It’s the beginning of March and St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. Since I’m not Irish-American, I don’t have much reason to commemorate the holiday, but I certainly consider the reuben sandwiches and good beer that celebrate the day to be welcome noshing traditions in this cold and rainy season.
Corned beef is one of my favorite meats and it’s not difficult to make at home, which is attested to by cooks across the web. Just type in “homemade corned beef” to your favorite search engine and you’ll come up with pages galore.
By the way, “corning” is a technique for preserving or curing meat by soaking it in brine for long periods of time.
When beef is preserved using traditional methods, it’s a fermented food that nourishes your body, in addition to being melt-in-your-mouth satisfying. It takes 5-10 days to cure, so now is a good time to get started in order to have your meat ready for March 17.
And I’ll be honest, I’ve never actually made this recipe before – every year I look at the recipe and think, “Oh, I should do that next year.” Well, no more. This year is the year! I’m sharing the recipe here that I’m using and I’ll report in afterward about the results. If you decide to join me, please post your results as well!
Traditional Corned Beef
Ingredients:
1 3-pound beef brisket, grass-fed (see note)
1 cup unrefined coarse sea salt
1/4 cup unrefined cane sugar (optional, no substitutes)
Pickling spice (recipe follows)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups whey or sauerkraut brine*
2 cups celery juice
1 cup unrefined coarse sea salt
1/4 cup unrefined cane sugar (optional, no substitutes)
Pickling spice (recipe follows)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups whey or sauerkraut brine*
2 cups celery juice
*Get sufficient whey by straining 2-3 quarts of yogurt in cheesecloth for an hour or so – plus you end up with thick Greek-style yogurt. Yum!
Pickling Spices:
3 bay leaves
1 stick cinnamon, broken into pieces
2 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoon whole coriander seed
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole cardamom pods (optional)
1 tablespoon juniper berries
4 cloves
3 bay leaves
1 stick cinnamon, broken into pieces
2 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoon whole coriander seed
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole cardamom pods (optional)
1 tablespoon juniper berries
4 cloves
Method:
Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. If you have time, freeze it in a deep freeze for 14 days, then thaw it completely in the refrigerator. Otherwise, continue with the recipe as usual, but add in a cooking time at the end.
When the meat is completely thawed, mix the salt, sugar, pickling spices, and garlic together in a small bowl, breaking up the bigger items with the back of a spoon (or use a mortar and pestle to make it easy). Rub as much of the mixture into the meat as possible, massaging it in if needed.
Place the brisket in a glass container or jar with a tight-fitting lid. Pour the whey and the celery juice over the brisket, along with any of the salt mixture that fell aside. If the brine does not cover the brisket entirely, add enough filtered water to cover it. Weigh it down if necessary with a plate or a jar filled with water.
Place the lid on the container and put the brisket in the refrigerator. Let it cure for 5-10 days (count on at least two days per pound), turning once each day and ensuring that the meat is covered in brine at all times. Add filtered water if necessary.
Once the meat is cured, toss the brine and rinse the meat to reduce the saltiness. If you originally froze the meat, it’s now ready to use in whatever way you best like your corned beef: Reuben sandwiches, crock pot corned beef and cabbage, New English Boiled Dinner, corned beef hash, corned beef and potatoes. Keep in mind that unless you cook it at this point, it is still raw, which is recommended by some dieticians, but you need to have handled your meat properly to consume it in that state.
If you didn’t freeze the meat or aren’t comfortable consuming raw meat, submerge the meat in fresh water in a stockpot or crock pot and simmer it very gently until it’s fork tender – generally for 2 1/2 – 3 hours on the stove over low heat and 5-6 hours in the crockpot on “high.”
Why Grass-Fed Is Important
Choosing grass-fed beef if at all possible is especially important in this recipe. By eating the meat in a somewhat raw state, the enzyme structures are kept intact, as with most raw foods, which makes the meat more digestible and keeps more nutrients bio-available, thus you want as safe a product as possible. Bacteria infestations, such as e-coli, are greatly reduced in grass-fed animals.
Grass-fed meat is also significantly higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a potent cancer-fighting fatty acid that only exists in meat that comes from pastured animals.
A Few Notes
This recipe calls for freezing the meat first. By freezing it for at least 14 days, any bacteria present in the meat will be unable to survive. If you don’t have time to freeze the meat or you choose not to, it is recommended that you poach the meat after curing it.
And what’s the deal with celery juice, you might ask? Celery juice is the most potent source of natural nitrites, the preservative that kills bacteria and helps the meat retain its flavor. Artificial nitrites such as saltpeter or even those found in pink salt, which are often used in corning beef, give the beef a deep red color, which celery juice won’t do, so don’t be alarmed. To read more about natural curing methods, both Niman Ranch and Red Cat Restaurants have some very helpful information.
“Curing, no matter which method, involves several processes, the most significant of which is denaturing of the proteins. This happens when salt is introduced to the meats proteins. Proteins are coils and the salt causes the proteins in the muscle fibers to unwind and [the salt then can] absorb the extra water trapped inside. Water inside your meat spells trouble because bacteria love water so eliminating it by salting and drying allows for longer storage.” – Red Cat Restaurants
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