Brining brisket for corned beef

[Professor Frink]

I'm making some corned beef for St. Patty's day, and the recipe calls for Instacure 1, I guess it gives it the pink color. Does anyone know where you can get this?

 

[Silviakitty]

I don't know myself. I corned a beef and didn't have it...the color wasn't the same, but the flavor was still really good.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

I get mine with my sausage making stuff at The Sausagemaker

Or you can make your own:

MEAT CURES - DO-IT-YOURSELF
PRAGUE POWDER # 1 or INSTA CURE 1
This mix is not normally used in fresh sausage. It can be used in “cured
sausage” that is not fully dried.
1 pound of Kosher salt
1 ounce sodium nitrite Thoroughly mix the salt and sodium nitrite. Uneven mixes will result in too
much sodium nitrite in some parts of the sausage and not enough in others.
For each 10 pounds of meat to be used in the sausage, add 2 teaspoons of
Prague powder # 1.
Unused Prague powder #1 can be stored in a dry jar.
Note that the Prague powder # 1 is dissipated after about 2 weeks making it
unsuited (as the theory goes.) for long cures.

 

[zoebisch01]

Another place is www.butcher-packer.com.

As for making your own, be damned careful that you get a completely homogenous mix!

 

[Professor Frink]

Thanks guys, I think I'll try making it myself. It does say it's optional, so I could just forgo it.

 

[Pabst Blue Robot]

For what it's worth, "pink salt" is very inexpensive and you can order at a number of online retailers. The color added is helpful because you do not want to confuse this with regular salt, it is poisonous at higher concentrations.

 

[zoebisch01]

For what it's worth, "pink salt" is very inexpensive and you can order at a number of online retailers. The color added is helpful because you do not want to confuse this with regular salt, it is poisonous at higher concentrations.

Yes, I believe about 2 oz can kill. You'd have to not be paying attention though to ingest that much but it still merits caution.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Another option is Morton's QuickCure. I've used it for curing porkbelly to smoke into bacon. It was readily available at my supermarket (but doesn't impart the pink color).