Name: Preserved Meat
Ingredients: 4 lbs coarse sea salt; 4 lbs saltpetre; 6 pints water

Preserved Meat

A method for preserving lean strips of meat in a brine of coarse sea salt and saltpetre, then seasoning with fat, vegetables, herbs, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription

From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients

Preserved Meat

Ingredients

4 lbs coarse sea salt
4 lbs saltpetre
6 pints water

Directions

Make the brine

Mix the coarse sea salt and saltpetre in the water to create a brine.
Use this brine to preserve very lean strips of meat.

Prepare and serve

Be sure to use fat or lard when preparing the meat for serving.
Flavor the meat with vegetables, herbs, and good gravy.

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

What each ingredient does

Coarse sea salt: Draws out moisture and helps preserve the lean meat in the brine.
Saltpetre: Helps preserve the meat and gives cured meat its characteristic color.

“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.