Old-fashioned way of cooking meat?

johnnycee66

The partner continually speaks of his mothers way of cooking a joint of meat, which was to brown it in a saucepan in some fat, put greased paper over it, put the lid on and cook it in the oven for a few hours. He recalls that the piece of meat was a big piece of sirloin, and that there was no other liquid put in the pot, so it doesnt sound like a braise. Is anybody familiar with this method, and can give me some more details on how to do this?

Cheers

fonda

Seen something on one of the cooking shows at the weekend, where they seared a large sirloin on a pan wrapped it in clingfilm and put it in the oven, sounds similar to what you are on about.

Cant remember the name of the show, its on in the morning on BBC I think.

fonda

Found it, was actually a large beef fillet, and the show was Saturday Kitchen Live, link here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/beef_fillet_with_red_32267

johnnycee66

Thanks for the link. James Martin's recipe seems a bit more elaborate than what I think I'm looking for! We're working on OH's memory (not very reliable) and he recalls a fairly simple, almost everyday process. I have some older cookbooks, including pre-1970domestic science ones for schools, so maybe I'll find it in one of those. Cheers

fonda

No bother, I posted link for ya for the method he used of cooking the meat not for the actual recipe he used.

The Sweeper

fonda wrote: »

Seen something on one of the cooking shows at the weekend, where they seared a large sirloin on a pan wrapped it in clingfilm and put it in the oven, sounds similar to what you are on about.

:eek:

Minder

The Sweeper wrote: »

:eek:

That's a large piece of fillet of beef browned, seasoned but no salt, wrapped in clingfilm and cooked in a low oven at 60c. Not 160c, 60c. At 60 ish the texture of the meat changes to medium rare - from 3mm under the surface right through to the centre. There is less loss of moisture and it can't be overcooked, because the meat doesn't undergo any other changes with the low temperature.

I doubt that is the method the OP is talking about.

nompere

Minder wrote: »

That's a large piece of fillet of beef browned, seasoned but no salt, wrapped in clingfilm and cooked in a low oven at 60c. Not 160c, 60c. At 60 ish the texture of the meat changes to medium rare - from 3mm under the surface right through to the centre. There is less loss of moisture and it can't be overcooked, because the meat doesn't undergo any other changes with the low temperature.

That's a variant on the water-bath method that was to be seen regularly on the most recent series of Masterchef. I think buying a water-bath for a domestic kitchen is probably a step too far. I did see one on ebay for under €100, but it seems to take up a lot of space, and my kitchen is tiny!

It is quite common with vegetable cookery in particular to set them on to braise in a little fat and liquid and then to cover them with a circle of baking parchment or similar. The paper gets pushed down so it is almost touching the vegetables. It stops most of the steam escaping and it keeps the steam at the level of the vegetables.

I can't see why it wouldn't work with a piece of meat as well. And it would work just as well in the oven as on top of the stove. There's less chance of burning in the oven as well.

johnnycee66

I checked some older cookbooks and its described as simple potroasting. Will give it a try during the week. I was a bit put off by the thought of using clingfilm in the recipe link, using plastic sorta doesnt seem right. Would there be a taint from the clingfilm?