Red Salted Beef is a traditional British recipe, based on Robert Kemp Philp's recipe of 1859, for a classic method of preserving beef by salting with a mix of rock salt, sea salt and saltpetre and then smoking it. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Red Salted Beef.
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This is a classic recipe for a Victorian version of Red Salted Beef that's derived from Robert Kemp Philp's 1859 volume, The Dictionary of Daily Wants. Below you will find both the recipe in its original form and a modern redaction.
Original Recipe
BEEF, SALTED RED.—Choose a piece of beef without bone, sprinkle it with salt, and let it drain for a day; then rub it thoroughly with a mixture of common salt and bay-salt in equal proportions, and a small quantity of saltpetre, rub the pickle into the meat every day for a week; after that, only turn it. In sixteen days, drain it from the pickle, and smoke it at the oven's mouth when heated with wood; a few days will smoke it.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
1 boneless piece of beef
table salt
sea salt
saltpetre
Method:
Hang the beef, rub with salt and set aside to drain for a day. Take the beef down and rub with an equal mix of table salt and sea salt (to which a little saltpetre [sodium or potassium nitrate] has been added — do not skip the saltpetre it gives the beef a red colour and prevents food poisoning).
Scatter a little of the salt and saltpetre mix in a bowl then lay the beef in this and rub the surface with more of the salt mix. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate. Every day for a week, rub in more of the salt mix. On the seventh day turn the beef over and continue rubbing with the salt mix for a further seven days.
After this time, drain the beef from the pickle then hot smoke (see the how to make a home-made hot smoker article for a guide to smoking).
