Preserving the Flavor and Texture of Home-Cooked Beef Joints: Tips and Tricks

[wolram]

I am after a way to cook a joint of beef so as i can use it for my sarnies,
when i do it it ends up dry and cardboardy after a few days, is there a marinade that will help preserve the beefiness and texture, that deli stuff is not bad but it lacks the taste of home cooked joint.

 

[Chi Meson]

What in the ding dong dell is a sarnie?

 

[Evo]

What in the ding dong dell is a sarnie?

It's a sammich.

 

[wolram]

What in the ding dong dell is a sarnie?

Bells in the dell? i will have have to ask old Ned about that. or could it just be those pesky morris dancers again.

 

[turbo]

What in the ding dong dell is a sarnie?

Not a Tull fan? "With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention, while queuing for sarnies at the office canteen."

 

[tribdog]

what in the ding dong dell is a Tull?

 

[Moonbear]

What in the Tull is a ding dong dell?

 

[brewnog]

You're overcooking it wooly.

Preheat your oven to gas mark 9 (yes, 9, 240c).

Dust the joint with some mustard powder and flour, and then rub some salt, black pepper and olive oil into the joint well.

Preheat your roasting tin, and place 4 halves of onion in the bottom with plenty of your fat of choice. Then place your joint on top of the onions.

Roast for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to gas 5, and cook it for 15 minutes per pound for rare meat. Add 15 mins to the total cooking time for medium, or 30 for well done. These were Delia's timings, so I'd stick to rare the first time round, since it'll probably be what you call medium anyway.

I know I shouldn't need to ask, but you *are* using proper beef aren't you?

If you like, use the same tin to roast your spuds and parsnips and sweet potatoes, and chuck some garlic cloves in there too for extra yumness. The onions will caramelise wonderfully, and the juices will be ideal for your gravy.

 

[turbo]

Bells in the dell? i will have have to ask old Ned about that. or could it just be those pesky morris dancers again.

Ah, yes. Prancing about with jingle bells, hankies, and ribbons. What a wonderful way to spend your weekends. Just one step up the entertainment food-chain from mimes.

 

[turbo]

what in the ding dong dell is a Tull?

Those are lyrics from "Thick as a Brick" by Jethro Tull. For years, I thought he was saying "sardies" and I figured it was a cutesy name for sardines, like infantile folk in the US say "veggies".

 

[tribdog]

is "slouch to attention" cool, profound, deep, clever or goofy?

 

[turbo]

I am after a way to cook a joint of beef so as i can use it for my sarnies,
when i do it it ends up dry and cardboardy after a few days, is there a marinade that will help preserve the beefiness and texture, that deli stuff is not bad but it lacks the taste of home cooked joint.

Coat the meat with a rub of salt and pepper, throw it in a deep pot and scorch it (brown it thoroughly on all sides) on the stovetop in an oil that can take high temps (peanut oil is great). You will now have a browned piece of beef and a pot with a lot of dark carmelized juices on the bottom. Now pour in a few inches of water and a generous helping of dry red wine and start simmering that to dissolve the carmelization (you're going to get a tasty dark gravy this way). Toss in sliced cabbage, onions, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips or turnips. You should also add some crushed garlic Cover the pot and simmer until the meat falls apart easily when prodded with a fork, adding water from time to time as it boils down. The beef and the vegetables will swap flavors. This is a New England boiled dinner, and the meat makes the juiciest, tastiest sandwiches you will ever have. When the beef is cooked, remove it and the vegetables and place them on a serving platter.

Whisk some flour into a small bowl of cold water until the mixture is fairly heavy, then whisk that mixture into the boiling juices in your stew pot, and watch the consistency build, to control the thickness of the gravy. You're now ready to sit down to a great meal, and the leftover meat will be fantastic for sandwiches (I like mine with yellow mustard and sharp cheddar cheese on Jewish rye bread).

You can run some of the meat and vegetables through a food processor or a grinder and fry that with eggs for a delicious breakfast hash. If you like sandwiches, the trick is to cook a few vegetables with a large piece of meat, so you can keep having hash and leftover beef and vegetables for a few days, while having plenty of beef for the week's sandwiches.

 

[turbo]

is "slouch to attention" cool, profound, deep, clever or goofy?

You've got to listen to the song a few times and decide for yourself. It's full of sarcasm and humor, poking fun at the powerful and the pompous. The song spanned two sides of an LP, so it did not get a lot of airplay (except on late-night shows on college stations, etc), but the album sold well. You've got to realize that the band was poking fun at everything, including themselves, insisting that the lyrics had been written by a young boy prodigy.

 

[Evo]

I am after a way to cook a joint of beef so as i can use it for my sarnies,
when i do it it ends up dry and cardboardy after a few days, is there a marinade that will help preserve the beefiness and texture, that deli stuff is not bad but it lacks the taste of home cooked joint.

Are you slicing it all up after it's cooked, or leaving it whole? You should get yourself one of those vacuum sealers, they're pretty cheap now and really keep stuff fresh.

