Name: Spiced beef or Christmas beef
Yield: To Serve Six
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon coarsely crushed black pepper; ½ teaspoon coarsely crushed allspice; ½ teaspoon powdered cloves; ½ teaspoon powdered mace; piece of beef (e.g. silverside, top rump, thin flank or top rib) weighing 2.3-2.7 kg (5-6 lb); 1 dessertspoon dried thyme; 225 g (½ lb) moist dark brown sugar; 1 large bunch parsley, finely chopped; 15 g (½ oz) gelatine; 575 ml (1 pint) beef stock; 1 onion, chopped; 6 fresh or dried bayleaves; 15 g (½ oz) saltpetre; 225 g (½ lb) sea salt; 2 sticks celery, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 1 bouquet of herbs; 12 juniper berries, crushed

Preparation info

To Serve
Six

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

British Cooking

By Caroline Conran

Published 1978

About

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.