Spiced Beef Or Christmas Beef

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Meats			1	Servings

INGREDIENTS

1/2	t	Powdered cloves
1/2	t	Powdered mace
1/2	t	Coarsely crushed black
		peppers
1/2	t	Coarsely crushed allspice
1	T	Dried thyme
225	g	Moist dark brown sugar
1		Piece beef, silverside 2.3
		kg. flank top rump or
		top rib 2.3 to 2.7
225	g	Sea salt
15	g	Salt petre
6		Dried bay leaves
12		Juniper berries, crushed
1		Bouquet garni
2		Carrots, chopped
2		Sticks celery, chopped
1		Onion, chopped
2		Wine glasses port
575		Beef stock
15	g	Gelatin
1		Bunch parsley, finely
		chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix powdered and crushed spices, and the thyme. Mix half the mixture
with the sugar. Cover the meat with it in a shallow earthenware dish,
and leave to stand for 24 hours. Now add the salt, salt petre, bay
leaves and crushed juniper berries, rubbing them into the meat and  let
it steep in the mixture for a week, rubbing and turning it daily.  *
When ready to cook the meat, rinse it and soak for 1 hour in cold
water. Dry it well, spread the reserved spices over the inside of the
beef, roll it up tightly and tie with a string. * Put it into a heavy
iron casserole which just fits it. Surround it with the bouquet of
herbs and the chopped carrots, celery and onion. Pour on the 2  glasses
of port and the stock and cover tightly with its lid. Cook  for 4 - - 5
hours very, very slowly with the liquid quietly plupping,  turning the
meat occasionally, or braise it in a very low oven, 300Â°  F. for 4 - 5
hours until very tender. Eat hot or cold, allow to cool  to lukewarm in
the cooking liquid then take it out and put it between  two boards with
a 450 g weight on top. * Leave it overnight. The next  day eat it plain
or coat it with a jelly. To make the jelly: * Remove  the fat from the
top of the cooled cooking liquid. Strain, skim and  taste it. If it
tastes too strong and salty dilute it with red wine  or weak stock. *
Measure 575 ml. of the liquid. Put the gelatin in a  cup with 3 - 4
tablespoons of the liquid, heated, and place it in a  shallow pan of
hot water, over a moderate heat, stirring until it has  completely
dissolved. Add it and the chopped parsley to the measured  amount of
liquid and put it in the refrigerator, stirring it  occasionally until
it becomes thick and syrupy. Put the beef to chill  at the same time. *
As soon as the gelatin becomes thick, syrupy and  almost set, remove
the string from the beef and spoon the glaze over  it. Chill and repeat
this, giving two more coats so that the beef has  a nice thick glaze
with green parsley embedded in it. * Pour the rest  of the jelly into a
shallow pan, allow to set in the refrigerator.  Then when it has set,
cut it into squares and pile around the beef on  its serving dish. *
Serve, sliced with pickles, and plenty of  mustard. Posted to
recipelu-digest Volume 01 Number 299 by "Diane  Geary"
<diane@keyway.net> on Nov 23, 1997

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients) ---------------------------------------------- Calories: 809 Calories From Fat: 141 Total Fat: 14.6g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 165016.8mg Potassium: 1968.5mg Carbohydrates: 139.6g Fiber: 32.5g Sugar: 34.7g Protein: 26.4g