Kitchen Essential

Some time ago, I had a commercial association with a North Country farmer who, as an expanding sideline, had a smoked food business, supplying many first-class hotels, mainly in the western half of the country. He did not process smoked foods himself but had it custom smoked for him by people like myself. He was particularly keen to put smoked beef on the market — what type or how processed, he did not specify. The idea was left in abeyance for some time, as in any case I was fairly well occupied in smoking ducks, quail and pheasants for him, and it was not until the matter of smoked beef was raised by a first-class butcher of my acquaintance, who had enjoyed my smoked quail, that I pursued the matter further.

As I have already mentioned, the smoking of new products, about which there is no available literature, depends to a great extent on experimentation and intelligent guesswork. It is seldom one gets a new product 100% correct the first time, and beef is an expensive commodity to use as a subject for experiments. I mentioned this point to my butcher friend, who airily waved my caution aside, offering me a box of frozen fillets of beef on which to experiment. For a first attempt, they turned out very well, although at the outset I was not sure whether I should make a cold smoked or a hot smoked product out of them. I did discover that a period in cold smoke was quite sufficient to smoke the fillets right through, and the result was such that I can unhesitatingly recommend that they should be treated as a cold smoked meat and eaten raw, like smoked salmon.

Smoking

The fillets do not need to be of first-class quality. Cow fillets are quite adequate, as are those from cattle which have not been ‘done’ well in the store period and have finally been finished off on grass, possibly going to market as beef cattle a good deal older than normally would be the case. Such beef is covered with a good layer of fat but the lean is dark and sinewy, without the ‘marbling’ of fat between the tissues. Although I have not tried them, I imagine that Australian or South African fillets would be quite suitable. Only the thick bottom part of the fillet should be used. The tail end of the fillet tends to go dry during smoking — it is best used for steak Châteaubriand and should be served sliced along the grain, in the Dutch manner, instead of across.

The fillets should be pricked right through with a fork in several places on either side, to allow the brine to penetrate. Most of the fat should be removed as this hinders both brine and smoke penetration and, unless the beef has been dead for at least a week, the brine cannot penetrate the flesh and the resulting product will taste comparatively insipid.

The fillets should be covered in 80% brine and allowed to soak for 2¹/2 - 31/2 hours, according to thickness and fat content. After brining, a thin piece of string should be tied tightly around the smaller end of the fillet, about 2 in. from the end, and a loop formed for hanging in the kiln. The beef should be hung to drip and cure for 24 hours before it is placed in the smoke house. As with all cold smoked products, a beef fillet must lose a certain amount of moisture, and consequently weight, before it can be considered properly smoke cured. The fillets should therefore be weighed before brining, and a calculation made as to what the approximate smoked weight should finally be, working on my principle of a required weight loss of 20 - 25%. During smoking, temperatures must never exceed 80° F or the beef will case harden too rapidly, preventing the escape of moisture. Low smoke temperatures do not appear to make any difference to the finalproduct but if the beef is smoked at a temperature of 50 - 60°9 F, it will obviously take longer, as of course it will in times of high relative humidity. Nevertheless I find that 5 – 8days in the kiln is normally sufficient. It is as well to bear in mind that the fuller the kiln, the longer any product will take, as more moisture has to be evaporated, so it is a good idea never to fill kilns to maximum capacity and to leave a good air space around every article.

The beef will begin to turn black after about 21/2 days of smoking, which is as things should be. Beef is a tolerant material and, should the fire go out in the kiln at any time, the product will not suffer until such time as the fire is relit and the flow of smoke begins again. I mention this point as, when a kiln is working for a period of up to a week or beyond, natural human laxity is such that the fire is far more likely to go out than if the kiln should be working for only a couple of days.

Towards the end of the smoking period, the beef should be tested by weighing and, if all seems in order, the final test should be applied. This consists of slicing almost through the fillet at its thickest part, in order to give it the visual test. The freshly cut surfaces should have a dull, matt finish, proving adequate smoke penetration and drying. If the appearance is still bright and shiny, yet the weight loss seems about right, another 48 hours in the smoke will conclude the matter. It is also worth remembering that if either beef or salmon should prove to be particularly stubborn over losing weight during an excessively humid period, they can be taken out of the kiln, allowed to ’sweat’ for 12 hours in the case of salmon and 24 hours for beef, then be resmoked until correct weight loss is achieved.

Storage

Smoked fillet of beef has a long shelf life in a refrigerator. It is still good after 3 weeks and could well be considerably longer, particularly in the case of a whole uncut fillet, but again I think it is better to wrap in tinfoil and deep freeze as it loses nothing in the process. Smoked fillet forms a hard savoury rind on its outside which can be eaten or trimmed off according to taste, as in the case of the smoked surface of a side of salmon. In common with other smoked products, beef should be allowed to mature for 24 hours before bein_geaten, then should be thinly sliced across the grain and eaten as a starter as an alternative to smoked salmon. Lemon juice is a suitable additive, and smoked beef between brown bread and butter is one of my favourite sandwiches.

A smoked fillet, or part of one, can be placed in an oven for 1 hour at a temperature of 240^°F, allowed to cool, then be eaten. The result cannot be considered as anything but good but the whole character is completely altered and, for my own palate, I much prefer the cold uncooked smoked beef.

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