Homemade Corned Beef

 
Homemade corned beef is extremely easy to make and it's delicious! The only downfall to it is you have to have room in your refrigerator to store your meat in a pan or bag for 2-3 weeks. Other than that anyone could make this and have no problems at all. No cooking experience needed here! :-)

I've made it a couple of times now, messing around with the proportion of spices you add to the brine. In the end my husband preferred the heavier seasoned brine while I preferred a little less seasoning. I'm going to share with you the round 2 brine I made. I think it makes a corned beef that is more similar in taste to something you may get at the store. 

What You'll Need
For the Brine

• 1 organic, grass-fed beef brisket
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup mustard seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 heaping tsp. of whole peppercorns
• 8 whole cloves
• 1/4 tsp cardamon seed
• 6 allspice berries 
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Water - preferably filtered or distilled

For Cooking the Brisket

• 2-3 carrots peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 1 medium onion chopped into large chunks
• 2-3 celery stalks chopped into large chunks
• Water - preferably filtered or distilled

Getting Started
1. In a medium size pot heat 4-6 cups of water to boiling, then add all of your spices, sugar and salt. Turn heat off and stir to dissolve sugar and salt then let sit for 15+ min.You are both letting the water cool some and flavoring the water for the beef brisket.

2. You want your water room temperature or cooler before submerging your meat in it, so either put some ice cubes in it, add cold water or let it sit on the counter until it's completely cooled off.

3. Place your brisket in a large dish or bag and cover with your seasoned water. Add more water so that the brisket is fully submerged.  Make sure brisket stays covered with liquid by placing a heavy object on it. In my case the casserole dish I had came with a lid, so I placed a small cup on the brisket and used the lid of the dish to push the cup down and keep the meat submerged.

4. Allow meat to cure in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. About twice a week turn the brisket over and check to make sure it is still fully submerged.


Before curing                                                              After curing for 2 weeks

                              


5. Once meat is done curing you do need to cook it for a couple of hours before it's ready for the dinner table. Place your chopped carrots, onions and celery into a large heavy bottom pot and place cured brisket on top.

6. Fill pot with enough water to cover vegetables and meat and then heat liquid to boiling. Place a lid on your pot and turn the heat down to low and allow meat to cook for 2-3 hours.

7.  Pull your meat out of the pot and slice it up. Enjoy on a sandwich with some homemade sauerkraut or with some steamed cabbage. (By the way, if you are wondering why my sauerkraut is purplish pink, it's because I made it using both white and purple cabbage.)