Beef Pickle
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Rub the beef well with coarse sea salt.
Let it sit for 24 hours to cleanse it from the blood.
Make the brine
In a large container, combine water, coarse sea salt, sugar, saltpetre, and clean wood ashes.
Boil the mixture and skim off any impurities.
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 seasons it while helping to preserve it.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the finished meat.
- Saltpetre
- Cures the meat, helping it keep its pink color and resist spoilage.
- Water
- Dissolves the salt, sugar and saltpetre so they spread evenly through the brine.
The step that matters
Skim the brine while it boils. Impurities rise to the surface as the brine heats. Removing them keeps the liquid clean, so it cures the beef evenly and does not taint its flavor.
“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.
More beef pickle recipes
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.