Corning Your Own Corned Beef

OK, I never had corned beef often as a kid - maybe once a year (hey, we weren't Irish-Americans). Had my share of boiled red cabbage though :D

Anyway, two years ago, Carol had this one week course development job that we scheduled for the week of my Spring Break so I cared for the kids and she pulled 14 hr days working. Ugh. But my end of the deal was a never-ending supply of food, tea, and snacks. Luckily St. Patrick's Day fell on the week, so the kids and me made corned beef, cabbage, soda bread with hand-made butter, and something chocolate-y for dessert.

We bought the corned beef from Eagle Bridge Custom Meats (now USDA certified) and it was fantastic - moist and well-spiced and the same price as that nasty stuff from the big grocery store. This year, we are making our corned beef from our portion of a quarter cow named Burgess from the Masons' at Long-Lesson Farm (here in Johnsonville).

from Simply Recipes, fab recipes and photog!

This is from Alton Brown's excellent recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 quarts water
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons saltpeter
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into several pieces
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 8 whole cloves
• 8 whole allspice berries
• 12 whole juniper berries
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 pounds ice
• 1 (4 to 5 pound) beef brisket, trimmed
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped

Steps

1. Place the water into a large pot along with salt, sugar, saltpeter, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds, peppercorns, cloves, allspice, juniper berries, bay leaves and ginger.
2. Dissolve the salt and sugar on high heat, stirring often.
3. Cool using either ice or refrigeration until the temp is less than 45 F
4. Once the brine is cooled, place the brisket in a 2-gallon zip top bag and add the brine. Seal and lay flat inside a container, cover and place in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
5. Check daily to make sure the beef is completely submerged and mix the brine.
6. After the 7-10 days, remove from the brine and rinse well under cool water.
7. Place the brisket into a pot just large enough to hold the meat, add the onion, carrot and celery and cover with water plus 1 more inch.
8. Set over high heat and bring to a boil.
9. Reduce the heat to low, cover and gently simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until the meat is fork tender.
10. Remove from the pot and thinly slice across the grain. Enjoy with boiled cabbage, soda bread, and easy hand-made butter!