Alright, so I felt inspired to try a recipe I saw on the Amazing Ribs website. I pulled the first of three brisket cuts out of the brine marinade two days ago and chopped it into smaller pieces that I could then feed into my meat grinder to make burgers out of. I then grilled them and made corned beef burgers out of them.
So, after 9 days in the brine, I pulled out a brisket that weighed 4.7 lbs and cut it into about 2 inch cubes and froze it for about 20 minutes. Then I got it out of the freezer and it was just a bit too big and not quite frozen enough so I cut it into about 1 inch cubes and froze it for another 20 minutes. Then I got it out - again - and ran it through my Kitchenaid meat grinder. I then made patties out of the meat and froze 2/3 of it and the rest I put in the refrigerator. The next night, I got a fire going hot with B&B charcoal in my
weber kettle and dumped the coals on one side of the grill and put a chunk of hickory wood on top and let it get going a bit. After about 15 minutes, I put two of the patties on the grill over indirect heat, being sure that the smoke vent was over my food and would flow that way. I grilled them about 12 minutes, flipping them twice and I then checked the temp (it was about 125 I think), I then moved them over direct heat for two minutes per side (4 minutes total). Then I took them off the grill and checked the temp. It 140 - 14.
Then I assembled the sandwiches / burgers like Reubens...with swiss cheese, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing, and corned beef burgers on pumpernickel. I plated them with homemade potato latkes and a pickle. I'd give the finished product a rating of about 4.5 stars out of 5. My wife thought they were awesome...I'd have to admit though, I got Covid about 3 months ago and my taste has been off a bit since then, so maybe that's why I gave them 4.5 stars.
The Corned Beef flavor was mild, I thought. I still have two briskets, one point and one flat section in the brine. I plan to get them out tomorrow and I plan to smoke the point for pastrami and to freeze the other brisket for a traditional corned beef brisket with cabbage...any thoughts or experience with freezing a corned beef brisket would be appreciated. Oh, and I would say that Steve H's comment above made me think about brining them longer than I originally planned. I'm glad I did. I will post more results after I cook the rest.