 

[wolram]

Thanks for the advice guys, and Evo, i all ways buy a good joint with some fat and just roast it pink then cut off what i need, i have never seen a vacuum thingamjig but i am going into town tomorrow so i will look out for one.

The bell jokes were not a knock out guys, surly you can do better

 

[hypatia]

{brewnog}I know I shouldn't need to ask, but you *are* using proper beef aren't you?

...wonders what a proper beef is? A cow with good manners?

 

[turbo]

...wonders what a proper beef is? A cow with good manners?

Proper beef did not whinney when it was alive.

 

[brewnog]

Proper beef, from proper cows, from a proper farm, reared by proper farmers, fed with proper food, then taken a short distance before being slaughtered at a proper abbotoir at the proper time, transported a short distance again to a proper butcher where it's properly prepared and properly stored.

 

[zoobyshoe]

No, I'm sure he's talking about the fact that a lot of English farmers who can't afford a cow will strap horns on a pig and pretend they own a cow.

 

[turbo]

Proper beef, from proper cows, from a proper farm, reared by proper farmers, fed with proper food, then taken a short distance before being slaughtered at a proper abbotoir at the proper time, transported a short distance again to a proper butcher where it's properly prepared and properly stored.

Then, there's proper cooking with proper culinary tools and proper seasoning with proper storage thereafter, so the upcoming sarnies will be properly moist and tasty. There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.

Levity aside: Woolie, my recipe for a New England boiled dinner will work beautifully with even the toughest, cheapest cuts of meat. I grew up in what you would consider a "poor" family, though we had a great upbringing and we ate very well. This type of cooking turns the cheapest, stringiest chuck roasts into a meal fit for a king. Give it a try just once - I'm sure it will work fine in Old England, too. By the way, the leftover meat and vegetables (including the gravy as a topping) make a great open-faced sandwich. If you have a microwave oven where you work, take the fixin's and whip one up for lunch. Your co-workers will be swarming you for the recipe. Reveal the recipe to them at a pub after work (one ingredient at a time at a pint each).

 

[turbo]

No, I'm sure he's talking about the fact that a lot of English farmers who can't afford a cow will strap horns on a pig and pretend they own a cow.

I had not heard of this, though I'm certain that Dr. Eggerton has written extensively on this, and you have references. What decibel rating? Air or electic diaphragm?

 

[wolram]

Proper beef, from proper cows, from a proper farm, reared by proper farmers, fed with proper food, then taken a short distance before being slaughtered at a proper abbotoir at the proper time, transported a short distance again to a proper butcher where it's properly prepared and properly stored.

Oh heck, i have a proper headach now, if i recon a quid a throw for each proper i will have to pay a well proper price, i think i will try Turbo's method,
then if i cock it up i will not be too out of pocket.

 

[turbo]

Oh heck, i have a proper headach now, if i recon a quid a throw for each proper i will have to pay a well proper price, i think i will try Turbo's method,
then if i cock it up i will not be too out of pocket.

You cannot screw up a New England boiled dinner unless you run it dry while simmering and burn it to a crisp. Even a mediocre first attempt will be very good, and your subsequent batches will be even better. Use seasonings with a light hand, since the extensive simmering will spread them around liberally. It is not uncommon to take 3-4 hours to cook this dish properly but do it on a day when you have to be home anyway, or when the weather is crappy. You'll be thanking yourself all week. When I was in college (~>35 years ago) I used to cook this at least once a month, alternating with big batches of baked beans, lentil soup, chili, spaghetti, etc. I couldn't afford to buy meals, so I made them all, including my own whole-wheat bread.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I had not heard of this, though I'm certain that Dr. Eggerton has written extensively on this, and you have references. What decibel rating? Air or electic diaphragm?

I'm sure if you can't afford a cow you'll also use any horn that's cheapest at the junkyard.

 

[Yonoz]

Oh heck, i have a proper headach now, if i recon a quid a throw for each proper i will have to pay a well proper price, i think i will try Turbo's method,
then if i cock it up i will not be too out of pocket.

Just make sure the fat is more white than yellow and that the meat itself is matte and does not shine EDIT: though it can be bright red. If you poke the meat it should return slowly to its original form sans a small dimple.

 

[hypatia]

Wow off to the butcher store to poke his meat!

 

[Yonoz]

Wow off to the butcher store to poke his meat!

Yeah I thought that was bad phrasing...

 

[tribdog]

Wow off to the butcher store to poke his meat!

You still go to the butcher store? I buy all my butchers online.

 

[GeorginaS]

Well I didn't think they were that surly.

Edited to add: Um, that was in response to #15. I guess I should have read all the way to the bottom of page 2 before saying anything.

Anyhow, I've learned all sorts of interesting stuff on how to cook hunks of beef.

 

[zoobyshoe]

You still go to the butcher store? I buy all my butchers online.

I borrow my neighbor's butcher. Damn! That reminds me...where'd I put him?