Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Pickled Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Strew some coarse sea salt in the bottom of a pickle tub or barrel.
Layer meat with salt, alternating until all meat is used.
Let it sit overnight.
Dissolve saleratus and saltpetre in warm water, then mix with molasses or sugar.
Pour this mixture over the meat and add enough water to cover it.
Place a board on top to keep the meat submerged in brine.
After ten days, the meat is ready for use.
For preservation, boil the brine, skim it, cool it, and return it to the meat.
After ten days, wipe the meat dry and smoke it for ten days in a cool, dark place.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,189 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Sugar + allspicetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,938 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together17,182 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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
Swap the mace
The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, clove, allspice):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, clove, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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