Main Dishes
Corned Beef Brisket
Description
Corned Beef is brisket that’s cured in a pickle-spiced salt brine, then cooked slowly to fall-apart, juicy perfection. While you can buy it, nothing compares to the taste and texture of homemade. It’s easy and worth it!
Ingredients
- For Brining the Corned Beef:
- 12 cups water
- 1 ½ cups Morton’s Coarse Kosher Salt
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons pink curing salt
- 3 tablespoons pickling spice* divided
- 3- to 4- pound flat cut beef brisket
- For Cooking the Corned Beef:
- 1 tablespoon pickling spice*
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 garlic cloves peeled
- 4 cups ice cubes (1.5 pounds ice)
Directions
- In an 8-quart or larger stockpot, combine 12 cups water, kosher salt, garlic, brown sugar, pink salt, and 3 tablespoons of pickling spice.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve. Cover the pot with a lid to make the liquid boil faster, checking on it every 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 30 minutes.
- Line a large bucket, tub, pot, the insert of a crockpot, cooler, or other similar vessel large enough to hold the brisket and brine snugly with a brining bag. Add the ice.
- Pour the semi-cooled brining liquid on top (if it is still a little warm, the ice will melt and cool it down the rest of the way). Allow this mixture to sit and come to room temperature, about 1 hour.
- Place the brisket into the fully cooled liquid (your patience is worth it for food safety!) and submerge so it’s covered in liquid. If the brisket floats, weigh it down with a heavy pot, bag of ice, or similar (we top ours with a stack of dinner plates that is about the circumference of the bucket; if you are using your crockpot, you can flip the lid upside down and use that).
- Let the brisket brine for at least 5 days (or up to 7 days), ensuring that it stays below 40 degrees but above 32 degrees so that it does not freeze. You can place it in a refrigerator, in your garage, or outside if it's cold enough (just make sure it's not below freezing).
