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Beef, Corned

A method of curing beef with salt, sugar, saltpetre, and water, then packing it in a brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Beef, Corned

Ingredients

Directions

Cure the beef

  1. Rub the beef thoroughly with 1 ½ pounds of coarse sea salt and cover it tightly.

  2. Let it sit for three days.

  3. After three days, remove the beef and wipe it with a damp cloth.

  4. Pack the beef pieces closely in a clean tub, sprinkling salt between each piece and on the bottom of the tub.

Make the pickle and pour

  1. Prepare the pickle by boiling 4 gallons of water with 1 ½ pounds of sugar, 5 ounces of saltpetre, and 6 pounds of coarse sea salt. Skim off any scum.

  2. Once the pickle is clear and cool, pour it over the beef, ensuring it is fully covered.

  3. Weigh it down with stones or a wooden cover.

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

Beef (in the method)
Is the meat being cured, so it firms and takes on the salted, pink-tinged flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and seasons it, preserving it during the cure.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its pink colour during curing.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cure.

The step that matters

Covering the beef fully with the pickle. Any part of the meat left above the brine can spoil or dry out, since the salt and curing agents only preserve the meat they reach. Keeping every piece submerged and weighted keeps the cure 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.

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