Salt Beef

Faith

I was eating pinchos recently and one of them had salt beef on it. It's not something I'd ever had before, or even really heard of. Can anyone tell me more about it? What exactly is it, how do I cook it, and what do I do with it?

Minder

Any more information? Have you had corned beef (not the tinned gack), rather a cured topside, silverside or brisket? Usually boiled and served with cabbageand potatoes (sorry if this sounds like an obvious question). Or was the salt beef you had more like a thin slice of cold meat like a pastrami or breasola?

Faith

It looked like this:



I don't think I've ever had corned beef, no.

neuro-praxis

That looks like corned beef to me. You can buy a joint of it in any supermarket. It's usually wrapped in a kind of twine-netting. It's cured brisket. You boil it up and eat it with mashed potatoes, veg and parsley sauce. OR you slice it reeeeal thin and have it in very sexy sandwiches with lots of mustard and good bread.

Faith

Well, colour me stunned! I never knew that that's what corned beef is. I always picture the horrible processed stuff when I think of corned beef.

Thanks for the quick responses! I'm going to see if I can pick some up myself in the next few days .

The Hill Billy

I ate 'proper' corned beef regularly as a kid, but only cooked it myself for the first time around 6-7 weeks ago. My wife (who is Irish I might add) had never eaten the real stuff & loved it, as did the kids. It will deffo become a regular for Sunday dinner again.

The Sweeper

It's so easy to do! When boiling it, don't just boil it in water. I'd recommend adding to the water: a cup of malt vinegar or balsamic vinegar, a couple of tablespoons of honey, a teaspoon of cloves, a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns, a star anise if you're feeling adventurous, plus a couple of bayleaves, an onion in chunks and a carrot in chunks. I like to bring it to the boil with all those ingredients, then set to a low simmer for ages. Allowing it to go cold in the cooking water really helps all the flavours infuse if you want to use it for thin-slice in sandwiches.

The only problem with adding the flavours like honey, vinegar and spices to the water when cooking it, is those don't lend themselves to blanching cabbage with it. If you want to go the corned beef, cabbage and mash route, only flavour the water with peppercorns, onion, carrot and bayleaves - then when you take the cooked joint out of the hot water, you can strain the flavourings out of the liquid, return the liquid to the pot, bring to the boil and blanch finely shredded, dark green, crispy cabbage in the water for a minute or until cooked how you like it - still with a bite for me, but not a really crunchy bite.

CJhaughey

Living in Cork you should aquaint yourself with Spiced Beef, same idea but tastier and more complex flavours.
The butchers in the English market always have it.

the beer revolu

CJhaughey wrote: »

Living in Cork you should aquaint yourself with Spiced Beef, same idea but tastier and more complex flavours.
The butchers in the English market always have it.

I never liked spiced beef as a kid. It wasn't until the sandwich stall in the market started doing spiced beef sambos that I grew to love it.

BenEadir

Is our salt beef the same as what New York Deli's make their hot Pastrami sandwiches from? http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://guyarts.com/harold-pastrami-new26.jpg&imgrefurl=http://guyarts.com/mark/pastrami.html&h=744&w=600&sz=143&tbnid=mpJdd011EDWbpM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpastrami%2Bsandwich&zoom=1&q=pastrami+sandwich&usg=__fxO_3FFff7XWK9oCUL1MqzWwL9s=&sa=X&ei=SqBGTcKRIeaAhAfKiPHkAQ&ved=0CDQQ9QEwBQ

I think it is but the PAstrami has been cured and has a pepper type coating.

Man I love those sandwiches with coleslaw and gherkins.

Ben

Minder

Okay, we've established it's salt or corned beef - what I want to know is what the hell was it doing in a pinchos selection. Spain has no history of salt beef - salt cod maybe, but corned beef?:eek:

I ordered the lomo in a Tapas restaurant in London - the chef sent out a rasher on a bit of grilled bread. :mad:

Minder

BenEadir wrote: »

Is our salt beef the same as what New York Deli's make their hot Pastrami sandwiches from? http://www.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://guyarts.com/harold-pastrami-new26.jpg&imgrefurl=http://guyarts.com/mark/pastrami.html&h=744&w=600&sz=143&tbnid=mpJdd011EDWbpM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpastrami%2Bsandwich&zoom=1&q=pastrami+sandwich&usg=__fxO_3FFff7XWK9oCUL1MqzWwL9s=&sa=X&ei=SqBGTcKRIeaAhAfKiPHkAQ&ved=0CDQQ9QEwBQ

I think it is but the PAstrami has been cured and has a pepper type coating.

Man I love those sandwiches with coleslaw and gherkins.

Ben

Pastrami is usually made from brisket and is dry salted or brined, spiced and hot smoked; whereas corned beef is topside or silverside usually brined.

Honey-ec

Ok, I know it's totally off-topic, but is there anything nicer than a pastrami, sauerkraut & swiss cheese melt on rye bread with a massive pickle on the side??? HEAVEN!

Minder

I had a pastrami sandwich in New York - Katz's Deli. Hot pastrami on rye in a sandwich as thick as my fist; with a bowl of chicken needle soup. (Food nostalgia leading to depression....)

pickarooney

Minder wrote: »

I had a pastrami sandwich in New York - Katz's Deli. Hot pastrami on rye in a sandwich as thick as my fist; with a bowl of chicken needle soup. (Food nostalgia leading to depression....)

Been there. I thought 18 dollars was mental money to spend on a sandwich but I'd go back in a heartbeat!