Beef Salted, or Corned, Red
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Cut up a quarter of beef.
For each 100 pounds of beef, mix ½ peck of coarse sea salt, ¼ pound of saltpetre, and ¼ pound of baking soda.
Rub the mixture thoroughly into the beef.
Store
Store the beef in a cool place for preservation.
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
- Beef
- The main meat that the cure penetrates and preserves.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the beef and helps preserve it while seasoning it.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives cured beef its pink colour.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture thoroughly into the beef. Salt and curing agents move into meat only by diffusion, slowly and from the surface inward. Uneven coverage leaves unprotected spots where spoilage can start, so every part of the beef needs an even coat.
“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 corned beef 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.