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Two weekend ago I started my homemade corned beef project. I made a nice brine and packed 4 pieces of beef brisket into ziptop bags filled with brine. This was put into the refrigerator for 7 days. The following weekend I removed the ziptop bags from the fridge emptied the brine and rinsed the meat in cold water.
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This meat was put into a stock pot and covered with water and boiled for 3 hours. The result was very very similar to store bought corned beef. The main difference was that the meat was a bit more tough in texture than the stored purchased corned beef. I’m not sure if this is because it should have been brined for a longer period of time. The directions in the recipe I was using said brine for 7-10 days. Next time I’ll likely brine for a longer period of time to see if that makes a difference. Overall I was VERY pleased with the results though. I’m pretty sure I’m likely to make this again and in probably a larger quantity. This is because the same technique which is used to make corned beef is also used to make pastrami. The major difference being that the pastrami is rubbed with spices and then cooked in a smoker. While I don’t have a smoker, I think I can replicate this effect with either my grill or oven. If you’re interested in making either corned beef or pastrami from scratched, there are a couple of blog posts I’d recommend.
- Cruftbox – How to make home made pastrami and corned beef
- Jun-Blog – How to Make Corned Beef Brisket, Nitrate-Free at Home
- Simply Recipes – Homemade Corned Beef
I actually used the information from Simply Recipes, but the other posts were useful as well. For next time, I’m particularly interested in the Cruftbox post which talks about making pastrami!