How to Cure Irish Corned Beef

Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

If you can brine a craven, you tin corn your own beef. This is how I've been doing it for years. Never pass up an alibi to corn beef. You don't have to wait for next twelvemonth'due south St. Patrick's day dinner.

The cure takes 5 days, ideally, so program ahead. I recently got a question about curing it at room temperature. The brine is a nearly 10 percent salt solution, and so I imagine information technology would exist fine for five days. As well remember that afterwards it's cured you can keep it refrigerated for about a calendar week before cooking. And you could keep it indefinitely in the refrigerator in the brine, but you'd accept to exist sure to cook the salt out of it later on.

Any cut of beef can be "corned." (See my pastrami short ribs.) But the best cuts are the tougher, less-expensive cuts such as brisket. The only uncommon ingredient is the sodium nitrite, pink salt, available here and likewise from Amazon. This is what accounts for the deep red colour of the beefiness and also gives it its distinctive season. I retrieve it's of import, but it'south not necessary from a safety standpoint.

Of special annotation hither is my partner in charcuterie Brian Polcyn's recipe for a fabulous pickling spice. You can buy pickling spice, but Brian'south is over-the-top delicious.

The following recipe is from Charcuterie: The Arts and crafts of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. There's also a recipe for braised cabbage in my new book How to Braise.

(And PS, I don't know who gave that pickling spice recipe two stars, but it is it is killer! I've added it every bit a separate recipe so that information technology tin be printed lone; it'south worth making a batch to take on hand.)

If you liked this mail service, y'all might be interested in these links:

• Food and Wine has a collection of St. Patrick'due south 24-hour interval recipes.
• Gluten-gratuitous Irish soda bread recipe from Gluten-Gratuitous Girl.

© 2015 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2015 Donna Turner Ruhlman. All rights reserved.

Home-Cured Corned Beef

Course Chief Class

Cuisine English, Irish

Servings half dozen with leftovers

• 1 ½ cups kosher table salt (300 grams)
• ½ cup sugar (100 grams)
• iv tsp pink salt sodium nitrate (optional, but highly recommended for color and flavour)
• iii garlic cloves minced
• 4 tbsp pickling spice
• 1 5-pound beef brisket (2.5 kilogram)
• ane carrot peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion peeled and cut in ii
• 1 celery stem roughly chopped

Pickling Spice

• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• two tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tbsp hot cherry-red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp allspice berries
• 1 tbsp ground mace
• 2 small cinnamon sticks crushed or broken into pieces
• 2-4 bay leaves crumbled
• 2 tbsp whole cloves
• i tbsp ground ginger

• In a pot large enough to hold the brisket, combine 1 gallon of water (4 liters) with the kosher salt, sugar, sodium nitrite (if using), garlic, and ii tablespoons of the pickling spice. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the common salt and saccharide are dissolved. Remove from the heat and permit absurd to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled.

• Place the brisket in the alkali, weighted with a plate to go on it submerged; cover. Refrigerate for 5 to 7 days. (Information technology will proceed a week or more refrigerated, until y'all are fix to cook it.)

• Remove the brisket from the brine and rinse thoroughly. Place in a pot just large enough to concur it. Cover with water and add together the carrot, onion, celery, and remaining 2 tablespoons pickling spice. Bring to a eddy over loftier heat, reduce the oestrus to low, and comprehend. Simmer gently until the brisket is fork-tender, nigh 3 hours, calculation h2o if needed to cover the brisket.

• Go along warm until ready to serve. The meat can be refrigerated for several days in the cooking liquid. Reheat in the liquid or serve chilled. Slice thinly and serve on a sandwich or with additional vegetables simmered until tender in the cooking liquid.

• *A note nearly the table salt: The table salt level is not hugely critical here because it'southward basically boiled, and the excess table salt moves into cooking liquid. You can counterbalance out 12 ounces here if you feel better using a scale (approximately a ten% brine). Or you lot can but make a five% brine of however much water you need to embrace (half dozen.four ounces per gallon). When you cook it, season the cooking liquid to the level you want your meat seasoned. Some other pick is wrapping the brisket in foil and cooking it in a 225°F degree oven till tender, just practice this only if you've used the 5% brine.

Pickling Spice

• Combine the peppercorns, mustard seeds, and coriander seeds in a small dry pan. Place over medium heat and stir until fragrant, being careful non to burn down them; keep the chapeau handy in case the seeds popular. Crack the peppercorns and seeds in a mortar and pestle or with the side of a pocketknife on a cutting lath.

• Combine with other spices and mix well. Store in a tightly sealed container.

Keyword corned beef, corning, cured beef

Pickling Spice

• ii tablespoons/20 grams black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons/xx grams mustard seeds
• 2 tablespoons/20 grams coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons/12 grams hot carmine pepper flakes
• ii tablespoons/14 grams allspice berries
• i tablespoon/8 grams ground mace
• 2 small cinnamon sticks, crushed or cleaved into pieces
• 4 bay leaves, crumbled
• ii tablespoons/6 grams whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon/8 grams footing ginger

• Lightly toast the peppercorns, mustard seeds, and coriander seeds in a modest dry pan, then smash with the side of a knife but to crack.

• Combine the cracked spices with the remaining ingredients, mixing well.  Shop in a tightly sealed plastic container or glass jar.

Keyword corned beef, cured, pickle, spice

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

hamiltonsagifen60.blogspot.com

Source: https://ruhlman.com/cure-corned-beef/

Share this post