St. Patrick’s Day is knocking at your door.  Did you make or buy your corn beef?  🙂 Tired of paying high prices for Corned Beef that just shrinks away when you cook it?  Try my recipe below.  It’s quick to toss together, and it won’t shrink down to nothing when it’s prepared.  Don’t be intimidated by curing it yourself.  It’s so easy…it’s the waiting for the curing that’s the hard part, but so worth the wait!

What you’ll need:

-Brisket or Roast (trim off fat)

-Morton Tender Quick

-Garlic Powder

-Pickling Spice

-Ziplock Bag

-Refrigerator & Patience That Will Be So Worth It!!

 Choose your cut of beef.  You can certainly use a beef brisket, or you can buy a smaller cut of roast as I did in the photo above. I choose to trim off as much of the fat as possible whether I’m using brisket or another type of roast.  I used a chuck roast this time. Poke holes across the top of each side of the meat.  Use 1 Tbsp of Morton Tender Quick for each pound of beef, and rub all over the meat.  Sprinkle garlic powder all over the roast, and massage salt and garlic into the meat.  Place in a Ziplock Bag, and coat each side of the meat with Whole Pickling Spice.  Close your Ziplock bag around the roast doing your best to remove as much air as possible out of the bag.  Place in refrigerator and let cure for 7 – 10 days, flipping the bag once a day.  

Cooking Instructions: You can bake or boil your corned beef.  I prefer to slow bake mine at 325 degrees for about 2 hours.   If you made yours out of brisket, the cook time can be a little longer since this is a tougher cut of meat.  Check your meat for tenderness in the later part of the cooking process.  I will boil mine if I am making Corned Beef & Cabbage so that the meat seasons the rest of the meal.  We generally eat our as Reuben Sandwiches on fresh Rye Bread… YUM!

Making A Reuben – What You’ll Need:

Corn Beef

Rye Bread

Sauerkraut

Swiss Cheese

Thousand Island Dressing

Serve on soft rye or on toasted rye as shown in photo above!