'Frost-lump' recipe

Did an traditional Swedish steak recipe today, and realized some of you might get a kick out of it, or even want to try it yourselves.

And, yeah, the name is to my best translation really is 'frost-lump.' Can't say it's the prettiest name in Swedish either, 'tjälknöl,' but I'll still argue that it just didn't translate very well into English.

(Not my photo, since my phone's on the fritz. Source.)

You will need:
*1-1,5 Kg steak of beef or moose. Frozen. Moose being the traditional, but beef probably being easier to acquire for most of you. Do not use pork. (~2-3 pounds.)
*1 liter of water. (~4,2 Cups.)
*1 dl of salt. (~0,4 Cups. Yes, really.)
*1 tablespoon of sugar.
*1/2 teaspoon of crushed black-pepper.
*5-6 juniper berries, dried.
*1 bay leaf.

How to cook:
*Put the still frozen steak in the oven, and cook it for 10-12 hours at 75 Celsius. (167 F.) Shorter time equals rarer meat, if that's your thing, but I usually prefer mine well-cooked.
*Crush the pepper, juniper berries & bay leaf. Add to the water with the salt & sugar, and bring to a boil in a pot big enough for both the brine & the meat.
*Leave the brine to cool while the meat cooks. This is usually overnight.
*Take the meat out. (It will look very blackened and dry on the outside, this is normal.)
*Add the meat into the brine, and leave it there for 4-5 hours with the whole mix standing somewhere cool. Make sure to not leave the meat in there longer then that, or the meat will become overly salty.
*(If the brine doesn't cover your steak, turn it every hour for the sake of an even soak.)

After that, just fish it out, dry gently with a kitchen-towel, and slice it thinly. Serve cold with baked potatoes, or potato gratin for the traditional way, but I personally recommend rice and a Béarnaise sauce.

I know that's quite the time-investment and at a first glance the salt amount looks bonkers, but the meat gets so tender, and gets this unique smooth, gamy flavor. It's a very relaxing recipe to cook as well, since so much of it is simply waiting for the meat to do its own thing in either the oven or soaking in the brine.

Hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you thought of it if you do try it out!

Comments

[Sir Appleslice]

Sounds and looks awesome will try it out.

[Divem]

Eehhh, it seems interesting but I'd have to remove the bay leaf from the recipe. Bay leaves are kin to cilantro for me; in very, very small amounts it just tastes terrible, in larger quantities it can make me physically ill. Is there a substitution?

Also, looking over the recipe, it almost seems like a sort of backwards jerky. cook the meat, then marinade in a salty mix, rather than marinade in something and then 'cook' via drying it out.

...

Is it strange that now I want to try moose jerky?

[Lord Of Dorkness]

4920061

Glad to hear it! Please let me know how it went, I'm really curious since this is just one of those recipes I never hear anybody outside of Sweden talk about.

Guess it's a mix of the PR catastrophe name and the extreme cooking times? Anyway, hope it's to your liking.

4920108

According to some Google-fu, about a 1/4 teaspoon of thyme should work per bay leaf substituted. Never tried that personally, but the juniper berries is the central spice in this recipe, so it should work fine.

And yeah, now that you mention it, 'reverse jerky' does sound like a fair comparison. Always struck me as the type of recipe that started as somebody desperately trying to save a steak they burned, only to stumble onto something new & tasty.

Actually had moose jerky once as a kid at some sort of tourist-y thing. I can HIGHLY recommend it if you ever get a chance. Twenty odd years later and I'm still drooling just thinking about it.

[ZeroOneInFinn]

I'll give it a go.

[Lord Of Dorkness]

4920673

Good luck! Please let me know how it went.