CaseT
TVWBB Platinum Member
My wife and I spent the weekend down at the Oregon Coast. We had a great time. Weather was crap but we had a few nice breaks and we had some excellent beach strolling.
One day we visited an Irish pub. We both had several half and half beers and lunch. Honestly can say I had one of the best bought burgers I've ever had.
While drinking those beers and eating that fantastic burger, my wife the one who remembers everything, reminded me that I was making corned beef for Saint Patrick's day. Not just any corned beef, homemade cured corn beef.
Oh crap! What day is it? When are we getting home? Phew just enough time to make it work!
Fast forward. After work I stopped at Cash and Carry. It's our restaurant supply. Brisket $2.60/#, Angus Brisket $2.64/#. I splurged and got the Angus, better be good!
I decided in another thread that I'd separate the flat and point and cure them two different ways.
The point I am going to cure in Pop's brine.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine
The flat I am going to cure by dry brine curing, using Martins "Digging Dog Farms" cure calculator
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
I have used both these methods for corned beef, pastrami, bacon, etc. I have not done a side by side comparison of the two methods for corned beef.
Please note the final product will not be smoked so no pastrami. This is plain old corned beef.
Most will be dismayed at the amount of fat I trimmed off this brisket. I like my corned beef lean not fatty.
Here's the flat all trimmed:
Here's the point:
Okay lets talk cure! I was going to make my own pickling spice but I was out of four of the spices needed so I bought premade, which has everything I was going to use anyways and was $20 less than buying all the bulk id need to make my own.
*Not pictured white sugar. It I is in a container that doesn't represent what it is.
Both methods use Salt, sugar, and Cure #1. Pop's also uses brown sugar.
Pops' Method
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine
I decided that 1 gallon wasn't going to be enough brine so I mixed up 2 full gallons.
I started by putting 1 gallon of water into a pot on the stove. I added all of the dry ingredients per Pop's recipe x2, except the cure, into the pot. I didn't have cheese cloth to put the pickling spice into so I modified one of my homemade muslin sausage bags and added 1 cup of pickling spice to it.
2/3 cups salt
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons cure #1 (do not add to hot liquid)
I brought this to allow boil over medium-high heat, then reduced to a low simmer and let that roll for 30 minutes. Turned the heat off and allowed the brine to steep and cool slowly.
Once cooled Down This gets added to the brine bucket with another gallon of cold water. If you are in a hurry you can also use ice in place of water. I wasn't so I just used cold tap water.
Once the temp dropped to 50 degrees I added the 2 tablespoons of cure. You could inject at this stage, but I felt that the thickness didn't warrant the effort.
Dry Brine Method using Martin's "Digging Farm Universal Cure Calculator".
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Flat weighed in @ 2601 grams
Per the Calculator here's what we nee for the rub:
Mix all that up. Rub half on one side of the flat. Rub the other side with the other half of the mix.
I ground up the pickling spice for the aromatic rub. I applied this by eye to every surface of the flat.
Vacuum sealed and ready to cure. I will flip and massage this once day until it is time to cook.
About the Cook
Sous vide it is. Probably around 36 hours and a temp around 133-140. Still reading and will continue to read until I have to cook.
The results will be in my next post!
One day we visited an Irish pub. We both had several half and half beers and lunch. Honestly can say I had one of the best bought burgers I've ever had.
While drinking those beers and eating that fantastic burger, my wife the one who remembers everything, reminded me that I was making corned beef for Saint Patrick's day. Not just any corned beef, homemade cured corn beef.
Oh crap! What day is it? When are we getting home? Phew just enough time to make it work!
Fast forward. After work I stopped at Cash and Carry. It's our restaurant supply. Brisket $2.60/#, Angus Brisket $2.64/#. I splurged and got the Angus, better be good!
I decided in another thread that I'd separate the flat and point and cure them two different ways.
The point I am going to cure in Pop's brine.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine
The flat I am going to cure by dry brine curing, using Martins "Digging Dog Farms" cure calculator
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
I have used both these methods for corned beef, pastrami, bacon, etc. I have not done a side by side comparison of the two methods for corned beef.
Please note the final product will not be smoked so no pastrami. This is plain old corned beef.
Most will be dismayed at the amount of fat I trimmed off this brisket. I like my corned beef lean not fatty.
Here's the flat all trimmed:
Here's the point:
Okay lets talk cure! I was going to make my own pickling spice but I was out of four of the spices needed so I bought premade, which has everything I was going to use anyways and was $20 less than buying all the bulk id need to make my own.
*Not pictured white sugar. It I is in a container that doesn't represent what it is.
Both methods use Salt, sugar, and Cure #1. Pop's also uses brown sugar.
Pops' Method
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine
I decided that 1 gallon wasn't going to be enough brine so I mixed up 2 full gallons.
I started by putting 1 gallon of water into a pot on the stove. I added all of the dry ingredients per Pop's recipe x2, except the cure, into the pot. I didn't have cheese cloth to put the pickling spice into so I modified one of my homemade muslin sausage bags and added 1 cup of pickling spice to it.
2/3 cups salt
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons cure #1 (do not add to hot liquid)
I brought this to allow boil over medium-high heat, then reduced to a low simmer and let that roll for 30 minutes. Turned the heat off and allowed the brine to steep and cool slowly.
Once cooled Down This gets added to the brine bucket with another gallon of cold water. If you are in a hurry you can also use ice in place of water. I wasn't so I just used cold tap water.
Once the temp dropped to 50 degrees I added the 2 tablespoons of cure. You could inject at this stage, but I felt that the thickness didn't warrant the effort.
Dry Brine Method using Martin's "Digging Farm Universal Cure Calculator".
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Flat weighed in @ 2601 grams
Per the Calculator here's what we nee for the rub:
Mix all that up. Rub half on one side of the flat. Rub the other side with the other half of the mix.
I ground up the pickling spice for the aromatic rub. I applied this by eye to every surface of the flat.
Vacuum sealed and ready to cure. I will flip and massage this once day until it is time to cook.
About the Cook
Sous vide it is. Probably around 36 hours and a temp around 133-140. Still reading and will continue to read until I have to cook.
The results will be in my next post!
