Lee, Cherl-Ho; Steinkraus, Keith H. & Reilly, P. J. (1993). Fish Fermentation Technology. New York: United Nations University Press. ISBN 978-89-7053-003-1. Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2012). The Culinarian: A Kitchen Desk Reference. New York: Wiley. p. 409. ISBN 978-1-118-11061-4.

Traditionally salt, sugar, vinegar, citric acid and beneficial fermentation were all used to preserve food pastes. In modern times canning is used to preserve pastes in jars, bottles, tins and more recently in plastic bags and tubes. I haven’t made potted meat with minced/ground beef and don’t recommend it. My feeling is that with long slow cooking it could become tough and dry rather than soft and tender. However, if you’ve tried it with minced beef I’d love to hear from you how it went.I know exactly where the meat for my Homemade Potted Beef comes from. I buy grass fed beef from local butchers like Dunwood Farm Butchery and Denstone Hall. Ready diced, boneless meat sold as ‘stewing beef’ is what I usually get. This can contain a number of flavourful cuts that need long, slow cooking. If you want to get a particular cut, then I highly recommend shin of beef. Mealy pop or Bogobe is prepared from ground grain usually maize or millet and often fermented before cooking. [14]

You certainly can! So long as you use a suitable sized cooking vessel so that the meat isn’t crowded, cooking double the amount shouldn’t take any longer. A double batch set in a container to take on a picnicWhile many of the pastes listed below may be made particularly spicy or aromatic or not, some pastes are specifically intended to deliver intense flavor rather than bulk. NOTE: this is an update of a well-loved post from 2018. I’ve added new photos and an improved recipe. There’s also a FAQs section inspired by readers who’ve been in touch with tips and queries. Potted beef pinged in the microwave for 12-20 seconds so that it’s soft and warm is also delicious! Walnut paste (საცივი) is a Georgian specialty, and is used unsweetened as a bread dip, or sweetened as a center-fill in a baklava-like pastry.

Whether you crave the old-fashioned flavour of potted beef from your childhood, or want to try it for the first time, I think you’ll love this easy recipe! Hilbet is a paste made in Ethiopia and Eritrea from legumes, mainly lentils or faba beans with garlic, ginger and spices. [20] Meat paste or Potted meat food product usually produces a homogeneous texture and flavor suitable for a spread. Maybe I was just a weird kid, but one of my favourite sandwich fillings (alongside herby, peppery Haslet) was potted beef. In those days it came from the butcher at the bottom of our road where, clutching a note from Mum, I’d often have to nip in on my way home from school. Sugar pastes are usually used for frosting and icings, or sweet centers in pastry. Sugars are often combined with cream, oils and egg whites as well as water to make pastes.All you do then is put the dish in a low oven and leave it. How long the beef will take to get really soft depends on the toughness or otherwise of the meat, how big the pieces are and the peculiarities of your oven. But plan for three to five hours. See FAQs below for using a slow cooker or pressure cooker. Berger, Miriam. "Is the world ready for this Palestinian dish?". www.bbc.com . Retrieved 2019-03-28. Proof of just how simple it is: the batch I made for my original post was put in the oven first thing in the morning. While that was simmering away, I got on with decorating the master bedroom. Which meant I had delicious homemade potted beef on toast for lunch. Yum!