To Press Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Salt the meat with coarse sea salt and saltpetre for five days.
Cook and press
Boil the meat gently until extremely tender.
Place the meat under a heavy weight or in a cheese-press until completely cold.
Serve cold, ideal for sandwiches.
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
- Brisket, thin flank, or rib tops
- Provides the cut of meat that becomes tender and sliceable after boiling and pressing.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture from the meat and seasons it during the curing period.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives it its characteristic pink colour during curing.
The step that matters
Boiling gently until extremely tender. Boiling at a gentle simmer breaks down connective tissue slowly, so the meat becomes tender without tightening and toughening. A hard boil squeezes out moisture and leaves the meat dry and firm.
“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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