How to “Corn” your own beef.

A couple facts about Corned Beef, just to wet your whistle:

1. No Corn is used in this process. “Corned” likely came from an Olde English word for Salt. At its core, corned beef is pickled beef.
2. Corned Beef is decidedly NOT an Irish staple, historically.
3. This Corned Beef recipe came directly from Michael Ruhlman + Brian Polcyn in their amazing book: Charcuterie: The Craft of Smoking, Salting, and Curing

What you will need: 

For Brine:

1 gallon of water

2 cups/450g Kosher Salt

1/2 cup/100g sugar

1 oz/25g/4tsp Pink Curing Salt

3 cloves of minced garlic

2 tablespoons/20g Pickling Spice – WE LOVE the pickling spice from Savory Spice Shop, its perfect.

The Biznass: 

5 pound Grass Fed Brisket (you can use any size less than 5 lbs, the brine recipe above will be plenty of brine for up to 5 pounds, above 5 pounds, adjust accordingly with more brine)

2 tablespoons/20g Pickling Spice

Large sealable container, preferably glass, plasic ok too.

The Process:

1. Combine all Brine ingredients in large pot and heat until sugar/salt dissolve.
2. Cool Brine until its at room temp. I put mine in the freezer for 20 min.
3. Rinse all blood from brisket, put brine and brisket into sealable container, a big ziplock works too. You want as little air as possible in there.
4. Wait 5-7 days.
5. Cook it. (instructions on how we did it below)

Craig’s Across the Pond Style Boiled Dinner: 

1. Rinse your Freshly Corned Beef.
2. Place Corned Beef, some quartered cabbages, large pieces of carrots, quartered onions, whole garlic cloves, and, of course, large pieces of potatoes into a large pot.
3. Add remaining 20g/2 tablespoons pickling spice.
4. Add enough water to cover everything.
5. Bring to almost a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
6. Drink a Guinness.
7. Cook for a few hours until corned beef is fork tender. If its still tough, keep cooking.
8. Enjoy!