If corned beef is your St. Patrick’s Day essential meal, this is the blog post for you! Here at John Henry’s Meats, we offer our delicious grass-fed Beef Brisket for you to brine yourself, as well as, a pre-brined Brisket from a supplier.  We know that you may not be up for a home curing adventure, but if you are, we have you covered!

You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to prepare your own corned beef. You will just need some pickling spices, water, salt, brown sugar, beef brisket and a container large enough to hold the concoction you are about to create. On top of the ingredients, you will need time to let your beef brine. The brining or pickling process takes 3-7 days depending on the recipe you are following. The best part is while the beef is brining, you don’t have to do anything.

Here are some great recipes if you are looking to home cure your corned beef this year.

AmazingRibs.com is full of information especially if you are looking to cure meats. There are numerous articles to answer any curing question you might have. Check out the Home Made Corned Beef Recipe which gives detailed instructions with lots of links and calculators to help you curate the recipe to your desired flavor and size.

Simply Recipes offers a great recipe along with some important information about why different salts are used. She gives valuable insight on pink curing salts and sodium nitrates which are used to create the pink color in your corned beef.

Wellness Mama offers a great recipe on her blog using beet juice or homemade purple sauerkraut to achieve the pink color in the meat instead of using curing salts. I am sure her more natural approach will appeal to many.

How much corned beef should you make?

Most recipes call for a 4-5 lb beef brisket, but that might be too much meat for those with a small family. If you are tackling the home cured method, our butcher can cut the brisket to your desired weight. A smaller cut may make this endeavor more manageable. But, if you are ready to jump in with both feet and are wondering what to do with the leftovers here are a few suggestions.

Make Breakfast – Corned beef hash with eggs is delicious. The brine will give your beef a rich almost smokey flavor which is delicious in any breakfast dish.

Try it for Lunch – The classic Reuben sandwich made with your home cured corned beef will be exceptional. Load the rye bread high with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, Russian dressing and your corned beef for a seriously delicious lunch.

Traditional Dinner – Get in the spirit of St. Patrick’s day with this traditional meal of corned beef, boiled potatoes and cabbage. Simple yet delicious.

Pasta anyone? – Serve corned beef over pasta with an extra creamy sauce. The meat will add a delicious salty, smokey flavor accent flavor. Visit this site to find several yummy corned beef pasta dishes.

Spice up your Grilled Cheese – The melt in your mouth sandwich is boosting with flavor when you combine Dijon mustard, creamy fontina cheese and corned beef. Serve this combination with sliced sweet onion on buttered rye toast. This grilled cheese sandwich will be anything but boring.

Please let us know if you try the Home Cured Corned Beef this year!