Salt brisket with beetroot-and-horseradish relish

Serves 4, with enough left over for supper sandwiches

Find a good kosher butcher (it can be worth searching online) or, if you’re in London, visit Selfridges food hall to buy saltbeef brisket to cook at home.

A beetroot-and-horseradish relish, known as chrain in the vernacular, is very good with many boiled (perhaps poached is a better description) meats, but especially salted ones, as here with salt brisket (but also with tongue, too). However, in an entirely non-kosher fashion, I’ve enjoyed it alongside a hot gammon or bacon joint.

For some reason, the reaction between the beetroot and horseradish, once they’re processed, is a powerful one, so please look out for your nose when you open the lid of the machine in which you create your relish.

Ingredients

2kg piece of salt brisket 3 halved onions, 1 half stuck

with 4 cloves 4 sticks celery, cut into short

lengths 2 bay leaves 3 sprigs of thyme A few peppercorns 8 medium-sized carrots, peeled

and cut in half lengthways 8 medium-sized leeks, trimmed of most green parts, left whole

For the beetroot-and-horseradish relish

3–4 medium-sized cooked beetroots, peeled and cut into chunks 2tbspn freshly grated horseradish 2tbspn balsamic vinegar 2tspn caster sugar

Method

Put the salt brisket into a roomy pot and cover with water to a depth of about 4–5cm (1½in– 2in). Slowly bring to the boil and remove any scum that forms on the surface. Drain the beef in a colander in the sink, allowing the water to seep away before rinsing the brisket under a cold running tap.

Wipe out the pot, return the beef and add cold water, but this time only just to cover the meat. Tuck in the onions, celery, herbs and peppercorns and bring up to a simmer, skim once again and quietly simmer for about an hour and a quarter covered.

Fish out the exhausted onions, celery and herbs and then introduce the carrots and leeks. Bring back to a simmer and cook for about another 30 minutes. Once the vegetables are very tender and the brisket easily penetrable with a skewer, turn off the heat.

Leave in the cooking liquor for about 10 minutes to rest— poached meats benefit from this just as much as do roasts.

Meanwhile, make the beetrootand-horseradish relish by working all the ingredients together in a food processor until they are smooth-ish.

To serve, remove the beef from its liquor, slice it thinly and lay it onto a heated platter with, or without, some of the liquor.