Irish Spiced Beef

I love celebrating holidays.  They are a deviation from the ordinary--a chance to do things that you never get to do other days of the year.  There are decorations, stories, music, and of course... food.  I grew up hating St. Patrick's Day when I was a kid, however, because what was served at my home was very salty meat with mushy cabbage.  (Sorry, Mom, but it's true.)  My mother was a fabulous cook, but that combination of food was terrible.  So when I got old enough to be on my own, I sought out recipes for other Irish favorites that could replace corned beef and cabbage, yet still celebrate the spirit of my Irish ancestors.

For years, that was a shepherd's pie of some sort served with kale and Irish soda bread.  After trying out some new Irish dishes at Christmas time last year, I decided to swap out the shepherd's pie for Irish spiced beef, keep the kale, and swap out the soda bread for some Irish scones.  Irish spiced beef is traditionally served on St. Stephen's Day.  Around the holidays, you can find roasts already rolled in the requisite spice mix in shops in Ireland.  But it is served on other special occasions, as well.

It may become a regular part of our St. Patrick's Day celebration at Cromar Valley.  It's really that good.  It's salty like corned beef, but the additional spice mixture adds so much more flavor.  It's also really easy to make--which makes it an ideal main dish for a holiday meal.  Who wants to spend all day in the kitchen on a holiday?  (Particularly if there are guests.)  One to two weeks out, you roll your beef roast in a salt/spice mixture.  On the day of the event, you simmer it for six hours.  The total prep time is about ten minutes.  Five minutes to put together the spice rub.  Half a minute per day to turn the roast in the bowl in the fridge.  Two minutes to tie it up and pop it in the pan.  It's so simple, you will think that you are getting away with something.

I merged several recipes that I found here and there until I came up with something that worked for me.  Most notably, I changed the saltpeter to curing salt.  You just can't get food grade saltpeter in grocery stores here, and I wasn't going to spend an exorbitant amount of money to buy five pounds on the internet when I only needed two teaspoons.  Seriously.   Curing salt should be found by regular salt in the baking aisle of your grocery store.  Morton sells it in dark blue bags with their logo on the front.  I also changed the beer to apple beer, my own non-alcoholic preference, though a bit of cider would probably work, too.  When I served it on St. Stephen's Day, I did weight it and serve it cold.  Today I was in a hurry, so I served it warm--which as you can tell from the above picture, made it shred a bit rather than slice nicely, but it was still wonderfully delicious and moist.  My boys especially loved it.  We served it with kale and Irish scones. 

What did you make for St. Patrick's Day dinner?

Irish Spiced Beef  -- Yield: 6 lbs. or about a dozen or more servings

6 lbs. sirloin or beef eye round roast
3 bay leaves, crushed
1 tsp ground mace
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp molasses
2 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp curing salt (or food grade saltpeter)

1 can apple beer, juice, etc.

One to two weeks before the roast will be needed:  Mix together the spices, sugars, and salt.  Add the roast and rub it all over with the mixture.  Cover and refrigerate.  The salt will slowly draw juices from the beef, this is normal.  Turn the roast once a day in the mixture and cover.

The morning of the day you will serve it:  Tie up the roast with kitchen string and place in a large pot along with the apple beer and enough water to cover the roast.  Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat down to simmer for six hours.   Alternately, place roast in a crock pot along with the apple beer and water.  Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.   Allow the roast to cool in the liquid.  Remove the roast to a plate and top it with a weighted plate.  Refrigerate until it it time to serve.  Slice and serve it cold.