Making Corned Beef

[mrobisr]

mdseaside We still cannot find the recipe, but if you dry cure with the % of salt it will never be too salty, that is my go to.

[Dr_Pain]

mrobisr said in Making Corned Beef:

mdseaside We still cannot find the recipe, but if you dry cure with the % of salt it will never be too salty, that is my go to.

I have a wet recipe for Montreal Smoked Meat which is Corned Beef smoked and steamed. You could adapt it to stopping before the smoking and steaming (I sous-vide this step). This way you just have corned beef

[mrobisr]

Dr_Pain i would like that, please.

[Dr_Pain]

mrobisr said in Making Corned Beef:

Dr_Pain i would like that, please.

Actually, I rechecked my recipe for the Montreal Smoked me and the one I use is a dry recipe. The pastrami recipe I tried (didn’t like as much) was a wet application. I cannot in good conscience share that one because it was not very tasty

[mrobisr]

Dr_Pain thanks for the thought I do completely understand, but we have to find that recipe we love that corned beef recipe.

[mrobisr]

Found it!
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp crs blk pepper
3/4 tsp ground allspice
1 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp paprika
2 bay leaves
Beef stock enough to liquify, 1-2 cups you can always add more later
optional Cure #1, I like it better with and the wife likes it better w/o, but we eat it either way.
Brisket point 4-6lbs end trimmed well (put trimmings into next sausage)
Combine ingredients except meat in a sauce pan and heat until what can dissolve has, then put in fridge completely cooled.
Strain to remove ingredients that will clog up the injection needle and save them.
Place brisket in container and inject with clarified marinade once done transfer the brisket to a zip lock bag or vacuum bag and pour any liquid left over in with brisket, add the larger strained herbs at this time. If you need a little more liquid add now, but you want it just moist not swimming.
Get out as much as a possible and cure in refrigerator for 7-14 days turning over daily.
It will be too salty at this point, but once done rinse under cool tap water and put in a large pot with enough water to cover meat. Boil for 2-4 hours skimming off scum that floats to the top, test for tenderness with a fork once tender remove and place in a 250f oven adding a cup of liquid over the top of meat and cover with foil.
Add 7-8lbs of vegetables as desired to pot/broth that had the meat, carrots peeled, rutabagas cut in half, turnips quartered, new potatoes whole, onions quartered, head of cabbage, parsnips halved, and brussel sprouts.
All these veggies are totally optional you pick and choose whatever you want, but 7-8lbs have to be added to soak up the salt.
Cook until all veggies are done and remember to add veggies like the brussel sprouts later in the cook to avoid over cooking.
The salt has boiled out of the meat and salted the veggies to perfection.
Cut the meat across the grain for the first day have corned beef and vegetables.
Next day slice the meat across the grain and enjoy in a wonderful Reuben sandwich.
If you have any left you can smoke for Pastrami, but I’ll be honest I done it once and didn’t like it, so I will not do that again.

[mrobisr]

I have used a whole brisket and froze the left over meat for later use and it was wonderful. Just make sure you trim it very well the fat is not really good to eat, but makes a wonderful addition to your next batch of sausage or hamburgers.

[glen]

mrobisr I agree, lots of fat to save when trimming a whole brisket

[Denny O]

Denny O’s. Curing Brine for Corned Beef

1 gallon of pure clean quality water
1 cup non-iodized kosher or canning salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar (or 2 cups brown and omit the white sugar)
1/2 cup corned beef spices
2 tablespoons crushed juniper berries
1 tablespoon of Cure #1 (Prague powder, DQ curing salt or other, not Morton’s Quick Cure or Insta Cure)
Dissolve all and mix in food-safe container, stir until clear, then chill.

Denny O’s. Corned Beef Spice Mix

After the beef is cured, add the following and bring to boil, then boil/simmer until the beef is tender.

2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons allspice berries
1 tablespoon ground mace
2 small cinnamon sticks, crushed or broken into pieces
2 to 4 bay leaves, crumbled
2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoon ground ginger.
Combine peppercorns, mustard seeds and coriander seeds in a small dry pan. Place over medium heat and stir until fragrant, being careful not to burn them; keep lid handy in case seeds pop. Crack peppercorns and seeds in mortar and pestle or with the side of a knife on cutting board.
Combine with other spices, mix. Store in tightly sealed plastic or glass container.

Neatly trim a brisket flat removing the fats down leaving at most to 1/8" to at most 1/4" of fat from a 10 pound brisket. Submerge it in the above brine. Place a 1/2 filled gallon Ziploc bag on the top to keep the brisket submerged. Add meat. Do not add different species of meats, but you can add pieces of the same species in the same brine bucket.

Refrigerate 1 to 21 days, depending on thickness of meat.

When the meat is 1 to 2 inches thick, figure it will take a brine of 1-10 days in the brine bucket.
When it is 2 - 4 inches, 5 - 15 days, may require injecting to cure from the inside-out as well as from the outside-in.
When it is 4 inches and larger, 15 - 21 days and should require injecting.

Injecting - use a 4 oz manual injection pump with the broadcast needle or equivalent.
Brine can become frothy (ropy). It has both salt and sugar in it. It also is inputting curing ingredients into the meat and oozing out blood and plasma. Just dump the brine and make up fresh and continue curing should that happen. Make sure you keep it reasonably between 37° - 40° F.

Weigh down the meat into curing the brine with half-filled Ziploc bags of water on top.
Flip once every day, end for end and inside to outside to achieve a uniform penetration into the meat.

No further mixing or stirring of the brine is required let it cure until it is done. Meats will come out of the brine with a distinct normal grayish look.

Note: Cure #1 (Prague powder, DQ curing salt, Insta Cure#1 or other, not Morton’s Tender Quick)
Side note: It needs to have the sodium nitrite level at a maximum of 6.25%.

I use this as reference: Computing equivalency, for 100 gallons of curing brine, you add 24 lbs. of curing salt to 100 gallons of water and mix.

That is .24 lbs, or 3.84 oz. of curing salt to 1 gallon of water maximum.

My recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of curing salt to 1 gallon of water. A level tablespoon is .88 of an ounce. Heaping is approx. 1 ounce. Either is fine. Neither comes close to the maximum amount allowed, but just enough to do the job. Curing at Maximum, plus with injection, requires 48 hours of cure time maximum. This process uses less than one third the curing salts and a longer curing time to tenderize and flavor the meat.

You must cover the product until it floats off the bottom of the container, then weight it down to stay submersed in the brine, leaving no area to be exposed to air.

At minimum the cure takes ¼”/day plus a min of 2 more days (cure penetrates both sides), a 2” thick brisket takes 4 days plus 2 = 6 day minimum cure time

When the curing time is completed Take out the beautifully cured “corned beef” (because that’s what it is at this point), and wash off all of the brine and spice. Then, put it in some clean water to soak for an hour to soak out any of the extra salt and rinse it once again. Lightly pat it with a paper towel, but not too dry. With the corned beef being damp proceed to the next step, the Pastrami rub.

Note: I will do a double batch of the brine in a 5 gallon food safe bucket with a lid for 2-17 pound ish brisket flats or whole packers.

[Dr_Pain]

mrobisr @DennyO I think we need those recipes in the recipe section for prosperity

[Denny O]

Dr_Pain said in Making Corned Beef:

mrobisr @DennyO I think we need those recipes in the recipe section for prosperity

Thanks for the thought! Now it’s been there done that!