This weekend we hosted a Cowboy Brunch at our house. Two of our dear friends came over and were kind enough to cook a bunch of cowboy themed brunch foods. It was delicious. One of the guys cooked for the meat-eaters, and the other cooked for our darling vegetarians. We also had a few vegans so I contributed some vegan baked beans, and because I had a slightly freezer-burnt chunk of tenderloin in the freezer I decided to cure it following
Fergus Henderson's recipe from
The Whole Beast.
Basically, the tenderloin is cured int he fridge for three days in a combination of sugar and salt, and nestled in rosemary stalks.
After three days remove your tenderloin (making sure that it has taken on a firmer texture) and rub it with cracked black pepper, slice and serve.
This was one of my most successful cures ever, there was a subtle rosemary flavour, along with a salty sweetness. And because it was not a full cure the meat was very soft. Fergus Henderson suggests a celeriac salad, but I think it would be excellent on some bitter greens as well.