Ballymaloe spiced beef

Serves 8-10

You will need:

110g demerara or light brown sugar 125g salt 5g saltpetre (potassium nitrate) 25g whole black peppercorns 25g whole allspice (also known as pimento or Jamaican pepper) 25g whole juniper berries Roughly 2kg flank of beef with the bones and excess fat removed — ask your butcher to do this (weigh the meat after it has been prepared) Bread, pickles and chutney, to serve

1

First, make the Ballymaloe beef spice mixture. Grind — preferably in a spice grinder, in a few batches — the demerera sugar or the light brown sugar, whichever you’re using, the salt, the saltpetre, the whole black peppercorns, the allspice and the whole juniper berries until the mixture is fairly fine.

2

Put the beef in a large gratin dish or a roasting tray and rub some of the Ballymaloe beef spice mix well into every crevice of the beef. Cover the meat and put it in the fridge for 3-6 days, turning the meat occasionally. (This is a dry spice, but after one or two days, some liquid will come out of the meat.) The longer the meat is left marinating in the spice, the longer it will last after cooking and the stronger the spiced flavour will be.

3

Just before cooking the meat, use cotton string to roll and tie the joint neatly into a compact roll. Put it in a pot, cover it with cold water and simmer it for 2-3 hours (approximately 20 minutes per 450g) or until it is soft and cooked

— when it’s cooked, you should be able to insert a skewer in to the centre of the beef and the skewer will come out easily.

4

If you’re serving the beef warm, remove it from the liquid, and put it on a carving board. Cut away the string and carve it in slices to serve. If the beef is to be eaten cold, remove it from the liquid. Put it in a high-sided dish such as a roasting tray or gratin dish, cover it with a chopping board, and weigh it down with about 4 or 5 tins of tomatoes or beans (or something of a similar weight) and leave it for 12 hours. After 12 hours, remove the board and the weights. It will now keep in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. Serve it by cutting it into very thin slices and serving it with some bread, pickles and chutney.