Corned Beef (Corn Your Own)

Submitted by evelynathens

"The traditional Irish dish - just in time for St. Paddy's Day! This requires 48-60 hours curing time in your fridge, but you get great-tasting corned beef in the end."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs 10mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 12-16 sandwich servings
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 4 1⁄2 lbs beef brisket
• 1⁄4 cup salt
• 16 cups water
• 2 cups salt (the sea salt is better) or 3 cups sea salt (the sea salt is better)
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 4 bay leaves
• 16 peppercorns
• 4 teaspoons pickling spices
• 4 garlic cloves, halved

directions

1. Trim all but ¼ inch of fat from meat.
2. Wash and pat dry.
3. Rub with ¼ cup salt.
4. In large saucepan, heat water, salt and sugar and stir to dissolve.
5. Place beef in large glass bowl and pour salted water over.
6. Add 2 bay leaves, 8 peppercorns, 2 tsps pickling spice and 2 garlic cloves.
7. Place weighted plate over so meat is completely immersed.
8. Refrigerate 48-60 hours.
9. Remove meat and rinse thoroughly.
10. Place in large saucepan and cover with boiling water.
11. Add remaining bay leaves, peppercorns, pickling spice and garlic.
12. Cover and simmer for 4 hours, or until meat is tender.
13. Serve hot with boiled potatoes and cabbage or cool the brisket and slice thinly to serve with rye bread and mustard.

Reviews

[Gourmand]

Love this recipe. Love it so much I posted it on my blog docaitta.blogspot.com so others can love it too. It is clearly credited to you, with a link back to this page. Thanks again. Will definitely make this corned beef again.

 

[PeachyFreak]

I made this for St. Patrick's Day and it was absolutely the best corned beef I ever had. (I happen to start with an awesome piece of small farm, grass fed brisket so I couldn't be terrible!) I used 2 3/4 cups of sea salt and added 1 Tbs hot pepper flakes to the brine and more peppercorns to the pot. I kept it in the fridge for 4 days and cooked it. FABULOUS! I had enough for dinner for the two of us and enough left over to make great Reubens using my homemade sauerkraut. Great recipe, Evelyn!

 

[mr gene]

This is a very good corned beef recipe. However when I went to school 60 hours was 2.5 days not 5 days, so this was about right time to brine the brisket. It is better than most corned beef that you can buy ay wally world or most stores. thanks for the recipe Evelyn

 

[Dustbunni]

Excellent. I started brining almost 5 lbs of beef brisket on Thursday night and served it Easter Sunday afternoon. I followed your recipe except that I used a few more pepper corns. We enjoyed the corned beef with boiled potatoes and cold sauerkraut on the side. I cooked the potatoes in the corned beef broth--not the brine. And I made some rye buns. DH and I are looking forward to leftovers today. Evelyn, I'll me making this one again and again.

 

[AuntWoofieWoof]

This is an EXCELLENT recipe!! I will never buy corned beef at the store again!! I got a beef brisket that was close to 4 1/2 pounds.(If you can't find a brisket in your store, ask the butcher if they have any.) It was too big to fit in my stock pot for brining in one piece so I cut it in half. I put both pieces in the stockpot and added the brining ingredients. I then put a plate on top of the meat to weigh it down.(as directed) I started it on Monday (March 15th.) I brined it for 5 days!! On Saturday(5 days later)I took one piece of the meat out of the brine solution and set it aside. I put the other one in a smaller pot, covered it with the brine solution, returned it to the fridge and continued brining it. My crockpot was too small for both pieces. I took the piece of meat I had set aside and rinsed it really well to get the brine solution off of it. This makes the meat less salty when you cook it. I then put it in my crockpot and followed the rest of the directions in the recipe. I cooked it for about 8-9 hours. I put the cabbage in during the last 20 or so minutes of cooking time. It absorbed the flavors in the meat juices. The meat was VERY tender and VERY tasty!!! I cooked the other one today (Monday) on the top of my stove, following the recipe directions. It was very good too. I couldn't tell any difference in flavors by brining it longer. I think I added too much water to the pot when I cooked it today. Next time I make this, I will add less water to cook it in. I might be able to tell a difference then. Thanks Evelyn for an excellent recipe. This is the only way I will cook corned beef from now on...no more store bought, packaged corned beef for me!!