Late to the party, save me a dram and a beer!

[Florida Chris]

As we all know, life gets in the way sometimes. I saw thirdeye corned beef recipe in the past and I was waiting patiently to try it this year. Well, s*** happens (I was low on Cure #1) and now I'm looking at corned beef about a week or so past "The Day".

All good. It's a meal that needs to be eaten more than 1 day a year!!! This guy is gonna be split in 2. One just corned and the other pastrami.

The flat for corned, point for pastrami. So I had to make 2 batches of his brine as I wanted them cured separately. Mistakes were made, lessons were learned.

#1: Don't use a 5qt pot for a gallon+ brine recipe.

#2: Buy more 8qt pots.........

#3: My Publix spice selection sux. How do they not have mustard seeds??? Brown or yellow???? Both no where to be found. Subbed in some course prepared mustards. Acetic acid from vinegar has a pretty low volatility temp so hopefully it boils off and doesn't affect the flavor too much.

#4: Pickling Spice. It's got "spice" in the name, right?? Well, not located with the other spices. It was at the other end of the isle next to the small selection of pickling jars. Well, at least I found it!!

Tomorrow night I trim the meat, inject 10%, and start the cure. Might be an Easter meal but I'm good with that. I already got plenty of ham stockpiled!

Life would be boring without a few little obstacles. And even MORE boring without good food that was made by your own hands!!! REALLY looking forward to this recipe. The house already smells like a life-changing corned beef just from the brine simmering!

More pics to follow (if I don't forget!).

 

[chef k-dude]

Best of luck on your journey.

Look online for your spices if you cant find them, especially if its a spice you know you will use a lot. There are many spice sellers out there that are not Amazon. I use sodium citrate for a no flour excellent cheese sauce that is super easy...no grocery stores sell that stuff around here. Not a spice, but kind of my point.

I prefer the shape of the flat for pastrami and the point for corned beef and cabbage.

And Dang it, I just got "wee dram" to stop running through my head constantly after watching the last season of Outlander. I "dinna fash" now how long it will be back in my head

 

[Florida Chris]

I prefer the shape of the flat for pastrami and the point for corned beef and cabbage.

Makes sense now that you mention it. My thought process was the fatty point would hold up better through the smoking and steaming process but that flat would make a dang nice sammy too!

 

[Fueling Around]

I prefer a flat for most any brisket dishes.

...

#3: My Publix spice selection sux. How do they not have mustard seeds???
...

Find a Sprouts Market. They have a great bulk spice section.

 

[thirdeye]

#1: Don't use a 5qt pot for a gallon+ brine recipe.

The next time you go to the supermarket, ask the Bakery clerks about buckets because they get frosting and other products in buckets. Same with the deli... potato salad, mac salad etc., etc., all come in buckets. I like the 2.5 gallon ones (with the lid) and my stores sell them for $1.

Life would be boring without a few little obstacles. And even MORE boring without good food that was made by your own hands!!! REALLY looking forward to this recipe. The house already smells like a life-changing corned beef just from the brine simmering!

"Corned" beef is more aromatic than cured beef. Just wait for the aroma when it comes out of the bag.

 

[chef k-dude]

Makes sense now that you mention it. My thought process was the fatty point would hold up better through the smoking and steaming process but that flat would make a dang nice sammy too!

I'm no expert but have been making my own pastrami for some years now. Too lazy to corn my own so I wait till this time of year when the Giant Food grocery puts their corned beef on a really good sale. They really cater to many of the, sort of, "ethnic" holidays.

I usually buy both flats and points. The flats are usually exactly that, usually more of a flat rectangle for slicing for sandwiches. I use that pastrami exclusively for griddled Rubens, a treat I make about once every couple of months for me and my wife (yes, correct grammar!).

I use the points for traditional corned beef and cabbage usually twice a year (and potatoes and onions), because on a plate, I really dont care how uniform the slices are and this year for instance they are half the price of the flats. I got the flats for $3.99lb this year and the points were $1.99lb limit two per deal, day, week or something. If my wife and I (also correct grammar!) weren't both sick at the moment one of us would run in to town and pick up more...then again, my freezers are maxed and I still haven't fit those last buys in there. Just smoked the last two flats left from last year and if we feel up to it, we will have the last frozen point from last year on Monday.

*I joke about the grammar thing because my wife has been trying to ingrain in me what the correct forms are and I finally understand it now!

 

[texomakid]

*I joke about the grammar thing because my wife has been trying to ingrain in me what the correct forms are and I finally understand it now!

