Pickling Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Make and pour the brine
Boil the brown sugar and coarse sea salt in water for about 20 minutes, skimming off the scum.
Pour the brine over the meat packed in a pickling tub.
Maintain the brine
Boil and strain the brine every two months, adding 3 ounces of brown sugar and ½ pound of common salt each time.
Salt and cover the meat
Sprinkle the meat with salt the next day.
Wipe the meat dry before pouring the pickle over it.
Ensure the pickle completely covers the meat.
Cover the tub with a canvas lid to allow air in and keep flies out.
Rub mutton or beef with dry salt.
Cover the meat closely.
Turn the meat
Turn the pieces whenever the vessel is uncovered.
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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and mellows the sharpness of the salt in the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the meat and seasons it, slowing spoilage.
The step that matters
Keep every piece under the pickle. Meat exposed to air can spoil and grow mould. Salt draws moisture out of the surface, and the brine must cover each piece so the cure penetrates evenly and the surface is protected from air.
“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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