Well, with the good info I got, and all the talk about this stuff, I
couldn't wait any longer to make some, so Friday on the way home from work
we stopped at our local little butchers, for a butchers at what beef they
had.

They had all sorts, but in the end, I chose part of a very nice looking
'salmon cut' silverside roast - I asked the assistant who was serving (not
either of the main two guys - they were in back) for about a pound of it
(£4.50 ish), and asked if he would cut it into 1/4 inch slices. While he was
at it, I noseied through the wares, then I looked up to see the bench
covered in little chopped up bits of beef, cubes FFS! Ugh, so anyway, I
explained myself again, and had him slice some from another piece for me,
which he did, over a half inch thick... I just took it as it was and left,
bit frustrated - the owner guys are really sharp and helpful!

Anyway, so when I got home, it was sharpen the living daylights out of the
chef's knife, and try to cut the slices in half with them flat on a chopping
board, which I managed to do a decent job of TF!

Once I'd got it all cut into strips, I made up the marinade. This was salt,
sugar, lemon juice (wanted lime but forgot to buy it), plenty black pepper,
good few glugs of my red hab, mango, green date, fresh fig and lime juice
chile sauce, small-ish splash of my oak and cherry wood smoked habanero hot
sauce, good pinch of ground coriander seed, about 1" grated fresh ginger, 4
cloves of garlic, grated (the garlic and ginger got pureed with the side of
the knife against a chopping board before going it) little bit of soy sauce
(about 2 tsp - we ran out at that point LOL!) - was a thick, concentrated
marinade, not very liquid at all, covered and put into the fridge, was going
to be for overnight but I couldn't bring myself to wait! So by 11 p.m. the
oven is up to temps (somewhere around 60 or 70C I guess - door wedged open
about 2" with a metal knife handle), and in goes the meat on 2 small wire
racks.

Smelled lovely!

I turned it in the morning at ~8 hours - it's looking good at this point,
but still quite wet inside. Tasty, though ',;~}~

I ended up removing it from the oven at about 14 hours - it was done
perfectly for us at that point, and since we knew this would not last, we
didn't need to worry if it was dry enough to keep or not.

It didn't last until Sunday - Kath and I ate the bloody lot, apart from one
small piece that BIL Simon tried. It was damned good stuff, not too tough or
anything - I just gotta make some more soon - I need another fix LOL!

One thing I'll do differently next time, is to finely grind the pepper with
pestle and mortar - the chunky pieces out of the twist grinder, once baked
for so long in the oven, were rock hard and kept getting stuck in our teeth.
Another thing is I will use far more soy next time, and think up a few other
flavour twists to go with it. Maybe soy, chile and hot mustard/wassabi, with
maple syrup or honey for the sweetness.


So anyway, big thanks to those that helped me along with this little quest -
I am very pleased with it!

',;~}~


Shaun aRe