Or Hung Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Mix water, sugar or molasses, and saltpetre in a large pot.
Boil the mixture, skim off any foam, and let it cool.
Cure the meat
In hot weather, rub the meat with salt and let it sit for a few hours before brining.
Place the meat in a vessel and pour the cooled brine over it until covered.
Maintain the brine
Every two months, boil and skim the brine, adding sugar and salt.
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
- Sugar or molasses
- Adds sweetness and feeds the curing process, balancing the harsh bite of the salt.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the meat and preserves it by slowing bacterial growth.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's pink colour and adds protection against spoilage during curing.
The step that matters
Skim and cool the brine before adding meat. Foam and impurities left in the boiled brine can spoil the cure, and warm brine can start cooking or spoiling the surface of the meat, so it must be fully skimmed and cooled first.
“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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