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Dutch, or Hung Beef

A preserved beef cured with saltpetre, sugar, salt, pepper, treacle, smoked, then boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Dutch, or Hung Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Mix saltpetre and coarse sugar.

  2. Rub the mixture into the beef thoroughly.

  3. Let the beef sit for 2 days.

  4. Add coarse sea salt, common salt, and ground black pepper.

  5. Rub the beef with the added salts and pepper.

  6. Let the beef sit for 4 days.

  7. Pour treacle over the beef.

  8. Rub the treacle into the beef.

  9. Turn the beef daily for 14 days.

  10. Drain the beef.

Smoke and finish

  1. Send the beef to be smoked.

  2. Soak the beef in cold water.

  3. Boil the beef slowly.

  4. Press the beef under a heavy weight while hot.

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. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Beef + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Beef
Forms the main body of the dish, which the cure penetrates and firms.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and gives it its characteristic cured colour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the cure.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the cure.
Treacle
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour, and helps the cure colour the surface.

The step that matters

Turn the beef daily for 14 days. Turning keeps the cure in contact with every surface so it penetrates evenly. Uneven contact leaves some areas underseasoned or insufficiently preserved.

“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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