Hung Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Make a strong brine with coarse sea salt, saltpetre, and pump water.
Submerge a piece of ribs of beef in the brine for nine days.
Smoke and dry
Hang the beef in a chimney to smoke with wood or sawdust.
When nearly dry, wash the outside with bullock's blood.
Cook and serve
Once dry, boil the beef and serve it with vegetables.
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
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the meat and seasons it, helping preserve the beef during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Helps cure the meat and gives it a characteristic colour during the brining stage.
- Piece of ribs of beef
- The main cut that is cured, smoked and then boiled to become the dish.
The step that matters
Keeping the beef fully submerged in the brine. Any part of the meat left above the brine can spoil or cure unevenly. Salt needs to reach the whole cut over the nine days so it is preserved evenly.
“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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