The lowdown
O’s Dominic Martin shows you how to master this classic preserving technique
Master brining to make your own salt beef and dill pickles
Brining is the process by which food is both preserved and flavoured in heavily salted water or with dry salt. Any number of meats, vegetables and cheeses can be brined: think salt beef, ham, turkey, rollmops, anchovies, caviar, halloumi and feta, all of which acquire their unique flavours and textures from the brining method.
If you’re looking for a straightforward brining project with spectacular results, then I urge you to have a go at making your own salt beef. It takes a week for the beef to brine, so it makes an ideal weekend activity, ready for you to enjoy the following weekend. And, seeing as you’ll need to be a little patient while the brining process does its thing, why not use the time to conjure up a couple of jars of homemade dill pickles? Then you’ll have everything you need to make the ultimate salt beef bagel.
How brining works
The particular effect that brining has on meat is to draw moisture from within the cell walls, mixing with the salt in the brining mixture before being reabsorbed. The salt both preserves and tenderises the meat, while any aromatics, which are also drawn in, help to impart flavour.
What you’ll need
To make the salt beef, you’ll need an airtight container and a zip-lock freezer bag large enough to store the beef brisket flat while it brines for a week. For the dill pickles, you’ll need two 500ml jars (such as Kilner jars) – one jar of pickles is enough to serve with the salt beef bagels, the other you get to keep as a storecupboard treat.
Get experimenting
Feel free to try out different aromatics when brining the beef – some recipes include the likes of allspice, mustard seeds, ginger and even dried chillies. And when you boil the brisket, you could always chuck in some other veggies you might have sitting around, such as potatoes or cabbage – anything you add will make a subtle difference to the final flavour of the meat. As well as stuffing it into bagels, you can serve thick slices with potato salad or boil some extra root vegetables in the cooking liquor to eat alongside it.
Pre-prepared curing salt
The best way to guarantee that the salt beef will come out with that beautiful purplepink colour is to use sodium nitrite – without it the salt beef will still taste good but, lookswise, would end up a rather less appetising shade of grey-brown. Traditionally, homemade salt beef was brined in a solution loaded with aromatics, salt and a little saltpetre (potassium nitrate), which did the same job, but these days several specialist websites offer pre-made curing salt mixtures (a combination of sodium chloride, otherwise known as table salt, and sodium nitrite) specifically for making salt beef. The curing salt we used was from and is meant for dry brining, but and
also offer similar mixtures for wet brining. Both techniques produce great results but we find dry brining is less messy, takes up less room in the fridge and you don’t have to figure out the brine’s specific salt to water ratio.
Looking for more projects?
Free Saturdays or Sundays are the perfect opportunity to embark on some achievable foodie projects you’ve always had your eye on. Fancy making your own bresaola, duck ham or beef jerky? Or trying your hand at salami or ’nduja? Head to Omagazine.com for our easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides.