Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Corned Beef in a few weeks

The local store is having a special on högrev (chuck steak) from Ireland, so I picked up a kilo figuring I'd have a hankering for reubens in a few weeks.

Below you can see my preparation for beef corning.

I've got a lidded glass container I can keep the beef in while it seasons for three weeks. In the picture you can see that I've covered the beef with water to estimate the amount I'll need to keep it submerged. I measured the water (about 3 cups) as I decanted it into a small pot. As I heated the water, I determined that I needed about 1/4 C of course salt (I'm going roughly by Joy's recommendation here, though I've learned to cut the salt in half), which I stirred in just before the water reached a boil, and then poured it into the glass container. I've also seasoned the brine with a bay leaf, white peppercorns, allspice, mustard seed, cloves, and a couple tablespoons of sugar. It's cooling in the fridge right now, but this evening I'll free the beef of it's plastic wrap and submerge it in the brine. I use the stainless steel chain pictured in the bottom right (acquired at a marine supply shop) to keep the beef under the water level of the brine while it sits in the fridge from 2-4 weeks.

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