To Dry Beef for Summer Use
Ingredients
Directions
Salt and brine
Select well-fatted beef, ideally from an animal weighing 150 pounds per quarter.
Salt the beef pieces.
Let the salted beef sit for two weeks.
Submerge the beef in brine for three weeks.
Dry and hang
Remove the beef from the brine.
Wipe the beef dry.
Rub the beef with bran.
Hang the beef in a cool, dry, dark place.
Ensure the beef is suspended and does not touch anything.
Occasionally check the beef during summer.
Lay the beef in the sun after wet weather.
For tongues, make a small hole in the tongue. Thread twine through the hole. Suspend the tongue.
Soak and cook
Soak dried meats in water overnight before use.
Use a large quantity of cold water.
Boil steadily. Skim the pot.
Continue boiling until the bones fall out and the skin peels off easily.
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
- Beef
- Provides the meat, whose fat content helps keep the cured piece moist and flavourful.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and preserves the meat during the initial curing period.
- Brine
- Carries salt into the meat slowly, seasoning and curing it evenly over several weeks.
- Bran
- Coats the drying surface, helping the meat dry and develop its outer crust.
The step that matters
Submerging the beef in brine for three weeks. The brine must fully cover the meat for the whole period; any exposed part can spoil, and the salt concentration controls how evenly the cure penetrates.
“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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