Fickle for Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Combine the salt, brown sugar, saltpetre, and water in a large saucepan.
Heat the mixture until it boils, then let it boil for 5 minutes, skimming as needed.
Strain the mixture into a tub or large basin.
Cool before use
Allow the pickle to cool completely before adding meat.
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
- Seasons the meat and helps draw brine into it for even flavour and moisture.
- Brown sugar
- Balances the salt with sweetness and adds a mild molasses flavour.
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and gives it a pink colour.
The step that matters
Cool the pickle completely before adding meat. Warm brine can partly cook the meat's surface and cure unevenly, and it lets bacteria multiply more easily. Cooling it fully keeps the cure safe and even.
“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.