Recipe: Spiced Salt Beef

This recipe is amazing!  It is very easy to prepare - you may need to plan ahead for fridge space, but it is well worth the wait.  Recipe from the Country Living Magazine, Dec 2014:

SPICED SALT BEEF

Preparation: 20 minutes plus marinating. Cooking: ~ 3 hours 20 minutes, plus cooling

2 - 2.5 kg Lower Dairy Farm topside joint 100g light muscovado sugar 175g sea salt 2 tbsp black peppercorns 1 tbsp allspice berries 2 tbsp juniper berries

Choose a casserole dish or container in which the beef fits snugly.  Mix together the sugar and sea salt. Rub this mixture over the beef and place the joint in your chosen dish.  Cover and put in the fridge, or a very cool place such as a garage [clearly these people don't have a curious terrier called Humbug!] for 2 days.

After two days, roughly crush the peppercorns and berries in a pestle and mortar. Rub this spice mix all over the beef and return to the dish. Cover and chill.

Every day for the next ten days, rub the beef all over with the spices and return to the fridge as before. [We recommend you do this daily, but sometimes we forget & it's still awesome.]

Heat the oven to 140oC (120oC fan oven), gas mark 1. Remove the beef from the dish and discard the juices. Quickly rinse away any spices and put in a casserole dish again, just large enough to hold the beef snugly. Add 300ml water, bring to the boil and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Cook in the oven for 50 minutes per 500g. Remove from the oven and leave in the dish to cool for three hours.

Drain the beef and wrap it in clingfilm. Put in a lipped dish in the fridge and press down with weights overnight.  To serve, slice thinly (even I can achieve deli counter slices!) and enjoy your very own deli-cured beef in sandwiches!

Farmyard emergency!

We just heard an almighty shout from Dad.  Don't panic Mr Mainwaring!  He hadn't driven into anything...he'd dropped his mince pie.  A little quiet on the blog recently, but this little tale should reassure you all is well at the farm.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Lower Dairy Farm!

We hope you enjoy your Christmas dinner as much as this...Manners!

They're back!

Mud?  Bliss.  Sunshine?  Divine.  Happy pigs.

If Godzilla were a cow...

Rather quiet on the blog, but there is a good reason for this.  We are fighting the biggest menace to the tranquility of the Stour Valley since the arrival of Humbug.  The invasion of Godzilla Cow threatens the safety of all the animals in the Stour Valley.  Stay strong comrades!

(It's No. 100.  I've created a MONSTER!)

Nearly there!

The last few runs of combining for Harvest 2014!

Mercator, look away now.

Dad is playing the harvest weather game and dashing out to combine between the showers.  

Fortunately, the blustery sunshine dries the grain quickly and Farmer Humph is, in general, more concerned about the Mercator getting wet than the barley!  Barley straw holds the moisture well which slows down combining, but we are making steady progress.  Better still, during a trip to Manns of Saxham for new cutter guides, I found a new cabless combine in our price range!

Only joking Mercator!  Much to the surprise of the other customer (sporting a Claas fleece - free with a brand new combine), not only do Claas still make Mercator parts, but according to the engineer, there are in fact three or four people locally who come to Manns for Mercator parts every year.  Three or four?  It's nice to know we're not alone.

H is for...

..'Humphrey', 'Herefords', 'Humbug', 'Harvest' and 'FPU 732H', the Mighty Mercator's year of registration.  Here it is back out in the fields for its 2014 test run. Thank you to Brad Farm Machinery for making this possible and allowing me to run in and grab new lifters at 5.02pm.  I had been patiently following a tractor hauling grain, then a grain lorry, then another tractor, patiently not yelling: "You don't understand!  I want to be harvesting too!".  H is also for...Harvest Diva.

Mr August

Not Farmer Humph, but this handsome beast!

The bullocks have left the Marsh and are now roaming the Popple Field beside the house.

This year's new intake are already begging for apples; a new record for Mum's training regime.  First thing in the morning, it can be alarming when you've forgotten they were in the field and a giant bullock suddenly looms over the hedge.  Other fun occupations in the life of a bullock (and life on the farm is never dull!) include chasing chickens, staring out Humbug, and escorting walkers along the roadside - such gentlemen!

Obviously, staring in an unimpressed fashion at the activity around the house and farm shop is another favourite.  As we haul bales back from the village, there's lots to keep them (and us) occupied.  It was nearly Mercator time in our last blog post...but several cloud bursts later have bought a little time.  Humbug is just going to have to toughen up and walk through the barley, and Dad can be found polishing the Mercator before the Mighty Beast is called to action.