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Hung Beef

Hung Beef is a preserved beef cured in a salt and saltpetre brine, smoked, washed with bullock's blood, boiled, and served with vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Hung Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Cure

  1. Make a strong brine with coarse sea salt, saltpetre, and pump water.

  2. Submerge a piece of ribs of beef in the brine for nine days.

Smoke and dry

  1. Hang the beef in a chimney to smoke with wood or sawdust until nearly dry.

  2. Wash the outside with bullock's blood and let it dry.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the beef and serve it with vegetables.

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

Ribs of beef
The main meat, which the brine and smoke preserve and firm up as it dries.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the meat and carries into it, slowing spoilage during the long cure.
Saltpetre
A curing agent that helps preserve the meat and keeps its colour during the long cure.

The step that matters

Submerging the beef in the brine for the full nine days. Salt and saltpetre must penetrate evenly through the meat to preserve it. If the brine is weak or the meat is not fully submerged, parts may spoil or cure unevenly.

“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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