I have tried a few recipes for Irish spiced beef but until this one, I have found them over spiced and pretty disgusting.
This started life as a salt beef recipe from Over the Gate forum. It had way too much saltpetre in it so I changed that. I thought there would be too much salt but there wasn't much to my surprise.
If you want to view the original it is here.
I wrote:Irish Spiced Beef
Ingredients:
Silverside or Brisket
Of the meat weight:
10.1935 % Coarse salt
2.0573 % Soft brown sugar
0.5878 % Black peppercorns, crushed
0.2205 % Coriander seeds, crushed
0.0368 % Juniper berries, crushed
0.255 % Cure #1 (150ppm Nitrite)
0.0147 % Bayleaf
0.1469 % Ground mace
0.1102 % Ground ginger
0.1469 % Cloves, crushed
Method:
1: Place the beef in a ceramic, plastic container or food grade bag (not metal), & rub half the salt well into the beef.
2: Cover the container with cling film and refrigerate for 12 hours, turning once. This will get rid of some blood.
3: Remove the meat from the container or bag rinse and dry well.
4: Mix the rest of the ingredients together. Including the cure# 1.
5: Rub the mixture into the beef, ensuring you get it into all the nooks & crannies.
6: Rinse out the container, & put the meat back in.
7: Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 10 days, turning the beef every day.
8: After 10 days, remove from the fridge & rinse.
9: Simmer gently in a lrge amount of water for 3-3½ hours or until tender (in unsalted water!)
10: If serving hot, add stock veg' for the half hour or so of cooking.
11: If serving cold, place the beef into a tight fitting container, cover with a plate (or similar), & weight it down. I have a couple of clean house bricks well-wrapped in cling film & tinfoil that I use for weighing down pressed meat, but anything heavy will do (couple of books, Tupperware container full of water, boxes of cartridges, etc) Leave to cool, then stick it into the fridge overnight.
Really nice served hot on rye bread with Dijon mustard.
