, sugar):
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Winter savoryfits better
- Garlicthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, mace, cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg, sugar. 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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