salt beef in london

[Miss J]

Oooo, that's it - I'm going straight home to make ricotta tonight. How exciting!

Miss J

[cappers]

back to the original topic - Salt Beef

Went to Gaby's on charing cross road on Friday and it was a DISGRACE. The beef was tasteless, cold, hard and overpriced.

The guy who made it was also dirty. He didnt wash his hands after handling money or wear gloves. Also, the only bread left was bloody ciabatta.what a joke.

[Tonyfinch]

errrm......sorry about that cappers. You can come free to the great salt beef tasting (if it ever happens). My 79 year old Jewish dad rates Selfridges as the best place in Central London,although Gaby's was great when I was last there.

One question though. Why do you have to wash your hands after handling money?

[cappers]

After handline money it is sensible to wash hands. Its basic health and safety! Remind me never to eat at your house!

[Andy Lynes]

Cappers - what time did you get to this place. You said they only had ciabatta left so I assume you arrived late? Do you think you got the end of a joint of beef that had been hanging around or something?

[Thomas Secor]

My experience at Gaby's was very similar to Cappers (whom I still owe a reply on my trip to Bath, just been so busy lately), as relayed on another site.  I have been there three times now, and each time I found the salt beef to be dry and relatively tasteless, the portion small (Selfridge's may be expensive but they do an ok job of loading up the bread) and the bread to be poor.

I did not however notice the handling of the money.  I did however notice that the place was primarily filled with tourists, which in my mind is generally not a good sign.

[Charlene Leonard]

I went to Gaby's last week and agree wholeheartedly with what you both say.  It was my first experience of a salt beef sandwich and it was decidedly average.  The rye bread was fine but the salt beef was quite dry and I would have preferred it sliced thinner and for there to have been more if it. and only a quarter of a gherkin - very mean.  I also noticed it was full of tourists...

On the other hand the falafel was superb, light, fluffy and tasty with a good helping of humus.

[Tonyfinch]

The thing about salt beef is that its at its best the moment it comes out of its boiling liquid and is hot and moist. It goes into a slow decline from then on and if turnover isn't brisk(et) enough it eventually ends up as salty old shoe leather.

Maybe I was lucky the last couple of times at Gaby's and got a fresh hunk.Its not a salt beef bar as such so maybe turnover is slower and the beef is just kept waiting around too long. No excuse for mean portions though. The general consus amongst people I've recently asked is that Selfridge's takes it in Central London.

As a matter of interest,do others out there wash their hands everytime they handle money?Or expect all food servers to do so?

[Steve Plotnicki]

Tony-Eating salt beef after it comes out of its boiling liquid shouldn't matter. Any place that is worth it's weight in salt (couldn't resist) would keep the salt beef in a steam drawer so that it would always be moist and hot. Never cold and dry.

I would also assume that Israelis who serve Sephardic food, things like  humus and kofte know nothing about good, old fashioned, fatty salt beef. For god sakes they live on a Mediteranean diet. What would they know about lean or fatty? It's all lean.

[cappers]

i went there 5pm so no excuse of running out of bread.. it was just bloody awful salt beef.. what a disgrace.. ill go to selfridges next time.

as for handling cash and wiping their noses whilst preping  sandwiches, thats what tourists get and thats all Gaby's is : A tourist trap just like leicester square.

[Wilfrid]

I tried Gaby's only once - pastrami so gristly and fatty I never bothered again.  If it stops raining, I might go to the Nosherie this afternoon.

[Wilfrid]

Eeek!  Has the Nosherie closed?  I checked for the address before going and couldn't find it listed anywhere.  I gave up and went for a bacon sarnie.

Have we lost this jewel of kosher dining?

[Thomas Secor]

Shouldnt be closed, its right off of Hatton Gardens, heading east, I think the street is Greville or some such.  Its the same street as the Bleeding Heart Tavern if I remember correctly.

[cappers]

OI SECOR. u never told me about your bath trip..... so come on.,,, how was it ? where did u go ? what did u do ? where did u stay ?

email me : ocaptain3@aol.com

cappers

[Fat Guy]

Does anybody know of a difference between corned beef and salt beef?

[Tonyfinch]

What we call corned beef in the UK is a canned processed sludge containing cured, cooked beef, salt, sugar and preservative. Some restaurants serve it as a brunch dish viz:Corned Beef Hash, with eggs and potatoes. It's pretty horrible but occasionally satisfying as a hangover food.

The term "corned" comes from the "corns" of salt traditionally used in the curing process.

Nothing to do with salt beef.

[Fat Guy]

Okay, here's the Rosetta Stone for this particular thing:

From New York deli-diners to East-End bagel bars, salt beef has long been a great favourite.

In the United States it is known as corned beef, which can be confusing for those of us who expect our corned beef to come in a can with a key attached!

http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~henson/saltbeef.htm