Tender cuts of meat, like sirloin and fore rib, are better for roasting, while leaner cuts of meat, like topside and silverside, are better for braising. When purchasing beef, make sure the meat is a deep, dark red.  Look for beef containing little streaks of fat throughout leaner muscle, and with an outside layer of firm, creamy-white fat.  It should also be slightly sticky with a little resistance when pressed. Fat is essential to a moist and flavorful beef joint.  You want to buy a beef joint that has a thick layer of fat on it. The fat will melt during the cooking process, infusing your beef joint with moisture and lots of flavor.  If your beef joint does not have a layer of fat on top, which is likely with a joint of silverside, ask the butcher to secure fat to the meat. Like beef fat, beef bones will also impart rich flavor to your meat. If you purchase a boneless beef joint from a butcher, you can ask for beef bones to tuck under the beef joint when cooking. Topside is a boneless, tender cut of meat that comes from the inner thigh muscle of a cow.  It’s a lean cut of meat, which means it doesn’t have much fat inside; but it does have a layer of fat on one side that melts during cooking, keeping the meat moist. It’s ideal for roasting, but also cooks well braised as a pot roast, and in stews, casseroles and pies. It’s similar to the topside, except leaner.  It’s more affordable than other cuts of meat; however, cheaper cuts of meat are not as tender once cooked. To keep this from happening to your silverside, it needs to be braised in liquid.  You can also have it “barded,” if buying from a butcher, which means thin layers of beef fat are placed on top of the silverside to keep it moist while cooking. It can easily be split into rib-eye steaks after cooking to serve several people. It’s great for roasting on the bone, which imparts great flavor; and it has a thick layer of fat to keep it moist while cooking. It is just as tender as rib of beef, but leaner and costlier.  Bone-in sirloin will impart more flavor, so look for a sirloin joint on the bone, or sirloin with undercut, which is the same as the sirloin joint, but with the tender fillet attached.  If you’d prefer your sirloin boneless, look for a striploin, rolled sirloin, or rolled sirloin with undercut.

Summary: Buy your beef joint according to how you want to cook it. Pick out a fresh cut of beef. Make sure your beef joint has enough fat. Choose a joint of topside if you want to serve thick slices of beef. Choose a joint of silverside for a midweek pot roast. Choose rib of beef, also known as fore rib, for a special occasion, like a holiday party. Choose sirloin to impress a crowd.


You can find paracord hanks in most outdoor or climbing stores, or online. Buy a hank of paracord in a color you like.  One of the advantages of making a Slatt’s Rescue Belt is you don’t need to measure out a specific amount of paracord before starting; you can work directly from a hank. To add multiple colors to your belt, buy a patterned hank of paracord with multiple colors already in it. For the Slatt’s Rescue Belt, you can only use one hank of paracord. Hold the flame of a lighter to the starting end of the paracord for several seconds, melting the rope and preventing it from fraying or unraveling. Only melt the working end; do not worry about the finishing end of the paracord yet. This will seal off the end and prevent it from fraying. Insert the melted paracord end beneath the bar of your first belt buckle half. Wrap the paracord around this bar in an overhand direction, pulling it back up from beneath the bar again to create a full loop. Make four loops for a standard belt buckle, adjusting based on the width of the buckle.  Note that wider buckles will need more loops while thinner buckles will need fewer loops. You can use any kind of belt buckle for this project. A metal one or a plastic side release one will work. All loops should flow in the same direction and should be slightly loose so that you'll be able to manipulate them later on. Leave at least 2 or 3 inches (5 or 7.5 cm) of excess paracord hanging out from the belt buckle bar when you finish wrapping these starting loops. Tie a tight, overhand knot from the excess paracord hanging from beneath the buckle bar. This knot must be tight to prevent the cord from unraveling. Adjust the wrapped loops as needed, pulling the working end of the cord back out, so that the knot lies snug against the buckle bar. Note that the loops should still be somewhat loose.
Summary: Buy a hank of paracord. Melt the starting end. Loop the starting end around the belt buckle four (or more) times. Knot the starting end.