Corned Beef?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

svenalope

Active Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Messages
34
Reaction score
2
Hey guys, thought you may be interested in a thing. I've been reading art of fermentation by Sandor Katz, which is like the top five books I've ever read. Anyway, there's a recipe for corned beef, something like a brisket in a brine of 10% salt and 5% sugar for two weeks. I cooked it for st. patrick's day in the brine and it was way too salty (still the best corned beef I've had), but it'd probably be good cooked without the brine.
Anyway, point is, it was so good I decided to make another and turn it into corned beef jerky. First quarter of the beef was ****, but the next half i rinsed and it was just barely too salty for jerky.
Anyway, you guys ever corn a beef? Because you need to. Ever made corned beef jerky? Because I'd like to hear some suggestions on that. And I love Katz's book.
 
Corned beef jerky man that would hit the spot right now!!

Probably wouldn't go with beer though. Maybe if you add some good cheddar, a crusty roll.......... Nah, that wouldn't be any good..
 
I brine mine for two weeks. Before smoking though I wash off the brine to keep it from getting too salty. I then pat dry it with paper towels and then pack on as much pepper as I can...this might technically make it pastrami (not sure)
 
Reviving this thread.

My wife cooks corned beef every year for St. Patrick's Day. This is the first year we're corning the beef ourselves.

Using the Ruhlman recipe:

https://ruhlman.com/homemade-corned-beef/
Rather than buying a high priced brisket flat, I bought a packer and chuck, separated the point and ground it with the chuck for burger meat, and cleaned up the flat for the brine.

Anyone else curing their own this week?
 
I was watching an episode on YouTube from Bearded Butchers that I want to try.
But I’ll probably get lazy and just buy a store bought corned beef amd throw it on the grill.
 
Reviving this thread.

My wife cooks corned beef every year for St. Patrick's Day. This is the first year we're corning the beef ourselves.

Using the Ruhlman recipe:

https://ruhlman.com/homemade-corned-beef/
Rather than buying a high priced brisket flat, I bought a packer and chuck, separated the point and ground it with the chuck for burger meat, and cleaned up the flat for the brine.

Anyone else curing their own this week?

I do it every year, but not this.

Consider splitting it in half after corning and make a pastrami. All you need is pepper, coriander, and smoke it. Then slice thin. That's what I normally do.
 
I've got a 5 pound joint curing right now for St Patrick's Day.

traditionally, a pastrami is made from the point and smoked, and has a slightly different pickling blend (use mustard seed, omit juniper, bay); corned beef is made from the flat, and simmered. many people often add Cure #1 to pastrami as well. None of these are hard "rules", but it is traditional.

I like to add a couple unconventional ingredients that I picked up from a chef friend that adds some subtle extra character: clove and thyme in the brine, and simmer in 4 parts stock to 1 part white wine.

I wouldn't brine longer than 10 days for larger joints (6-7 pounds), 5 days if you're in the 3-4 pound range. I usually soak a couple hours in clean water after rinsing the brine, and change out the water once half way through.

going to do an oat and molasses soda bread to accompany it

27fc860711cf0dcf.jpeg
 
Last edited:
We cooked it up yesterday because we won't have the kids on Wednesday...

The total was about 7 lbs, so we only cooked half of it. I quartered it and have two vacuum sealed frozen hunks of corned beef of about 1.75# each.

It came out great! (I probably should have taken some pictures, huh?)
 
I have made the Katz's Deli corned beef recipe multiple times and it's a winner. If you cook it any other method than boiling in water you must desalinate in water for a day.
 
I have, but went the smoker + pastrami treatment always. It was amazing.
I did that as well. This time of year you can't beat the price of the pre-corned beer - a buck to buck and a half a pound. The rest of the year it's $5 - 6 a pound, similar to fresh brisket.
My recipe is to soak the corned beef in fresh water for 8 hours or so. I think next time I'll do it at least overnight, probably 24 hours. It's tasty, but still a bit salty. I do season mine closer to Montreal Smoked Meat, though. That has salt in the mix. If it was traditional pastrami, I think it doesn't.
 

Attachments

  • meat.jpeg
    meat.jpeg
    57.2 KB · Views: 15
Got a 5# flat.

Brined for 5 days, then split it in half:

half got simmered as Corned Beef

other half got rubbed and smoked for pastrami
0317211819.jpg
thumbnail.jpg
 
Few years ago I bought a brisket and brined it for a week, then smoked it. Was the most juicy and amazing corned beef I have ever had. The non-smoked spots are where I had bacon on top of it.
Corned beef.jpg
 
I made this last month, form a 14 lb brisket: , it was great! The flat was a little too salty but the point was awesome!

I‘m going to to make it again next week. This time I’ll try soaking it in fresh water to get rid of some of the salt. Thanks for the tip,
 
I've always been sensitive to salt and now am salt restricted, so I always soak my hams and corned beef in white soda(aka 7up) overnite to reduce the sodium. Would I get better results with just water? I know there is citric acid in soda ,so that might play a part.
 
I've always been sensitive to salt and now am salt restricted, so I always soak my hams and corned beef in white soda(aka 7up) overnite to reduce the sodium. Would I get better results with just water? I know there is citric acid in soda ,so that might play a part.


corn your own briskets in celery juice (and I think you can also add whey to the cure) for a non sodium brine. As for soaking in water, the meat and water will move to equilibrium. Changing the water will draw out more salt.
 
If you want it to actually be pink like a commercially purchased corned beef, you have to use a curing agent to bring some nitrates to the party. I like Morton's tenderquick. Last corned beef I made started as an 18# full packer brisket which was too big for my smoker so I cut about 6# of flat off and cured that in the fridge in tenderquick for 2 weeks and cooked like a typical corned beef. The remaining 12# point and flat beneath it was smoked as a standard, non-brined salt and pepper brisket.
 
Back
Top