Growing up, corned beef was a treat in my house. Simmered on the stovetop or braised in the oven with potatoes, carrots, and onions, I could not wait to eat that salty, preserved goodness. I was fortunate enough to grow up on a farm where we raised our own cattle. When we slaughtered a steer, my dad always ask our butcher to corn the briskets and a couple of chuck roasts. But we still only had three or four for the whole year, so when my mom cooked corned beef, it was a treat. Little did I know how long it would be before I ate quality corned beef again. After seeing the “corned beef in-a-bag” concoctions at the supermarket, I had to make my own.
Over the years I’ve tried several corned beef formulas, from Julia Childs’ corned pork or beef, to old-time pioneer type corns, and most recently Michael Ruhlman’s excellent corned beef recipe. I’ve used prepackaged pickling spices, made my own, used sodium nitrite or not, but honestly, they were all darn good. I like the warmer style spice combinations that makes me think not just of the pickling, but of smoke and woods and exotic treks. I also like to use sodium nitrite, as it lends that “cured” flavor that just can’t be replicated. I encourage you to be creative with your spices! Mix something up to suit your taste. I’ve been toying with a South East Asian style corned beef, filled with yellow curry and hot chile peppers, reminiscent of the beef Mussaman curry I had in Thailand. And then there’s pastrami, a pepper and coriander coated, smoked corned beef, which is next on my list. Imagine the possibilities...
By Tammy Kimbler
Adapted from Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups kosher salt
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons pink salt (sodium nitrite), optional
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs fresh ginger, minced
3 tbs pickling spice (below)
1 2.5-pound beef brisket or chuck roast
5 quarts water
Pickling Spice-
1/2 tbs black peppercorns
1/2 tbs white peppercorns
1 tbs allspice berries
1 tbs juniper berries
1 tbs brown mustard seeds
1 tbs coriander seeds
1 tbs hot red chili flakes
1 tsp whole, crushed nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick, broken
5 star anise crumbled
4 bay leaves crumbled
Dinner-
2 onions, quartered
4 carrots (or parsnips), 2 inch chunks
4 potatoes, quartered
1 head cabbage, quartered
Instructions:
In a stock pot, combine salt, sugar, optional pink salt, garlic, ginger, 3 tbs pickling spice and 5 quarts of water. Heat to dissolve, then chill. In a 2 gallon or larger container, submerge your beef in the brine. Store in the fridge for 5 days. Remove meat from brine and rinse thoroughly. Wrap until ready to use. The cured meat can sit for another week out of the brine before cooking.
When you’re ready to cook it, add the beef to a pot. Cover with water, add 3 tbs of the pickling spice, and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer for 3 hours. Taste a bit of the meat. If it’s to salty, drain off the water, add fresh with 1 tbs of pickling spice, and simmer until fork tender. If the meat tastes good, continue to cook until tender. Add the vegetables the last half hour, or draw off some stock to simmer them separately. Slice the meat and serve. Notice the excellent Fulton Beer we had with it. The beef makes dynamite corned beef hash the next day, along with all manor of delicious sandwiches. Leftovers can also be frozen, but I never have enough for that.
