Mum's Sunday Corned Silverside

If you grew up in an Aussie household, this is the Sunday lunch you remember. Pink slices of corned silverside, white sauce, mash, peas. Maybe with mustard. The kind of meal that looks like nothing fancy and tastes like home.

The trick is not boiling. Just don't. A gentle simmer keeps it tender; a hard boil turns it stringy. Easy mistake to make.

Serves 6. Prep 5 min. Cook 2-2.5 hours.

What you need

• 1.5-2kg Morpeth corned silverside (we cure ours in-house)
• 1 brown onion, halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 black peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp malt vinegar

The method

Rinse the silverside under cold water. Pop it into a big pot, cover with cold fresh water (not the brine it came in). Throw in everything else.

Bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Do not let it boil. Tiny bubbles only. Drop the heat as soon as it looks like it might.

Simmer 1 hour per kilo - so 1.5kg = 90 minutes. The meat's ready when a fork slides in with mild resistance, not falling apart.

Rest in the cooking liquid 15 minutes before slicing. This step matters - pulling it straight out lets all the juice run away.

White sauce (the proper accompaniment)

30g butter, 30g flour, 500ml warm milk. Melt butter, whisk in flour for a minute, slowly whisk in milk. Simmer 5 min until thick. Salt, pepper, a grate of nutmeg. Done.

What about grass-fed silverside?

Grass-fed silverside has a deeper, more mineral flavour than supermarket corned beef. It's also leaner, so the gentle simmer matters even more. Don't skimp on the rest before slicing.

Leftovers make next-level sandwiches with mustard pickle on white bread. Don't skip those.