Corned Beef Brisket

By garciamoss

Ingredients

• Brine:
• 1 gallon water
• 2 cups kosher salt
• 5 teaspoons pink curing salt (1 ounce)
• 1 ⁄2 cup sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Pickling Spice, recipe follows
• 5 pounds well-marbled (first-cut) beef brisket
• 2 tablespoons Pickling Spice
• Pickling Spice:
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons mustard seed
• 2 tablespoons coriander seed (ours were homegrown!)
• 2 tablespoons hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons allspice berries
• 1 tablespoon ground mace
• 2 small cinnamon sticks, crushed or broken into pieces
• 24 bay leaves, crumbled (ours were homegrown!)
• 2 tablespoons whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

Preparation

Step 1

Pickling Spice:
Lightly toast peppercorns, mustard seed and coriander seed in dry small skillet, then use side of knife (or use mortar and pestle) just to crack them.

Add remaining ingredients, mixing well. Store in tightly sealed container or glass jar. Yields 1 cup.


Corned Beef:
Combine all brine ingredients in large pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring until salts and sugar are dissolved. Remove pot from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until completely chilled.

Place brisket in brine and weigh down with plate to keep meat submerged. Refrigerate for 5 days.

Remove brisket from brine and rinse thoroughly under cool running water. (Resting is not required here because the distribution of the brine will continue in the long slow-cooking process.)

Place brisket in pot just large enough to hold it and add enough water to cover meat. Add remaining Pickling Spice and bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer gently for about 3 hours, or until brisket is fork-tender. There should always be enough water to cover the brisket, so replenish the water if it gets too low.

Remove corned beef from cooking liquid (which can be used to moisten the meat and vegetables, if that’s what you’re serving). Slice corned beef and serve warm, or cool, wrap tightly and refrigerate (up to a week) until ready to serve. Yields about 8 to 10 servings.