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[katallison]

I decided, rather belatedly, that what I wanted to cook for Christmas Day dinner with P. was spiced beef. Belatedly, because this is really something you should start 10-14 days in advance, but oh well.

The technique is relatively simple; you get a good-sized beef roast. (I am not knowledgeable about cuts, so I just grab whatever looks good and beefy, but in general you're looking for lean, rather than well-marbled.) Five pounds is a good size. You take it out of its wrapper, rub it all over with brown sugar, put it in a container in the fridge, and leave it. Day 2, repeat the brown sugar rub. Then days 3 through cooking day (which should, ideally, be the day before you serve it), you rub it daily with a mixture of:
--crushed allspice
--crushed juniper berries
--crushed black peppercorns
--sea salt

You'll need about 1/3 cup of each. Ideally, you buy these all whole and grind them yourself. Since I don't have a spice mill, but I do have a wonderful heavy mortar and pestle, I just give them (as Jamie Oliver would say) a good bash-around, until they're sort of sand-textured. One can cheat and buy pre-ground spices, but they tend to be too fine (and I don't know that ground juniper is readily available anyway--god knows it can be a challenge to even find whole juniper berries).

The day before serving, put the roast in a low oven (300-ish) in a pan with a tight-fitting lid, into the bottom of which you've dribbled a half-cup of water. Roast 45 minutes to an hour per pound. When it's done, take it out, and (this can be tricky) weight it down in some manner. I put it in a big flat bowl, set a smaller plate on top, and set a can on top of the plate. Back into the refrigerator overnight. Take it out several hours before serving, and allow it to come to room temperature. Slice it very thin. You can serve it with a chutney of some kind, or plain. A good side dish would be roasted root vegetables. And of course you'll want an ample, muscular, robust red wine.

I first got this recipe from an article by Laurie Colwin (author of the entirely wonderful "Home Cooking," one of my favorite food books ever), who in turn got it from Elizabeth David, but it goes way back into antiquity (as I discovered, googling around). It's well worth the time involved; it turns an ordinary chunk of meat into something savoury and complex, and the daily ritual of the spice-rub becomes part of the anticipatory ramp-up to Christmas. Just don't do it if you're already feeling stressed and frayed by too many daily chores; it should, ideally, be a minor celebration, a sort of culinary Advent calendar.

I used to make this every Christmas, for years, and then I stopped; I'm not sure why. I used to bake bread, too, on a regular once- or twice-weekly schedule, and then I stopped that too. But today I'm spicing my beef roast, and I have a loaf rising in the oven. I've been extremely lacking in the holiday spirit overall so far this year, but maybe I'm finally getting back into the swing.

Comments

[sinensiss.livejournal.com]

just had to say that when I started to read the recipe, I went Laurie Colwin! Home Cooking! one of my favorites, too. (And there is another, have you read that? More Home Cooking.) I've never made the spiced beef, but I'm glad to hear from another person that it is as good as it sounds.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I should've put More Home Cooking on my Christmas list! I used to have a copy, but it got lost one or two moves ago, sadly. Looks like Amazon's got copies, though ::placing order:: Thanks for reminding me of it!

[twistedchick]

Could it be done with a different meat, for those of us who can't eat beef?

Also, an old-fashioned hand-crank coffee grinder might work for the juniper berries. (The kind with the drawer in it for the ground coffee.)

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Juniper is meant to be very good with venison as well as beef, and I'm sure it would make a lovely alternative. You might try a pork roast, too.

Yay! Home Cooking! Best. Food Book. Ever.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Seconding the suggestion of venison, and yeah, pork would be interesting to try. Ooh, and bison prepared this way would be fantastic, I think, if one had access to bison meat.

And a coffee grinder should work fine for the spices; I didn't use mine because cleaning out my little electric Braun grinder is a nuisance, but either an electric or a hand-crank one would do the job.

[ratcreature]

Are juniper berries not a common spice in the US? I mean being vegetarian I mostly use them in sauerkraut, some red cabbage recipes, and some sauces, but my mom used juniper berries in lots of meat dishes, like for all kinds of venison and beef roasts and marinades, and I think for some kinds of cooked fish too, iirc (I admit that after a decade of vegetarianism my memory of meat and fish dishes has somewhat faded).

[katallison.livejournal.com]

I would say juniper is rarely used in the US--it's definitely seen as an exotic ingredient. I had to go to a couple of stores to find some, since my local co-op that carries all sort of bulk herbs and spices didn't have any. Someone living in a smaller town would probably have to mail-order it. Which is a shame, because I love the flavor it gives to dishes.

[ratcreature]

I wouldn't have guessed that. Somehow it's weird when a spice that I associate with "everyday home-cooked meals" is described as "exotic." But then again for example here you won't find canned pureed pumpkin which I found out when I tried to bake a pumpkin pie -- I never had any and people from the US kept mentioning it, so I wanted to try it, and it turned out very tasty but a lot of effort when made totally from scratch. And I still don't understand why you can find dried black beans here easily enough, but not canned.

[lapillus]

Yum!

*wonders about sneaking over on Xmas*

[katallison.livejournal.com]

*g* I will almost certainly have leftovers, and would be glad to share with you and Jackie.

Yum!

[lapillus]

How about Boxing Day? Jackie and I both have it off

[ardent-muses.livejournal.com]

I SO loved Laurie Colwin. I found her through her fiction, which is terrific, but these days I re-read the food books more often. I'm delighted to see her name, and to know I share the Colwin-love with you. :)

Sounds delicious, BTW. Go you!

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love both Colwin's fiction and her food writing; she's right at the top of my comfort-reading list, for those days when I'm feeling cranky and misanthropic.