Cork Spiced Beef
Cork's Christmas beef: a corned joint marinated for a week in allspice, brown sugar and three peppers, simmered gently, cooled in its liquid and sliced thin.
Spiced beef is the corned beef Ireland kept for itself, and today it belongs mostly to Cork. Writing in The Irish Times in December 2023, Ali Dunworth says the dish is thought to date from the 16th and 17th centuries, when Cork was a major beef exporter and shipping port: spices from those trade routes were rubbed into salt beef, and because they were expensive it stayed a special-occasion dish. Darina Allen notes that although spiced beef is a Christmas tradition, in Cork it is sold all year in the English Market (RTÉ:). In 2021 the Irish Examiner asked English Market butcher Eoin O'Mahony, of O'Mahony's Butchers, how to make it at home, after fellow market butcher Tom Durcan warned of a possible spiced beef shortage that Christmas.
📖 Myth check: Is Corned Beef and Cabbage Actually Irish? →
Why it works the kitchen science
Cure first, spice second
Starting from beef that is already corned gives the pink color and cured flavor, so the week in the marinade only has to add the spice and sweetness.
Cool it in the pot
Letting the joint cool in its own liquid keeps the outside from drying out, and pressing it overnight makes it firm enough to slice paper thin.
Step by step
- Step 1
Stir the allspice, sugar, cayenne, white pepper, black pepper and almonds together in a heatproof bowl. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and let the marinade cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Step 2
Rinse the corned beef, pat it dry and put it in a lidded container just big enough to hold it. Pour the cold marinade over it, cover and refrigerate at 32 to 40°F for 7 days, turning the beef once or twice.
- Step 3
Lift the beef out and let the excess marinade drip off. Put it in a pot, cover it with cold water and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, about 15 minutes.
- Step 4
Lower the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 65 minutes (45 minutes per kilo plus 20), skimming any foam, until a fork slides in easily and the center reads at least 145°F.
- Step 5
Take the pot off the heat and let the beef cool in its cooking water for 2 hours, then lift it out.
- Step 6
For neat cold slices, set the beef on a plate, cover it with a small board and a heavy can or two and refrigerate overnight.
- Step 7
Slice it as thin as you can across the grain and serve it cold with brown bread and chutney, or warm with mashed potatoes.
Cork Spiced Beef
Serves 6 · 1 joint (about 2 lb), sliced · 1 hr 35 min total
Beef
- 1 (2 1/4 lb) raw corned beef, round (silverside) or brisket flat, from the pouch, spice packet discarded
Marinade
- 7 oz (200 g) ground allspice (about 2 cups)
- 7 oz (200 g) dark brown sugar (a scant 1 cup packed)
- 2 tbsp (10 g) cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp (10 g) ground white pepper
- 1 1/2 tbsp (10 g) ground black pepper
- 5 whole almonds (optional; O'Mahony's lists them as optional)
- 2 cups boiling water
To serve
- Brown bread or soda bread, chutney and pickles
Method
- Stir the allspice, sugar, cayenne, white pepper, black pepper and almonds together in a heatproof bowl. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and let the marinade cool completely, about 1 hour.
- Rinse the corned beef, pat it dry and put it in a lidded container just big enough to hold it. Pour the cold marinade over it, cover and refrigerate at 32 to 40°F for 7 days, turning the beef once or twice.
- Lift the beef out and let the excess marinade drip off. Put it in a pot, cover it with cold water and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, about 15 minutes.
- Lower the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 65 minutes (45 minutes per kilo plus 20), skimming any foam, until a fork slides in easily and the center reads at least 145°F.
- Take the pot off the heat and let the beef cool in its cooking water for 2 hours, then lift it out.
- For neat cold slices, set the beef on a plate, cover it with a small board and a heavy can or two and refrigerate overnight.
- Slice it as thin as you can across the grain and serve it cold with brown bread and chutney, or warm with mashed potatoes.
Adapted from Eoin O'Mahony's home spiced beef, O'Mahony's Butchers, English Market, Cork, in the Irish Examiner, November 18, 2021 (Ciara McDonnell). We keep his 1 kg (2.2 lb) joint and his amounts, converted to US measures. He uses already-corned silverside and warns that uncured beef gives poor color and flavor; in the US that means a raw (uncooked) corned beef round or brisket flat in its brine pouch. His cooking time is 45 minutes per kilo plus 20 minutes. The 145°F minimum is from USDA FSIS. The overnight pressing step is from Darina Allen's Ballymaloe recipe (RTÉ, above). Ballymaloe and Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers (Irish Times, above) start from raw beef with a dry cure that includes saltpetre instead; we chose the marinade method because it needs no curing salt at home. irishexaminer.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Allspice is the dominant flavor. O'Mahony's calls it by its Irish name, pimento.
- Cooked spiced beef keeps 3 to 4 weeks in the fridge according to Darina Allen; USDA FSIS's general rule for cooked corned beef is 3 to 4 days, so we follow FSIS.
- O'Mahony suggests spiced ox tongue as an adventurous alternative.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Spiced beef starts with raw beef and a dry cure. Disputed: Darina Allen's Ballymaloe recipe and Pat Whelan's recipe (Irish Times, 2023) rub raw beef with salt, sugar, spices and saltpetre for days; Eoin O'Mahony marinates beef that is already corned and says uncured beef will lack color and flavor. Both are Cork-area methods.
- It dates from the 1500s and 1600s. Disputed wording: The Irish Times says it is "thought to date" from then; we found no dated recipe.
- Spiced beef is only eaten at Christmas. Folklore: Darina Allen says it is sold all year in Cork's English Market.
- Saltpetre is safe at home. Disputed: Ballymaloe and Pat Whelan still list saltpetre, but RTÉ's printing of the Ballymaloe recipe calls saltpetre "nowadays regarded as a health hazard". We avoid it.
- Allspice must dominate. Documented for O'Mahony's (allspice is the largest spice by far) and Ballymaloe (allspice, juniper and pepper in equal weights).
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