For my next recipe a brined piece of beef brisket was necessary. This is an endevour I had been interested for sometime, outside of the cookbook and this blog. More related to my own fascination and catnip like attraction to corned beef, I had in the past dipped my feet into the berth of knowledge on the subject but never did attempt the full on swan-dive.
This book and its recipe - which shall remain a surprise - were the catalyst. When this side of meat has completed its cycle I plan to immediately begin another with the addition of Instacure/Prague Powder #1 and make some legitimate corned beef.
That being said, the experiment outlined below in photographs could also be called corned beef. I began by trying to determine what size container I would need for a large brisket. I decided the best material would be polycarbonate and purchased this container and it's lid. The seal is excellent and worthy of note. At approximately 12" x 10" it is not entirely large enough for the dimensions of an extra large brisket (as this one is) but its 6" depth makes up for it. It holds a gallon of brine and the meat with ease and also fits snugly in a corner of my fridge.
I started with about 15 cups of water from the tap in my Lodge dutch oven. As it began to simmer I put in approximately 2 cups of packed brown sugar. Fergus recommends what I determine is confectioner's sugar though he is obviously aware of the molasses based sweetener as an alternative as he comments "many suggest brown sugar, but not me".
The massive 2 1/4 cups of kosher salt followed. He recommends sea salt as always which I do not use and refuse to purchase in bulk for this recipe. I do wonder at the level of salinity between the two causing issue but we shall see.
As for the spices, he recommends juniper berries, cloves, peppercorns and bay leaves. I decided on Penzey's Corned Beef mix, I purchase all my herbs/spices from them and highly recommend. I bought a full pound of the stuff for only $12 and it contains all of the above spices and many more. Penzey's recommends 3-5 tablespoons per 5 lbs of meat...my brisket is 5 lbs just about on the head and I went full force with 5 units. I decided to use the Penzey's mix for a few reasons: 1) I did not want to purchase a bunch of separate items (though I already have two, bay and peppercorns); 2) it seemed overly subtle and I am brash and bold; 3) as I already referenced I am interested in making real (read: pink) corned beef next so I shall be prepared for that. I recently brined a chicken for roasting and used simple McCormick's Pickling spice which also shows considerable overlap with the cookbooks spice list for the brine and the Penzey's mix.
When it neared boil I removed from the heat and stored in the fridge across two wooden spoons until it was nearly cool. I added to my brisket and it has now been percolating for about 72 hours, I will go 10 days and remove and cook in one week from now, he recommends 10-12 days for the recipe this brine is intended for. Stay tuned....
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