For Corning Beef or Tongues
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Boil water, coarse sea salt, brown sugar, and saltpetre together.
Skim the mixture when it cools.
Cure the meat
Pour the brine over the meat or tongues.
Let it stand for two weeks before boiling.
Cook
Cook a large tongue for five hours until tender.
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 meat and preserves it, firming its texture during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps the meat keep its pink colour and resist spoilage.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds mild sweetness and depth of flavour.
The step that matters
Letting the meat stand for two weeks. Salt and curing agents need time to penetrate the meat evenly. Boiling too early leaves the centre under-cured, with uneven colour, flavour and texture.
“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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