To Boil Meat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Build a clear, bright fire using small pieces of coal.
Take a large saucepan and fill it almost full of cold water.
Add coarse sea salt to the water unless the meat is already salted.
Ensure the joint of beef is clean; scrape and wipe it with a clean cloth if necessary.
Weigh the piece of beef to determine boiling time: 10 minutes per pound, or 15 minutes for pork.
Cook and simmer
Plunge the joint into boiling water to seal in the juices.
Gradually lower the water temperature by adding cold water and moving the saucepan to the side of the fire, allowing the meat to simmer gently.
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
- Salted beef
- Its protein firms as it cooks, giving the slices a sliceable, meaty structure.
The step that matters
Lowering the water to a gentle simmer. Once the joint is in, the water should be brought down to a gentle simmer rather than kept at a hard boil. Vigorous boiling toughens muscle fibres and can leave the outside overcooked before the centre is done, while slow, gentle heat lets the meat become tender.
“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 boiled meat 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.