Salting Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Dissolve the coarse sea salt and saltpetre in the water.
Add the molasses and mix well.
Salt the beef
Use this brine to salt the beef.
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 draws moisture out while helping the brine penetrate the beef.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives it a cured color.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and depth of flavor that balances the salt.
The step that matters
Dissolving the salt and saltpetre fully in the water. Undissolved salt and saltpetre leave grains that cure unevenly, so some areas of the beef can be over-salted while others stay under-treated. Stirring until fully dissolved gives a uniform brine.
“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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