Upon moving here to Northwest Ontario we tried a few different brands of corned beef, with none meeting our tastes of what we grew up with in Nova Scotia.

After a little research and finding some pink salt online I decided to try my own corned beef brine and adjusting the process to suit my own tastes.

Choosing your meat

Brisket is a cut of meat from the lower chest. Typically beef or veal however moose and deer also have usable briskets if butchered properly. Briskets need to be lean with a little fat left for taste.

Usually not a standard meat cut available at most chain stores, finding a butcher shop or smaller meet department that has a butcher is a great way to get a good brisket. Simply request the briskets, how many and what size and when they will have them. This gets you better cuts, fresher cuts and allows one on one with the butcher.

The Brine

Step 1: Add the following ingredients to a large stock pot and place on stove.

  • 1 Gallon
  • 1 Tablespoon Pink Salt
  • 7/8 cup pickling salt
  • 1 cup pickling spices
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 4-10 whole cloves
  • 1-4 crushed cloves
  • 1 cup brown sugar.

Step 2: Bring to a boil stirring until the salts and sugars are dissolved.

Step 3: Let Brine cool until room temperature.

Step 4: Place prepared briskets in Ziploc bags ready for Brine to be poured over them.

Step 5: Once Brine has cooled, pour into Ziploc bags to cover the brisket.

Step 6: Squeeze air out which will force the brine to the opening and then Ziploc fully shut. I find zip-locking 80-90% of the way and then squeezing and elevating the open portion of the bag until the brine starts coming out.

Step 7: Place in a bowl or something and place in the fridge for 7 to 10 days. Checking to make sure brine is covering meat on a regular basis. Refrigeration is not really needed but is advised.

Freezing

Brine bags can be frozen directly with meat and brine together, or emptied of the majority of the brine and then frozen. You could also remove the brisket and vacuum seal separately.

Options

Other ingredients can be added to the brine depending on tastes. Its the salts, sugar and water that make the preservative part of the brine, the rest is just taste.

A little sweeter with apple juice, a nice apple flavour with apple cider, spicier with coriander, celery seed, mustard, whatever your tastes like, feel free to explore.

The corned beef is also the basis for Pastrami which is just smoking the corned beef instead of cooking it.

Requires

Vacuum sealer (or just FREEZER BAGS)
Pink Salt AKA: Prague Powder , Curing Salt.
Pickling Salt (Non-iodized coarse salt/kosher salt)
Pickling spice
Brown Sugar
Pot/Stove

Optional:
Cinnamon Sticks
Apple Cider/Juice
Garlic
Carrot
Celery
Whole Cloves
Other spices

Recipes

Preservation

Storage

Preservation

Pre-cooking meals, storing the garden harvest, making pickles, smoking fish...

Food preservation is important as it can save time in the future and saves on waste. Techniques and procedures for preserving your foods.

Cooking

Recipes are just a guide, every time you cook or bake its an experiment. Do not be afraid to adjust, change, add to or modify your recipes or mine. There are always a few key essentials to every recipe, and then a whole lot of "options".

The Basics

Cooking, preserving and storage of food requires some basic skills and understanding. All sorts of measurements, common terms, processes and basic instructions go into cooking preserving and storage of foods.

 

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