Silverside

Us Brits are known for our roast beef. It's instinct borne of generation. Hunks of meat searing in a crackling hearth, dutifully turned on the spit while embers pop and crack in an otherwise lifeless space.

These days we stick it in a box of water replacing the fire risk with botulism and call it progress.


The issue with beef in the UK is it's so darned expensive but a water bath can help with this. Kinda.

Buy the cheapest, nameless joint you can find, cook it for a couple of days and it'll be fork tender. The reason I haven't posted about it's because 'Unknown beef' as a title's helping no-one. So I was curious how something like silverside would turn out as it's surprisingly affordable. I had nothing to go on so went with a 'hit and hope' technique to get a starting point on which to build.

Vital statistics : 56 degrees for 24 hours

If anyone mentions the Beadle-claw I swear there'll be a beat down.

The only reason I've included the next photo is to show that you can get more air out of the bag if you pull it straight sometimes. I think it works more when you've got biggish things like this.

One whole day later and you get this. I'll keep the following bit short of words as there's nothing really to point out. Pat it dry, season it, fry at warp speed and I'll see you on the other side.

Hey. Good to have you back.

Only one thing to mention at this point. Beef loves colour but colour means heat and for a steak that means a worryingly long spell in a frying pan wondering if you've dried it out. With a joint like this though, you've got less to worry about as the heat's never going to reach the centre. That doesn't mean you can wimp out though missy - crank the frying pan as high as you can and go for a dark crust knowing the middle's safe as houses.

And so to the sharp end of things. It looked a bit pinker than this in real life. Not a bad result though.

The short answer is it's good.

The long answer is to do with tenderness over pinkness.

When you cook something for a long time it loses some of the 'medium' look about it. Compare these pictures to the sirloin post and you'll see what I mean. You could reduce the temperature to get some of that pinkness back but there's only so far you can go before that old enemy botulism comes back to bite you.

The thing is it's plenty tender, but in a unique way. I'll struggle to explain this.

If you think of a fillet steak you know it's almost melting but with a very meaty texture. Cooking for long times in a water bath seems to break down the fibres so you lose that characteristic beef texture and it becomes a bit... wooly. It's not necessarily a bad thing and if you've bought something that's super-cheap, you'll appreciate any tenderness it'll give you but bear in mind you won't get that almost visceral experience once it's softened. There you go - it's not tender, it's soft. Perfect description. God I'm good.

What I'd be interested to see is how it turns out when taken to the other end of the spectrum and cooked for a short time so there'll be an update when we try this soon. Stand by your beds soldiers.

Update

There's good news and bad news. The good news is I've cooked it again for a shorter time in the hope of improving it. The bad news is it was inedible.

Actually inedible's a bit harsh. There's some almost invisible connective tissue around the edge which makes it really hard work to chew. You can cut it off but there's also some in the middle so you'll get some bits that are tender and some bits that aren't. When I say hard work, we chewed until boredom crept in, then swallowed and almost choked because our teeth just didn't break it up. Food shouldn't be this annoying. It is nicely pink though. Check out the new tongs I bought while we were on holiday in Cornwall. I never switch off.

On the plus side, the yorkshires turned out brilliantly so we ate more of those.

Verdict - 57 degrees for 4 hours looks good but don't be lured in by its prettiness unless you want to practice your Heimlich manoeuvre. No food should come with a medical procedure.

Another update tomorrow.

Update 2

So 4 hours was an absolute failure then. A bit, but all wasn't lost because I re-bagged what was left and popped it back in the water bath for another 7 hours making 11 in total. If you've got the time and the leftovers you might as well give it a second shot. The only downside was my girlfriend had left so I was back to taking photos on my phone. Sony should've named it the Grey-o-Matic as the camera leaches all colour into the ether before proudly announcing its work.

Being fair it was better but still not too great. The middle was much more edible but some of the edge bits had to be pulled out like a magician with a knotted rope of handkerchiefs. The fat was only fit for the skip.

So I popped it in the fridge 'til the following day and I've just sliced it v. thinly and removed the fat and you know what, it's really nice cold, so much so that I've made a sandwich of it for tomorrow's lunch. I'd never do it this way again, I'm just trying not to waste food.

I might try it for 18 hours but to be honest, 24 seems to be the best bet, possibly at a slightly lower temperature to stop it squeezing out too much moisture. This could be ripe for attempt number 4.

It's a bloody minded labour of love this one but I'll give it one more go soon.