Homemade Corned Beef

March is about to come roaring in bringing along with it, St. Patrick’s Day. Why not try brining a Lolans Farm Brisket to celebrate the occasion? From our farm to your table, Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Cook Time: 3 hrs Total Time: 3hrs Servings: 6 to 8 servings

NOTE:

A gallon of brine makes enough curing brine for a 5 pound brisket, cured in a somewhat large-ish container. If you were to use a 2-gallon freezer bag, you would likely need just half (or less) of the amount of brine and brine spices.

Pink curing salt, or sodium nitrite, goes by many names, such as Prague Powder #1 or DQ Curing Salt #1, and is available online and may be available at your local specialty market or butcher shop. If you don’t have it, you can still make corned beef, but it is necessary for that vibrant pink color we associate with corned beef. And it adds flavor too. Without it the corned beef will be a dull grey color.

Note that pink curing salt is NOT Himalayan pink salt. Pink curing salt is toxic and can be deadly if ingested directly, which is why it is colored pink so consumers do not mistake it for table salt.

For the brine

1 gallon (3.8 liters) water

300g kosher salt (2 cups of Diamond Crystal brand kosher Salt OR 1 cup 3 1/2 tablespoons of Morton’s Salt )

5 teaspoons pink curing salt, optional, see Recipe Note

3 tablespoons pickling spices

1/2 cup (90g) brown sugar

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

For the brisket

1 (5-pound) Lolans Farm beef brisket

1 tablespoon pickling spices

Make the curing brine

3 tablespoons pickling spice (reserve the rest for cooking the corned beef after it has been cured), to a gallon of water in a large pot, along with the kosher salt, pink salt (if using), garlic and brown. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Cook the corned beef

At the end of the cure, remove the brisket from the brine and rinse off the brine with cold water. Place the brisket in a large pot that just fits around the brisket and cover with at least one inch of water. if you want your brisket less salty, add another inch of water to the pot.

Add a tablespoon of pickling spices to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a very low simmer (barely bubbling), and cook 3-4 hours, until the corned beef is fork tender. (At this point you can store in the fridge for up to a week.)

Cut across the grain

Remove the meat to a cutting board. (You can use the spiced cooking liquid to cook vegetables for a boiled dinner or corn beef and cabbage.) Notice the visible lines on the meat; this is the “grain” of the meat, or the direction of the muscle fibers.

To make the meat easier to cut, cut it first in half, along the grain of the meat. Then make thin crosswise cuts, across the grain to cut the meat to serve.

Enjoy your corned beef as a boiled dinner, corned beef and cabbage or a delicious, corned beef sandwich!