Why it works: Meat and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,777 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Pickled Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the meat
Strew some salt in the bottom of a pickle tub or barrel.
Layer meat in the tub, sprinkling salt between each layer.
Let it sit overnight.
Dissolve saleratus and saltpetre in warm water and mix with molasses or sugar.
Pour the mixture over the meat and add enough water to cover it.
Place a board on top to keep the meat submerged in brine.
Brine, smoke and hang
After ten days, remove the brine, boil it, skim it, and return it to the meat once cooled.
For smoking, wipe the meat dry after ten days and hang it in a chimney or over a smoldering fire of sawdust or chips for ten days.
Rub black pepper over the meat to deter flies and hang it in a dry, dark, cool place.
After a week, the meat is ready to use.
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.
-
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + meattop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,866 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Brown sugar or molasses
- Adds sweetness and a rich flavor to the cure while helping keep the meat moist.
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it while seasoning the cure.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's color and inhibits spoilage during the long cure.
- Saleratus
- Raises the brine's alkalinity, helping the cure penetrate and the meat keep its texture.
The step that matters
Keeping the meat fully submerged in brine. Any meat left above the brine can spoil or dry out and grow mold, so the board must hold every piece under the liquid for the full cure.
“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.
More pickled beef recipes
You might also like
Meat Croquettes52 recipes
Meatballs37 recipes
Mince Meat37 recipes
Meat Cakes35 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.