Spiced beef or Christmas beef

The British have always liked their spiced beef, and before Christmas the most enormous pieces of meat, weighing 18 kg (40 lb) or more, would be eaten as part of the ‘cold collation’ to which guests were treated any time of day or night over the days of celebration.

Although not often seen today, spiced beef is not a complicated dish to make. All that is needed is a week’s notice.