Outdoor Gourmet: Outdoor Gourmet Prepares for St. Patrick's Day

Just a shade over a year ago, I started blogging about everything grilling plank-related and one of my first experiments was the St. Patrick’s Day classic Corned Beef, except I finished mine on a plank. It was an early triumph that bears repeating.

A traditional Corned Beef is a cut of brisket that is brine-cured over a couple days or more and the term “corned” refers to the course salt or rock salt kernels used to preserve the meat. Last year I used a pre-cured cut of meat because it was already the 17th and I didn’t have the time nor the salt. Well, I came at it this year a bit more prepared- I'm going to corn my own beef.

I called up my local ranch/butcher- the V-X Ranch and Wood's Meat Processing- and they pre-trimmed a beautiful 4.5 lb. brisket and had it ready to go a week before the big day.

Now, you know how corned beef can sometimes be that lurid red/pink color? That is from the sodium nitrate (NaNO3), a preservative found in tons of processed meats. Stuff like salami, pepperoni, bologna, hot dogs, and SPAM pretty much all contain sodium nitrate. There are two main reasons why sodium nitrate is added to meat- The biggie is color. This chemical preserves color and keeps your SPAM rosy pink rather than the color of over-cooked Hamburger Helper. Secondly, it prevents a modicum of foodbourne bacteria.

Fresh meats from your local butcher generally don’t contain any such chemicals- not that I’m against some NaNO3- I like my SPAM just as rainbowbrite as the next girl- but since I special-ordered this brisket, I decided to go preservative-free, even if it meant no brightly-colored beef. Ok, so no nitrates- then what to use?

Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs beef brisket
3 cups sea salt (the sea salt is better)
1/2 cup golden sugar
4 bay leaves
16 peppercorns
4 teaspoons pickling spices
4 garlic cloves, halved

Directions

First: Wash and pat dry your brisket dry, the rub with ¼ cup salt.

Next: In large saucepan, heat water about 16 cups of water, sugar, the rest of the salt and dissolve.

Then: Place beef in large brining vessel and pour salted water over and add bay leaves, peppercorns, pickling spice and garlic cloves.

Now: Refrigerate 72-96 hours.