Corned Beef

[JZ]

After a successful pastrami I figured I would have a go at some corned beef so here goes. First the meat, which is half of an outside round roast.

Then the brine, I used brown sugar instead of white thus the color. This smells great. Injected a 10% brine which was a lot.

Then into a container and pour the remaining brine over top of it. Then into the fridge for a few days. The recipe books I have say to fridge it for 3 to 4 days but I've seen posts by others that went for 10 days to 3 weeks. I think I will go 10 days.

In case someone notices the meat floating, I added a plate after the pic to hold the meat down. :)

[SiFumar]

Great start!

[ratherbboating]

What are you brimming it with? 
Looks good.

[JZ]

I used this brine from Ruhlmans book :Charcuterie - The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing".

    4 liters water
    450 grams kosher salt
    100 grams sugar
    25 grams pink salt (5 tsp)
    3 garlic cloves, minced
    2 tablespoons/20 grams Pickling Spice

I omitted the garlic and sub'd brown sugar for the white. I bought pickling spice instead of making my own because I did not have some of the ingredients.

[Keymaster]

Lookin Good JZ!!!

[Habanero Smoker]

You don't have to brine it that long; especially if you are injecting. Five days should be all the time you need. When I see long brining times, I believe they are based on modified old recipes that used saltpeter to cure the meat, but were rewritten for cure #1. Sodium nitrite is a fast cure, and you really don't need those lengthy cure times.

[JZ]

Maybe I'll just go 5 days then for this first try. The good news would be that I get to eat it sooner. ;D

[Caribou]

Ooooo!
This is going to be good :)
You've got me wanting to make a beef pastrami, too.
Carolyn

[JZ]

You've got me wanting to make a beef pastrami, too.
Carolyn

Is your elk pastrami already gone? :o

[Caribou]

The un-frozen part is!! ;D
I do have some in the freezer, I froze half of it.
But I have a couple smaller briskets in my freezer too begging to become pastrami ;)
Carolyn