Make Your Own Corned Beef
January 8, 2009 by Marye Audet
Filed under Main Course
We love corned beef but it can be pretty expensive. Consider that brisket sells for an average of $1.49 a pound here, and can often be found for 99 cents a pound, and corned beef sells for upwards of 4.99 a pound, making your own corned beef just makes sense.
Just before Christmas brisket went on sale for 99 cents a pound. I picked up a 12 pound brisket planning on using it for 3 meals. Two corned beef and one BBQ sandwich meal. I just started the corned beef today and it will be five days before it is ready but I thought I would share the process so far. 
It wasn’t so difficult. I cut the large brisket in 3 pieces. Because the meat needs to be submerged in the brine in a glass pan I couldn’t do one big one. I used my large crockpot insert to hold the meat while it is corning.
Next, you want to carefully trim the fat so that it is about 1/4 inch thick. I would not choose a pretrimmed brisket because they take too much fat off and you end up with dry meat. You can probably also ask the butcher to trim it right at the store. Again, much of the flavor and tenderness will be dependent on the amount of fat so make sure that a good amount of fat stays on.
Once you do that you are going to rub the meat with 1/4 cup Kosher salt. Once the salt is rubbed on all sides of the meat sprinkle it with the pickling spice, the peppercorns, and the bay leaves. Toss three cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped, on top of the meat.
You bring the remaining salt and sugar to a boil in 16 cups (one gallon) of water. Stir it just until the sugar and salt disolve and then pour the mixture (brine) over the meat.
Weigh the meat down so it is covered completely by the brine. An upside down crockery plate works very well. Leave it (covered) in the fridge for three to five days. Check on it once in awhile and make sure that the meat is beneath the brining liquid.
This would not be the time to chill creme brulee or any other delicate flavor dessert. You might find that it tastes a bit like corned beef.
I will update you as the week, and the beef, progresses.
Here is the basic recipe:
Homemade Corned Beef
- 4-8 lbs brisket, fat trimmed to 1/4 inch or so
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon pickling spices
- 1 tsp peppercorns (I used a mixture of red, black, white, green, pink)
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
- 2 c koshes salt
- 1/2 c sugar
- 16 cups water
- Rub the meat with 1/4 cup salt, place in a large glass pan
- Sprinkle with the pickling spice, peppercorns, bay leaves, and garlic
- Bring remaining salt and sugar to a boil in the 16 c water, stir until dissolved
- Pour over meat
- weigh meat down under the brine and leave for 3 to 5 days
Image:marye audet (c) 2009, all rights reserved
Your corned beef (under process) looks great. I’d like to make it too. Could you please tell me what is ‘pickling spice?
I have some corned beef in the freezer that I need to cook up; I’m not a fan, but my husband likes it. looking forward to seeing what comes next!
Anne- pickling spice is sold in the grocers in the spice section as “Pickling spice”. It is a combination of juniper berries, bay leaves, mustard seed and I don;t know what all. You should be able to find it in the spices section.
Jena…so am I!
You might want to add some saltpetre to the brining solution. Home made corned beef turns a bit grey as it “cures”. Saltpetre will preserve the nice red color you find in comercially prepared corned beef.
I prefer gray to a known carcinogen.
Saltpetre (sodium nitrate) is a known carcinogen and actually one of the most dangerous food additives there is.
One of the reasons I make my own corned beef is to keep this out.
I make corned beef using your recipe. It looks delicious and tastes delicious but the meat is tough. How can I correct this?
Fred,
If it is tough it either was not cooked long enough or you got a piece of brisket that had too much fat trimmed off. You should buy brisket that has a good marbling of fat, a nice layer of it on the one side and you can bend the meat so that the ends almost touch. Hope this helps.
Your recipe looks good. However, I believe that it is very important to note that the boiled brine must be completely cool before it is poured over the meat. Otherwise, the meat will partially cook.