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Beef Salted, or Corned, Red

A method of curing beef with salt, saltpetre, baking soda, molasses or sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Beef Salted, or Corned, Red

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Cut the beef into pieces.

  2. In a pickle tub or barrel, layer salt and meat alternately, starting with salt.

  3. Let it sit overnight.

  4. Dissolve baking soda and saltpetre in warm water. Mix the dissolved solution with molasses or sugar.

  5. Pour the mixture over the meat.

  6. Add enough water to cover the meat.

  7. Place a board on top to keep the meat submerged in brine.

Brine and rest

  1. After ten days, the meat is ready to use.

  2. Boil the brine. Skim the boiled brine. Cool the brine.

  3. Return the cooled brine to the meat.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + allspicetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,508 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef
Forms the meat that the cure penetrates and firms as it cures.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat while preserving it in the brine.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its reddish-pink color during curing.
Baking soda
Raises the brine's pH, which helps the meat hold moisture and tenderize.
Molasses or brown sugar
Adds sweetness and flavor that balances the salt in the cure.

The step that matters

Keeping the meat submerged. Any meat above the brine line can spoil, since exposed surfaces are not protected by salt and can support bacterial growth. The board keeps every piece under the liquid for the full curing period.

Swap the mace

The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, molasses, clove, allspice):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, molasses, clove, allspice. 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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