With St. Paddy's day quickly approaching, it's time in our house to start thinking about the meal: corned beef & cabbage.
This years, I decided I'd make our own corned beef and, as an additional treat, make a good bit of pastrami as well.
I picked up 20 pounds of good quality beef brisket— a 14lb monster & two 3-pound flats. After trimming the hard and exterior fat (down to 1/4") from the big brisket (nearly 4 pounds), I prepped them for the brine.
Brine (for 20lbs)
1 gallon water
7.5 TBL (136g) Cure#1
1 LB (453g) kosher salt
3 TBL Coriander Seeds
3 TBL Black Peppercorns
2 TBL Yellow Mustard Seed
3 TBL Brown Sugar
3 TBL Paprika
8 cloves Garlic; minced
I injected the brine into the briskets (10% of total weight). All briskets then were placed into a lug, weighted down (submerged) and place in the refrigerator. There they'll stay for 5 days. I'll move them around around a bit over the course of the next few days to ensure good cure coverage.
No photos yet (images of me trimming fat aren't so exciting
)
But I'll have some when I take the briskets out for the next step...Pastrami-making!
-Kevin
This years, I decided I'd make our own corned beef and, as an additional treat, make a good bit of pastrami as well.
I picked up 20 pounds of good quality beef brisket— a 14lb monster & two 3-pound flats. After trimming the hard and exterior fat (down to 1/4") from the big brisket (nearly 4 pounds), I prepped them for the brine.
Brine (for 20lbs)
1 gallon water
7.5 TBL (136g) Cure#1
1 LB (453g) kosher salt
3 TBL Coriander Seeds
3 TBL Black Peppercorns
2 TBL Yellow Mustard Seed
3 TBL Brown Sugar
3 TBL Paprika
8 cloves Garlic; minced
I injected the brine into the briskets (10% of total weight). All briskets then were placed into a lug, weighted down (submerged) and place in the refrigerator. There they'll stay for 5 days. I'll move them around around a bit over the course of the next few days to ensure good cure coverage.
No photos yet (images of me trimming fat aren't so exciting
But I'll have some when I take the briskets out for the next step...Pastrami-making!
-Kevin