When I had the restaurant I always made my own spiced beef , around the end of November I would put my beef down for dry spicing. Let it marinade for about a fortnight, turning from time to time as it gradually made it own liquid marinade, cook it , and then it would be just about ready for the Christmas parties, where I served it cold, sliced thinly with my own green tomato chutney.

This Christmas I decided to give it another go.
Now there is one ingredient in the spicing mix which it is very difficult to get your hands on : Saltpetre.
As this is used by various illegal organisations to make bombs the chemist is under total edict not to sell it without a permit , my normally friendly pharmacist in Waterford many years ago was adamant , no saltpetre without a written permit from the guards.
He gave me the distinct feeling that compared to saltpetre, heroin , or the recreational drug of my choice, was as available as candy.

Now it happens that the guards owed me a favour.

When the court sat in Waterford , don’t ask me which one, high or circuit , the judges and the barristers and the court clerks would come for a meal in Dwyers.
While at the meal Their Honours were always guarded by a member of Gárdaí who would stand outside the door for the night . This must have been a barrel of laughs for the poor guard, freezing outside while they all made merry (and they knew how to make merry ) inside.
One particular miserable wet and cold night something snapped and I took my courage in my hands and went out to the guard on duty.
“He would ” I explained “have a perfect view of the front door and all who entered if he stood at the window, out of the cold in my spare bedroom on the first floor ”
He concurred and came in through the kitchen and stood dutifully at the window.
I think one of the more susceptible of the waitresses may have brought him a cup of tea- he was a good looking young man.
As I said they owed me a favour.

So , the moment when the time came to make the spiced beef I went toque in hand to the barracks and asked for a permit.
Having had a long harrangue on the dangers of the substance and the necessity of always keeping it in a safe I was given the permit (and the nom-de-guerre of 008)

And so it came to pass that, in looking through my spices last week I found that I still possessed the necessary half ounce of saltpetre (for the record- it is all gone now!)So I was able to go ahead with my plans.

Problem number two was what piece of beef to use.
French butchers cut their beef in totally different ways to Irish butchers.
I took my problem to Michel , M. Buttonier , my excellent village butcher.
I explained that I needed a large piece , 3 kilos or so , of beef off the bone.
This had to have a fair marbling of fat and yet be resilient to stay intact after a fortnights marinade and a long 5 hour cooking.
I had used Flank, Silverside and Round in Ireland , Michel told be that he reckoned that Collier , a cut from the neck unknown in Ireland , would be perfect (at this stage we were in his cold room , feeling our way through the hanging carcases while he showed me where he would make his incisions)
Well satisfied I called back that evening and collect two beautiful , well marbled pieces of beef, each weighing in at just under 11/2 kilos.

Problem number three was what to use for the allspice berries , a part of the spice mix in my recipe.
It was a lady in a spice shop in Nimes a couple of weeks before who had advised to use the French Charcutier’s Quatre Epice claiming that it is the same as Allspice- it’s not but it is damn close.

Here is my original recipe which I think I copied from a combo of those offered by Elizabeth David and Theodora Fitzgibbon.
As you will see it is not even converted to metric so that dates it a bit.
As for the saltpetre … well failing a permit being gotten from the guards my best solution would be to leave it out. Your meat will not have that cheerful rosy glow (saltpetre is what makes ham and bacon pink) but it still should taste fine.

Christmas Spiced Beef

6 lb. piece of Beef from the leg (weighed off the bone)
3 oz. dark brown sugar
1/2oz. Saltpetre
4 oz. Salt
1 oz. Black Peppercorns
1/2 oz. Allspice Berries
1 oz. Juniper Berries

Preparation;
Cut the meat into 3 X 2lb. joints.
Put all the other ingredients into a food processor and crush together roughly.
Rub the spices into the meat well, put into a non metal bowl and cover.
Leave this in a cool place for 2 weeks, turning the meat in the marinade every few days (it will produce a lot of its own liquour).

To Cook;
Rub off any spices and put the pieces in a roasting tin.
Cover half way up with water, and cover with two thicknesses of greaseproof paper.
Then seal the tin with a covering of tinfoil (make sure the spices are not touching the tinfoil as the will eat through it).
Bake this in a low oven (Gas 1/140C/275F) for 4 hours.
Take out of the oven and drain off the liquid.
Wrap each piece individually in greaseproof and leave to cool and set thoroughly before carving.
Serve cold, sliced extremely thinly, and serve with salad and chutney.