Corned Beef

[lvdkeyes]

[blue]

Hi Lvdkeyes.
Looks nice, thanks for posting the pic.

Can u pls verify did u use pickling salt or was it curing salt, they are different.

As I understood, picking salt is fine salt with no addictive such as iodine, the coarse grain version is Kosher salt(rock salt), whereas curing salt contains chemical additive to make meat pink: nitrate or nitrite (salt peter). Prague powder #1 is an example of curing salt.

Only a recommended amount of curing salt can be used in a given amount of brine, about 1/4c per gallon. An overdose of saltpeter can be harmful, or even fatal…add more non-iodized salt if needed.

I would use less then ½ c curing salt plus 2 ½ c rock salt in 7 quarts of water per your recipe.

Did u have unexplainable sweating or palpitation last night?

[lvdkeyes]

My recipe says pickling salt, but I used the curing salt I bought at Western Wholesale. It does have nitrates, but I don't know what proportion. Without the nitrates the meat would have been an unappetizing grey color. If you want to know the proportion ask Eric at WW.

Ham and bacon have nitrates used in the process. None of us had any reaction to the method I used.

Next time I will brine my corned beef for only one week as it was saltier than I would like, but still the flavor was excellent IMHO.

[blue]

Martha Stewart recommends 3-6 days with a recipe identical to yours (except that she stated “coarse” pickling salt meaning kosher/rock salt..) :

http://www.marthastewart.com/315534/cor ... nd-cabbage

[lvdkeyes]

There are loads of recipes for corned beef out there. I don't remember where I got mine.

[blue]

Someone better inform Martha her 8-quart container is too small for 7 quarts water plus an 8 pound brisket before the camera started rolling.

[Klong]

I have a brisket pickling now. I had gotten the meat from Eric some time ago and just recently found your recipe. For the salt I used sea salt I bought at a tropical fish shop. Many thanks. Hopefully it will turn out great.

[crabby]

I just bought mine at Wal Mart, $.89 per pound, about 5 kilos for $10 or 300b.

[blue]

This is my recipe. Enough to serve 2-3.

Home cured corned beef for two
1¼ to 1½ kg Thai beef brisket
4 c water
1 /3 c non-iodized coarse salt
¼ c sugar
2 tablespoons pickling spices
1 level teaspoon curing salt (6% saltpeter) to make the beef pink
2 cloves chopped garlic


1. Add crushed pickling spices, salt and sugar to about 2 c very hot water. Add ice or more cold water to make 4 cups. Make sure the brine is cold, refrigerate if needed.
2. Put everything into a gallon size zip lock bag. Stand the bag in a pot to easily get all the air out and seal. Keep in the fridge for 7-10 days, turn over daily.
3. Rinse and slow cook in a large pot until tender, with optional 6 all spice berries and 20 peppercorns. Should be about 2 ½ - 3 hrs but I don’t know for sure. I use a crock-pot. Boil the beef in a large pot for about ½ hour to shrink it to fit into a crock-pot. Replace some of the broth with hot water if it is too salty.
4. Cook cabbage and potato in the broth. Serve with spicy mustard.



Shopping:
Brisket: Foodland or Villa, 250B/kg trimmed. Quality varies. Ask to look at it first. They will cut it per order. Buy about 4” -5” width from the center cut. Fold a bill to show them.
Coarse salt: Thai natural salt, 11B/500g at Tops Supermarket. 14B at Villa if they have it.
Pickling spice and all spice berries: Villa or Foodland 100-140B/bottle
Curing salt: WWM 100B/kg, enough for many years. Keep it away from lvdkeyes.
Gallon size zip top bag: Big-C Extra.
If u can’t find pickling spice in a bottle substitute it with a mixture of : all spice, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, mustard seeds or coriander seeds.

[lvdkeyes]

What is WWM?