Bresaola

I LOVE bresaola, but you don't seem to be able to buy it here, or perhaps you can Waitrose for an exorbitant sum of cling wrapped tasteless meat.
I thought I'd have a crack at making it, having a small bit of topside in the freezer.

 
Recipe from www.britishlarder.co.uk

For the bresaola

• 24g sea salt
• 80g dark soft brown or muscovado sugar
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon dried juniper berries
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mixed rosemary and thyme leaves
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• finely grated zest of 2 oranges

• 2.4g - 3.2g cure #2 (also know as Prague powder #2) – it’s important that you follow the measurements for this cure correctly; do not use more than the recipe specification (see Cook’s Notes)
• 1.2–1.6kg topside of beef

For the bresaola, pound all the ingredients together, except the beef, using a pestle and mortar until roughly crushed. Place the meat on a large tray and then divide the crushed cure mixture in half. Reserve one half in an airtight container (at room temperature is fine) and then massage the other half all over the beef. Wrap the beef tightly in cling film and place it on a clean tray or in a suitable container in the fridge for 5 days. Turn the beef once a day.

After 5 days, remove the cling film, pat the meat dry and then rub the remaining cure mixture all over the beef. Wrap it again in fresh cling film and return it to the fridge as before for a further 5 days, turning the beef daily.

After the second period of 5 days, remove the cling film and pat the meat dry. Wrap the beef in muslin cloth and secure with butcher’s string, then hang the meat in the fridge at around 5°C for 4 weeks. (If, however, you can hang the bresaola in a suitable cool, dark, well-ventilated shed or room at the ideal temperature of between 10–15°C, with relative humidity at 70–80% (see Cook’s Notes), then it should be ready in 3 weeks.) Make sure you label the meat with a tag with the production date; this will help you to follow the progress.

The bresaola is ready when the meat has lost about 30% of its original weight (so it’s also a good idea to weigh the wrapped meat before you hang it). Once the bresaola is ready, remove the muslin cloth, wrap the bresaola tightly in cling film or keep it in a dry, airtight container, and store it in the fridge. Use within 2 weeks.

I hung this in an old (clean!) nappy muslin in the shed for three weeks in April. It did have a couple of mouldy spots, but apparently this is quite normal, I wiped them off with a veg brush. I then rubbed flour into it to give it that powdery look, as it looked a bit unapealing freshly unwrapped. It was GOOD, esp with a squeeze of lemon, can't say it lasted long...

I think I should have blitzed the spice rub, rather than pound it, as it was a bit lumpy.