Why it works: Sugar and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 37% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,435 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Corned Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Combine 4 gallons of water, 1½ pounds of sugar, 2 ounces of saltpetre, and 6 pounds of coarse sea salt in a large pot.
Boil gently and skim off any impurities.
Cure the meat
Pack the beef or tongues tightly in a vessel and pour the hot brine over the meat until fully covered.
Place a weight on top to keep the meat submerged.
Let the meat cure for 10 days.
For longer storage, use 9 pounds of salt if keeping for more than 3 months.
Cook and serve
Cover the meat with boiling water and simmer gently for about 45 minutes per pound until tender.
Allow the meat to cool in the cooking water, then slice thinly and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + beeftop 37% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,435 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beef or tongues
- The main meat, which the brine cures and which becomes tender during simmering.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the meat and seasons it during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Gives cured meat its pink colour and helps preserve it during curing.
- Sugar
- Balances the saltiness and softens the savoury flavour of the cured meat.
The step that matters
Keeping the meat fully submerged in the brine. Any meat left above the brine can spoil or cure unevenly, because salt and nitrite only penetrate and preserve the wet, covered surface reliably. A weight keeps every piece under the liquid for the full curing period.
“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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