I married a teacher. Her mother, Dad and brother were/are teachers.
I no longer close the Winder and I don't Warsh my car anymore.

There's a long list of my educational mistakes but when you spend 42 years working on Drilling rigs, nobody cared.

 

[Florida Chris]

Well, got everything bagged up last night but mistakes were made once again

Here's how it went down. Let's see if you can find the error:

1. Trimmed and split the point and flat
2. (insert oops here)
3. Injected 10% into each
4. Bagged up in 2.5g ziplocks
5. In to the meat lug and placed in the fridge

Did you figure out the mistake? It might not be obvious if you're not familiar with thirdeye recipe. I'll give you a minute........










I FORGOT TO ADD THE DANG CURE#1!!!!!!!!!!! It hit me right as I was about to leave for work this morning. So, back home now. Took out the meat, mixed in the cure, re-injected, and back in the fridge for a couple weeks. Shouldn't affect anything but I hate do-overs!

So my next piece of advice is, look over the recipe. Multiple times. Especially if it's a multi-day process. The positive was that I got a pic of the meat that I forgot about last night.

 

[fxsales1959]

Erin go bragh!!!!

 

[Fueling Around]

Well, got everything bagged up last night but mistakes were made once again
...
3. Injected 10% into each
...
I FORGOT TO ADD THE DANG CURE#1!!!!!!!!!!! It hit me right as I was about to leave for work this morning. So, back home now. Took out the meat, mixed in the cure, re-injected, and back in the fridge for a couple weeks. Shouldn't affect anything but I hate do-overs!

So my next piece of advice is, look over the recipe. Multiple times. Especially if it's a multi-day process. The positive was that I got a pic of the meat that I forgot about last night.
...

Injected twice is going to be slug killing salty?
I had a ... senior moment if I forgot to add the cure. Nice thing is nitrite still triggers the litmus paper aquarium test strip. Saved my bacon literally

 

[Florida Chris]

Injected twice is going to be slug killing salty?

I don't think so. It's sitting in the brine for 2 weeks anyways. Injecting just speeds up the process a bit so there's no question about penetration.

It's all about the equilibrium. Injecting just speeds up that process and guarantees success.

The second injection was just to make sure the cure made it to the middle. No extra salt (other than the cure #1) was added so salinity won't increase much.

 

[Florida Chris]

And let's not forget the Fry Test. Everyone who does this does a fry test, right????

If it's too salty, I'll soak, fry, test, and repeat as needed.

I'm not worried about it right now.

 

[Florida Chris]

When in doubt, call on the Smoking Meat Forum Gurus for answers!!!!!

SmokinEdge , thirdeye , indaswamp , DougE


There's many others I could tag but these guys have been my "Go To" for the past couple months with the recipes I've been doing.

If I tried to tag everyone I'm sure this post alone would be 3 pages long!

 

[crazymoon]

FC, Looking good!

 

[millerbuilds]

FC, great start, I am in for the ride!

- Jason

 

[thirdeye]

That was a good recovery with the cure #1 .

I also use those 2.5 gallon zipper bags, for dry and wet curing, but I also like to have some "bucket liner brine bags" on hand. These work in 5 gallon (and smaller) buckets and are less expensive than the zipper bags. LEM makes smaller ones, but shipping is a factor.

 

[Florida Chris]

I also use those 2.5 gallon zipper bags, for dry and wet curing, but I also like to have some "bucket liner brine bags" on hand. These work in 5 gallon (and smaller) buckets and are less expensive than the zipper bags.

Man, I would love to have fridge space for a bucket! So much room for activities!!

I need to do some finagling to get my meat lug to fit my fridge. It sits on the compressor bump up at the back of the bottom shelf and I use a couple jars to prop up the front of the lug near the door. Precarious and shady set-up at best, but it works.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I don't think so. It's sitting in the brine for 2 weeks anyways. Injecting just speeds up the process a bit so there's no question about penetration.

It's all about the equilibrium. Injecting just speeds up that process and guarantees success.

The second injection was just to make sure the cure made it to the middle. No extra salt (other than the cure #1) was added so salinity won't increase much.

No worries Chris, if you had to inject thirdeye brine twice, the salt and cure #1 are low enough that you shouldn’t have any problems. The salt may come up a bit in the meat after two weeks but should be easy palatable. I’m in for the finish.

 

[Florida Chris]

No worries Chris, if you had to inject thirdeye brine twice, the salt and cure #1 are low enough that you shouldn’t have any problems. The salt may come up a bit in the meat after two weeks but should be easy palatable. I’m in for the finish.

Thank you sir!!!!! Always appreciate the feedback!