Spiced beef is back on the menu – and it is not just for Christmas

While it may be true that prophets are without honour in their own country, that’s certainly not the case with butchers.

Take Tom Durcan, for example. It wasn’t so long ago that spiced beef had so faded from the Cork culinary scene that only a couple of shops sold it – and even then mostly at Christmas. Today, spiced beef is not only popular year-round, it even appears on the menus at fine-dining restaurants. And Durcan’s name is virtually synonymous with it.

His spiced beef has won almost every award imaginable, including from Good Food Ireland, Blas na hÉireann and the Irish Butchers’ Guild. His shop in the English Market is constantly abuzz with customers. Thanks to his website, shoppers around the world can indulge their taste for that treat they may have enjoyed on vacation.

Not bad for a Cork boy who fell into butchering almost by accident.

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Spiced beef is a Cork speciality made by “corning” beef in a salt and spice brine. In days past, this type of preparation was used to preserve meat for long voyages as Cork was a central port for the British navy and for traders sailing west to the New World.

According to a 2011 research paper by Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Pádraic Óg Gallagher, in the mid 17th century half of Ireland’s total beef exports came from Cork in the form of salt beef.

Eventually, they write, spices were added to the mixture and, using better cuts of beef, it was even adopted by the wealthy as fresh beef was so expensive as to be beyond even their reach.

The difference between our spiced beef and everyone else’s? Basically it’s just the quality of the beef

—  Tom Durcan

Though fresh meat is no longer a luxury for most, the taste for spiced beef has lingered among Corkonians, albeit until relatively recently mostly as a Christmas treat.

As an apprentice butcher in Cork 40 years ago, it was only natural that Durcan would learn spiced beef as part of his repertoire. He started working aged 14, cleaning up at Kidneys Butcher Shop in Carrigaline (“Some name for a butcher shop, right?” he laughs).

He eventually opened his own shop in Douglas in 1985, basing his spiced beef recipe on what he had learned at Kidneys, “with a few tweaks of my own”. He was successful enough to earn a national distribution deal with SuperValu. But he was feeling the itch to do more retail when the proprietors of the English Market called in 1995.

“I’d like to say I haven’t looked back, but this hasn’t happened easily,” says Durcan. “A lot of years and a lot of work have gone into this. But if you do something right ... generally it’s simple to sell good meat.”

If there is a secret to Durcan’s success, it is just that. “The difference between our spiced beef and everyone else’s? Basically it’s just the quality of the beef,” he says.

While some butchers use lesser cuts for their spiced beef, Durcan uses eye of round – a cut good enough for roasting. He sources the meat carefully, just as importantly.

“I travel the length and breadth of the country to buy good beef. We’re known for that. You can buy a piece of beef for a tenner in the supermarket, while ours may cost 15 quid. But when you’re sitting down eating it, you will notice the difference. We’ve become synonymous with good meat.”

I tell them stout is the old way for covering up the bad taste of the meat. So I tell them ‘Drink the stout and eat the beef is a way better policy’. Drink two if you want

With a product this good, cooking should be kept simple. Durcan recommends bringing the beef to a boil and then simmering it for 40 minutes per kilo. Remove the pan from the heat and let the meat cool in the cooking liquid to reabsorb the spices.

“People ask do you want to cook it in stout?” he says, with a perplexed look. “I tell them stout is the old way for covering up the bad taste of the meat. So I tell them ‘Drink the stout and eat the beef is a way better policy’. Drink two if you want.”

One modern twist he does endorse is eating the spiced beef raw, as a kind of carpaccio. “You know how that started? When I’d be checking the spiced beef to see if we’d used enough salt or enough spice, I’d just cut a tiny slice off and eat it raw and I got to like it.

“Ross Lewis at Chapter One in Dublin tried it. He chilled it down and sliced it very thinly, sprinkled over some grated cheese, some sea salt across it and a tiny bit of olive oil. He put it on his menu and that made it famous. That was 15 years ago.”

When it comes to Christmas dinner, it’s probably no surprise that the Durcan family sticks to the basics – with an emphasis on meat. Spiced beef, turkey and ham, Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes. For dessert? Maybe a steamed Christmas pudding.

But maybe not. “We eat enough meat in our house that we’re not great for desserts,” he says. “We favour serious food. When you eat in our house there’s so much meat, you don’t want dessert.”