St. Patricks day is just around the corner, and I had planned on picking up some corned beef and cabbage from New Seasons. But then I ran across this article from Jenny at Nourished Kitchen and was inspired to make my own corned beef at home!
It only requires a few simple ingredients:
2-3 pound grass fed beef brisket or other cut of grass fed beef
1/2 cup unrefined sea salt
1/2 cup pickling spice
2 cups fresh whey
2 cups fresh celery juice
I substituted a rump roast from the 1/2 cow we got in December for the brisket, and I got corned beef spices instead of pickling spices from Penzeys spice, an amazing little store in Portland. I didn't have fresh celery juice, but luckily I have a friend who just bought juicer and was kind enough to let me come over and juice a couple bunches of celery. I was also a little tiny bit short on whey, but since the roast I was using was only 2.5 pounds, I figured it would be okay.
I gathered all my ingredients:
I have to show a close up of that celery juice, its such a bright vibrant green:
The corned beef spices were full of color too - here they are mixed with the salt:
I rinsed and dried the meat, put it in a bowl, and rubbed it vigorously with the spice/salt mix. The next step was to wrap it in cheesecloth, and it was here that I hesitated a little. The salt and spices weren't exactly sticking to the meat, so I wasn't sure if I should wrap up the meat with just what was stuck to it, or dump the rest of the spices out of the bowl onto the cheesecloth and wrap them all together. I chose to the latter...hopefully it was the right choice!
The 2 cups of celery juice and 2 cups of whey didn't quite cover the beef:
The directions said that if this happened to add enough filtered water to cover the beef entirely, which I did. I then added some glass bowls to weigh it down so it would stay completely submerged the entire time it was curing:
I put on a lid and stuck it in the fridge, and I will turn it each day so that it cures evenly. I am going to leave it in there for a full week, so it will be ready on St. Patrick's day - perfect timing! I am really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I love learning how to make things like this from scratch, and I hope it tastes as good as I think it will!
It only requires a few simple ingredients:
2-3 pound grass fed beef brisket or other cut of grass fed beef
1/2 cup unrefined sea salt
1/2 cup pickling spice
2 cups fresh whey
2 cups fresh celery juice
I substituted a rump roast from the 1/2 cow we got in December for the brisket, and I got corned beef spices instead of pickling spices from Penzeys spice, an amazing little store in Portland. I didn't have fresh celery juice, but luckily I have a friend who just bought juicer and was kind enough to let me come over and juice a couple bunches of celery. I was also a little tiny bit short on whey, but since the roast I was using was only 2.5 pounds, I figured it would be okay.
I gathered all my ingredients:
I have to show a close up of that celery juice, its such a bright vibrant green:
The corned beef spices were full of color too - here they are mixed with the salt:
I rinsed and dried the meat, put it in a bowl, and rubbed it vigorously with the spice/salt mix. The next step was to wrap it in cheesecloth, and it was here that I hesitated a little. The salt and spices weren't exactly sticking to the meat, so I wasn't sure if I should wrap up the meat with just what was stuck to it, or dump the rest of the spices out of the bowl onto the cheesecloth and wrap them all together. I chose to the latter...hopefully it was the right choice!
The 2 cups of celery juice and 2 cups of whey didn't quite cover the beef:
The directions said that if this happened to add enough filtered water to cover the beef entirely, which I did. I then added some glass bowls to weigh it down so it would stay completely submerged the entire time it was curing:
I put on a lid and stuck it in the fridge, and I will turn it each day so that it cures evenly. I am going to leave it in there for a full week, so it will be ready on St. Patrick's day - perfect timing! I am really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I love learning how to make things like this from scratch, and I hope it tastes as good as I think it will!