Salt Beef

rockyracoon | 17:47 Thu 15th Aug 2013 | Food & Drink

20 Answers

Evening all.

I've just made some brine to put a brisket of beef into, the recipe says to put it all in a sealable bag and put in the fridge. Do you think it would be okay to put it in a saucepan with a lid on instead of the bag, will the brine react with the stainless steel.

Thanks for any replies. :)

In The Middle Of A Field

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Barmaid

Hmmmm, not sure. Can't you put the whole lot in an unsealable bag and then stand it in a saucepan with the lid on?

rockyracoon

Question Author

Ooh, didn't think of leaving the bag open and then putting the lid on, that'd work I think.

Ta muchly :-)

heathfield

As long as the salt is fully dissolved, there should be no problem. Pitting and brown spots can occur on stainless steel if salt crystals are left lying on the bottom of the pan.

rockyracoon

Question Author

Thanks Heathfield, the brine was boiled first so has no crystals.

I've had a thought though, the salt I used (Saxa) probably has iodine in it and for some reason I remember buying Maldon Sea Salt the last time I made it because it doesn't contain iodine. Will it make any difference do you think?

heathfield

Saxa has an anti-caking additive, not iodine, but Sodium Hexacyanoferrate II. (oooer!). It shouldn't affect your pan. I add a tablespoon of Saxa salt or more to water before boiling eggs. (Helps stop them cracking), and my pans are fine.

rockyracoon

Question Author

Thanks Heathcliffe, I have absolutely no idea why I insisted on using iodine free salt last time :)

humbersloop

rocky, as matter of interest,did you use saltpetre in the brine as well as ordinary salt?

Psybbo

Off topic, rocky, but did you enjoy your break in Ireland and where did you eat in Coleraine?

humbersloop

only I asked this ages ago, and it was a bit inconclusive

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Food-and-Drink/Question1210293.html

Brinjal

You need to put a weight on it just to make sure it is fully covered with liquid.

rockyracoon

Question Author

Humber, no, I never used saltpetre, to be honest I'd have no idea where to buy it, the recipe called for 30g of Prague Powder but I have absolutely no idea what that is :)

Psybbo, we dove up to Port Rush but it was bloody heaving, no one told these people there's a recession going on ;), the restaurants on the harbour where all an hour and a half wait and the kids were having none of that, so we ended up n a place called The Spinnaker, the food was okay but the decor was very dated. We all fell a bit in love with NI though, beautiful.

Brin, I'm actually hunting about for something to weigh it down with :)

humbersloop

I think Prague Powder is another name for saltpetre Rocky, so it came out alright without it?

rockyracoon

Question Author

Ah, that would make sense I suppose.

The beef came out very well without it, it was delicious, hence round two, not sure how much difference the saltpetre would make though. Wonder where you can buy it..

humbersloop

I found UK interweb suppliers, but it seems the only reason for using it is to stop the beef turning grey and keeping it fairly bright pink - so if that didn't happen with your round 1, why bother?

Although there's the very big difference in brining time between salt beef and corned beef which might matter

rockyracoon

Question Author

Mine did go a bit grey in colour (not offputtingly though). Thnk I'll get some saltpetre for next time to compare.