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| First, you will need a large 2-2.5 gallon zip top bag to hold the brisket and the brine solution and a tray of some sort to hold it. |
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Here are all the spices for this recipe with saltpetre at the top.
Second row is salt, bay leaves, broken cinnamon, peppercorns and mustard seed.
Bottom row is brown sugar, allspice berries, ground ginger, cloves and juniper berries.
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| Boil two quarts of water and dissolve the salt, brown sugar and saltpetre. The saltpetre looks like little white balls, kind of like miniature tapioca.
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| Once the solution comes to a boil, turn off the heat and mix in the rest of the spices, leaving it to cool. |
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| Meanwhile, prepare the brisket by rinsing it, drying it and trimming the fat off. |
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| Put the brisket into the zip top bag. |
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| Pour the quart of cold water or ice (2 pounds) into the brine solution so it cools off faster. |
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| Carefully pour the brine solution into the bag of meat. |
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Seal the meat and refrigerate in the tray.
After one day you should flip the bag to redestribute the brine and flip it again after one week.
Be careful as these large bags are prone to leak. You should cover the whole try as well, just in case it leaks. |
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After two weeks, your beef is corned. The easiest way to remove the meat is to drain the bag first by cutting holes in it and letting it drain while you move to the next step which varies based on what you want to do with the corned beef.
I'll be showing two options here. The first is a basic boiling method that is good if you just want cooked corned beef for making sandwiches or hash. The second is a brown sugar and Guinness roasted version. Another option (not shown) is to make corned beef cabbage soup . |
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For the standard boiling method, cut up a small onion, a stalk of celery and as talk of carrot. I found a small celery and carrot snack pack to be the cheapest and most convenient if you don't want to buy whole bunches of vegetables.
Fill your pot (make sure it's big enough to hold your meet) with about 2 inches of water and set over medium heat to boil while you prepare the meat. |
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Once the bag is drained, remove the meat and rinse under cold water, discarding the spices. Pat the meat dry with paper towels, just so it's not dripping all over the place.
I also chose to cut mine in half so I could freeze half for later. |
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Transfer the meat to the water and vegetables and make sure the meat is submerged.
Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and allow to simmer. |
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Simmer for 2-3 hours, until tender. You should be able to easily break off pieces with a fork or tongs.
Drain the meat and allow to cool and drain.
You should discard the vegetables but you can save the broth if you wish. |
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As soon as you can handle the meat, you can cut it and serve or use as desired, though it will be quite moist and soft.
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If you plan to cut it thin for sandwich meat, you may wish to refrigerate for a few hours so that it firms up a little.
Check out that wonderful pink color and beautiful texture! |
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| This is a good chance to test your knife skills with thin slices! |
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