The online magazine
dedicated to the
discussion & revival
of British foodways.

NO.72
FALL/WINTER2023

Potted Sussex steak

When you stew your steak Sussex style be certain to make too much. That way you can assemble what may be the best of all potted beeves with the leftovers. The amounts given are of course arbitrary: Nobody can predict how much food a group of people will eat of a given evening. In any event this recipe lends itself to variation even more than most, so consider the proportions more like the pirate code than a statute.


stock-pot018.jpg-about a cup of leftover Sussex stewed steak (recipe in the practical), including any onion, debris and a few drips of sauce
-about 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
-about ¼ teaspoon cayenne
-about 1 Tablespoon prepared or homemade horseradish sauce
-a dribble of tawny Port
-Worcestershire or mushroom ketchup if you have some


  1. Pull apart the steak; it should be disintegrating anyway at this point.
  2. Dump all the ingredients into a food processer and destroy them. You want a smooth integrated paste.
  3. Spoon the paste into little ceramic pots, seal them with plastic wrap and chill them overnight before devouring with cornichon, toast and the essential glass of ale or stout.

Notes:

-Heinz, Bookbinder’s and other producers sell perfectly good horseradish sauce but it easy to make from scratch. Take some fresh horseradish root, or some shredded horseradish from a jar (but never the horrible purple stuff polluted with beets) and put it in a blender or food processer. Get it as smooth as you can then remove it to a bowl and whisk in enough heavy cream to obtain your preferred consistency. Add a squeeze of lemon and a little salt, stir it up and your sauce is ready to go.

-We like beets, just not beets mixed with horseradish.

-The horseradish not only tastes good in the potted steak, it lightens the pot as well because it, along with the dribble of Port, allows you to use less butter.

-You could substitute a little stout for the port; they cohabit in the antecedent recipe for Sussex stewed steak.

-Again, vary the proportions and omit the cayenne, Worcestershire or both as you like. Potted food, while simple, hails from a mutable tradition. You might try a pinch of mace as far as that observation goes.