Smoked Dried Beef Process
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Rub each piece of beef with the salt, saltpeter, and sugar mixture.
Pack the beef tightly in a barrel and cover with any remaining mixture.
Seal the barrel and fill it through the bunghole with the pickle solution.
Roll the barrel every 5 days for a total of 25 days.
Cure the beef for 60 to 70 days.
Soak and smoke
Soak the cured beef in water for at least 10 hours, changing the water once.
If the beef is old, soak for 15 to 30 hours, changing the water two to three times.
Hang the beef in a smokehouse by the tip end and allow to drain for a few hours.
Turn on the steam for 3 to 4 hours, maintaining a temperature of 130°F (54°C) with light smoke.
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
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the beef and preserves it during curing.
- Saltpeter
- Helps the beef keep its red color during the long cure.
- Sugar
- Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cured flavor.
The step that matters
Soaking the cured beef. Soaking removes excess salt and cure from the meat. Too short a soak leaves the beef overly salty, while old beef needs longer soaking to remove more of the 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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 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.