It's now about a 4 or 5 year running tradition, but I got this year's St. Paddy's Day meal started. If you've never brined your own corned beef (or venison), it's FAR superior to anything at the grocery store. You can do the same thing with your own brisket, or pull some venison from the freezer. Generally you want at least 7 days for smaller roasts, and possibly 10 days for larger. I don't remember how this was packaged, so I made sure to have 2 weeks of time for this one. Good thing too, since it was an entire rear leg, with separated roasts cut out, vacuum sealed together in one bag. I think there are 4 total chunks of meat in there, totaling about 6.6 lbs.
So the brine was 2% kosher salt, 1.5% brown sugar, and 0.25% pink curing salt. I chopped about 8 cloves of garlic, and seasoned with 6 heaping tablespoons of pickling spice, 2 bay leaves, and an unmeasured pile of crushed black pepper. When this is all done, we'll braise it with cabbage for St. Paddy's Day. I may actually hold one roast back and smoke it for pastrami. We shall see what the demand ends up being on March 17th.
So the brine was 2% kosher salt, 1.5% brown sugar, and 0.25% pink curing salt. I chopped about 8 cloves of garlic, and seasoned with 6 heaping tablespoons of pickling spice, 2 bay leaves, and an unmeasured pile of crushed black pepper. When this is all done, we'll braise it with cabbage for St. Paddy's Day. I may actually hold one roast back and smoke it for pastrami. We shall see what the demand ends up being on March 17th.
