Preparing the Beef Brisket for St. Patrick's Day
With exactly one week until St. Patrick's Day, it's the perfect time to start preparing the classic corned beef brisket.
Yesterday, I took out a large beef brisket I got from Pat LaFrieda, cleaned it up, placed it in a brine solution of salt, garlic and spices, and then set it in the refrigerator where it will "corn" for several days - the term comes from the processes invented for curing meat by packing it in kosher salt the size of "corn kernels" or soaking it in a concentrated brine. If all the ingredients are ready, this part of the recipe will take less than 30-minutes.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- I received this amazing beef brisket from my friend, Pat LaFrieda, and decided to corn it myself in time for a small and safe St. Patrick’s Day gathering. Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors is a third generation meat wholesaler based in North Bergen, New Jersey. He sells dry-aged steaks, artisanal burger patties, and selected cuts of beef, pork, poultry, veal, lamb and buffalo.
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- The first step was to get a plastic storage bin big enough for the brisket. The bin was thoroughly washed, dried and then lined with parchment paper so the brisket was not placed directly onto the container’s plastic bottom.
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- This brisket was listed as 20.9 pounds – a hefty size, but it will lose a lot more after most of the fat is removed.
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- Here is another view of the brisket. Brisket is a cut of beef from the chest of the animal. The thickest part of the brisket is called the “point” and the thinner, more uniform part of the brisket is called the “flat”.
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- It’s always important to use the right kind of knife – I always say, “use the right tool for the right job.” This is a boning knife. Boning knives have long, thin, flexible blades with a sharp tip to make piercing meat easier and safer. Boning knives have to be extremely sharp, and the tougher the blade, the longer it will maintain its sharpness. I like to use a sharpening steel, also known as a honing steel or whet steel, to sharpen my kitchen blades.
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- Here I am at the kitchen counter trimming a lot of the fat off the brisket. Because Pat sells his meats to wholesalers, ours was not yet cleaned, but briskets purchased at grocery stores will have already been done.
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- I removed fat from every side of the brisket.
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- Look at all the fat we trimmed off – but it won’t be wasted. This will be left for the coyotes and other wild animals in the woodland.
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- After cutting out lots of the fat, this 20.9 pound brisket was just over 16 pounds. That’s more than four pounds of fat removed.
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- I am using a recipe from our web site at MarthaStewart.com. I originally developed this recipe at Skylands, my home in Maine, along with Torie Hallock and Gretchen Sweet who worked there at the time. The recipe is made for an eight pound brisket, so we doubled it for my 16 pounder.
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- To make the brine, I started with 20 cloves of garlic grown right here at my farm. I dropped all the cloves into the bin.
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- Next, I poured in four cups of kosher salt. It is important to use kosher salt. Kosher salt has wider, coarser grains and enhances the flavor of foods instead of making them taste salty. The British invented the term “corned beef” in the 17th century to describe the size of the salt crystals used to cure the meat – they were the size of corn kernels.
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- Meanwhile, we boiled 14-quarts of water.
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- And poured that into the bin as well. There must be enough brine liquid to completely cover the large brisket.
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- Next, I added two teaspoons of ground black pepper.
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- And then I added a half a cup of dry mustard. If you don’t have dry mustard, swap it out for prepared mustard. As a rule, it’s one tablespoon of prepared mustard for each teaspoon of dry mustard called for in a recipe.
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- I didn’t have any pickling spice, so I made my own, which I actually prefer because I know exactly what I am using. Pickling spice is a blend of typically six to eight different seasonings and spices.
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- I used green peppercorns, mustard seeds, crushed red chili peppers, chili flakes, caraway seeds, coriander, cloves, and ground ginger.
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- I also added crushed sage leaves and crushed bay leaves. These sage leaves were grown here at the farm, but dried sage is available at grocery stores in whole leaf, rubbed, and ground form.
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- And finally, I added two cinnamon sticks for additional flavor.
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- We carefully placed the brisket into the brine. By this time, the water had already cooled slightly.
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- Make sure the meat is completely submerged in the brine. If not, weigh it down with something like a plate or a heavy winter squash wrapped in a plastic bag to keep it submerged.
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- I placed it covered with more parchment paper in the refrigerator, where it will sit for six-days, turned once every day. Next week, it will be removed from the bin, rinsed and then simmered with fresh vegetables up to five hours until it is tender. It will be so delicious, I can’t wait.
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