Dried or ‘Chipped’ Beef (Dry Cure)

Creamed Chipped Beef

by Cat, May 2012 (photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

See also: 1. Curing Beef and Other Meats; 2. Dried  Beef (Brine Cure); 3.  Dried Beef: Drying and Smoking Cured Beef; 4. S.O.S. – Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast;

See also (other sites): Cured Meats – Salami is Just the Beginning (7)

I’ve not yet tested the dry cure.

This recipe is based on Smoking Meat Forums:

• Making Dried Beef (not Jerky) from Venison (1) using a 2-lb top round roast and Tenderquick, a curing salt that contains a blend of salt, sugar, 0.5% sodium nitrate & sodium nitrite (a version of saltpeter), and propylene glycol.;
• Stuffers.com: Dried beef (page 38 of pdf file (2)); and
• eHow: How to Cure Meat without Sodium Nitrite (3), saltpeter-free recipe (uses natural saltpeter in foods such as celery seeds).

I don’t want the nitrate/nitrate so will use Kosher Salt and add ground celery seeds for the natural nitrates in the seed.

Rules of thumb:

• 1 – 1.5 oz dry cure (includes salt, sugar and saltpeter if using) for each pound of meat (for each rubbing, or total?). (14)
• Two rubbings each 3 – 5 days (14);
• Ham requires three rubbings (15). 1 – 2 days per pound of meat (14) – or 7 days per 1” thickness of meat (15) – for complete cure.

Method for Dry Cure

For my trial batch, I’ll use a 2 lb rump or top-round roast, with a dry cure. Plan about one day per pound of meat for the curing (or 2 days per inch of meat thickness).

See also Nitrates: Facts about Sodium Nitrate and Nitrite  on the Culinary Arts website (6).

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 2 pounds of meat (such as rump roast or round steak)
• 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt *
• 2 Tbsp Rapadura or brown sugar *
• 1 tsp ground celery seeds
• glass baking or casserole dish with lid, or plastic bag that can contain the dish; or vacuum-seal bag

* NOTES:

1. You can also use a commercial curing salt but the amount will be different. Follow instructions on the container. Note that some curing salts contain saltpeter or sodium nitrate/nitrite.
2. Some also include sugar; in this case, omit the added sugar.

Method of Dry cure:

1. Trim meat. Wash and pat dry.
2. Whisk salt, sugar & celery seeds together until evenly blended. Rub half the mixture over entire surface of the meat so that it is totally coated (the other half of the mixture will be used in a few days).
3. Place in a glass casserole dish with lid (or place the dish in a plastic bag) and refrigerate for 2 – 4 days. Or you could use vacuum-seal bag to contain the salted meat. Alternately, you can cure in a root cellar as long as temperature is 32° – 40° F.
4. Check daily for accumulation of brine in the container; drain off excess to avoid having the cured meat be too salty (from resting in the brine).
5. To determine if it has been in the brine long enough, do a ‘fry’ test used to determine if meat has been long enough in the brine. Slice off a bit of the roast, fry it, then sample to see what the salt content is like, to determine if it needs to soak longer or not.
6. Remove meat and rub in the remaining half of the curing mixture; refrigerate in same container for another 2 – 4 days, checking for brine accumulation to be drained off.
7. Remove meat, wash it and pat dry with towels.
8. Rub in ground black peppercorns or mixed peppercorns if desired. It is now ready to dry.

References 

1. www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/114930/making-dried-beef-not-jerky-from-venison
2. www.wwf5.com/stuffers.com/content/recipes/sausrecp.pdf
3. www.ehow.com/how_6524567_cure-meat-sodium-nitrite.html.
4. answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060828114614AATzuPI
5. pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2055/ANSI-3994web.pdf
6. culinaryarts.about.com/od/seasoningflavoring/a/nitrates.htm
7. Cured Meats – Salami is Just the Beginning (italianfood.about.com/od/curedmeats/Cured_Meats_Salamis_just_the_beginning.htm)