This is my corned beef recipe. It is an ideal comforting winter meal. I usually serve it with creamy mashed potatoes, some new baby carrots out of the garden and cabbage cooked with some diced apple and good English mustard.
Being a recession, I have also included Hugh Fernley-Whittington’s recipe for salt your own beef. I am thinking of all the farmers who send a beast off to be killed and end up with so much beef to freeze. Perhaps this is a good alternative for some cuts of beef as brisket, round or silverside, leaving extra storage in the freezer. A tunnel boned leg of lamb or mutton can be salted the same way for a change.
Corned beef hash is delicious made with left over meat. To make the hash, just fry off a couple of onions in a pan with some oil, when the onions are soft, add some shredded corned beef and then add some boiled flowery potatoes roughly diced. Toss gently together in the pan over heat and serve with a fried egg on top for each person. English spinach can be stirred into the hash or serve a bowl of wilted spinach on the side.
Corned beef
2 kg of corned beef (eye fillet, brisket or silverside)
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 tsp dill seed
½ cup fresh dill chopped (2 bunches)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
15 whole cloves
4 cloves garlic
½ cup white wine vinegar
1 brown onion chopped
Trim the beef and wash it well. Then soak it overnight in a basin of water to remove the saltiness.
Rinse the beef and pat dry with a paper towel.
Slice the onion and lay on the bottom of the ovenproof dish. Place the beef on the sliced onion.
In a mortar and pestle grind the garlic, dill seed, cinnamon, and cloves to a paste and then pack it around all sides of the meat. Then pack the brown sugar on top of the ground garlic and spices.
Chop the fresh dill and pack it on the top of the brown sugar.
Pour the vinegar into the bottom of the dish.
Cover with tight fitting lid in an ovenproof dish or seal the lid well with double tinfoil.
Let this marinate for a couple of hours before cooking. It could even be done the night before if you are planning to have a few people for a Sunday winter lunch.
Bake in the covered dish in a slow oven 150 C for approximately 2 ½- 3 hours.
When cooked, turn off the oven leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Brine for salting beef
From Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's The River Cottage Cookbook Harper Collins
5 litres of water
500g demerara or light brown sugar
1 kg course sea salt
1 tsp black pepper corns
1 tsp juniper berries
5 cloves
2 bay leaves
a sprig of fresh thyme
a bunch of parsley stalks
150g saltpetre (optional)
Put all the ingredients for the brine in a large saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar and salt have dissolved.
Bring to the boil, allow to bubble 1-2 minutes, and then remove from heat and leave to cool completely. Cover your piece of meat completely with the cold brine, weighing it down if necessary. Leave the meat in the brine for 5-10 days in a reliability cool place (joints of less than 3kg should not be left more than a week or they will become more pickled).
Before cooking, remove the beef from the brine and soak in fresh cold water for 24 hours, changing the water at least once.
The beef can be cooked as above or poached with a bouquet of garni, vegetables as carrots, onion, celery, leek and garlic very gently on top of the stove. (3kg piece of beef will take 2 ½ -3 hours).