Salt Beef in Keswick Brewery's Thirst Ascent

Cumbria On A Plate - Annette Gibbons Cookery

You need to start the beef off at least one week before the meal.

Ask your butcher for a salmon cut of local Cumbrian beef and if he’s a nice bloke he may even slice it thinly for you when it’s completed and cold.
900g/2 lb silverside or salmon cut of beef
12 allspice berries
50g/2 oz coarse salt
12 black pepper corns
3 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic no need to peel
1 teaspoon saltpetre (optional - this is available at some smaller chemists)
2 tablespoons soft brown sugar

Using a sharp knife pierce the flesh of the meat to help the marinade develop within the meat.
Mix the salt and the saltpetre together. Crush the leaves, spices and garlic in a pestle and mortar and mix well before rubbing this over the meat. Cover the meat loosely and turn it every day in this mixture for one week, keeping it in the fridge or a cold pantry. Juices will run from the meat and they should be basted over the piece every day.
After 7 days, wash the meat and put it into a large oven-proof dish with the following ingredients:

600 ml/1 pint Thirst Ascent beer
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 onion unpeeled chopped
1 celery stalk broken in places
1 carrot roughly chopped
4 parsley stalks broken in places

Once all the other ingredients are in with the meat, cover with cold water, put on a lid or foil covering and cook for 1 - 1½ hours.
Pressure cooking reduces this cooking time considerably. Leave the meat to go cold in the liquid. Once the meat is cold, it will have shrunk. Slice very thinly and serve it cold as part of a buffet table with seasonal salads.


Ostle House, Mawbray, Maryport, Cumbria CA15 6QS.
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www.cumbriaonaplate.co.uk
Cumbria Woman of the Year 2006 - 2007