adventures in brining...

in an effort to "level up" my cooking skills, i decided to make my own corned beef. the gal in the blog tweaked her recipe so that it's more indian influenced but one thing i thought was nifty was the substitution of beets. Reading her post about pink salt and nitrates, i decided to follow the original recipe she used but subbing pink salt for beets instead. I wanted my corned beef to taste like corned beef but not add any other chemicals in it that i didn't need to. It's currently day three in the brining process so we'll see what the finished product tastes like. i think i'm going to boil half of the brisket and then bake the other. Since i'm curious how both actually taste, it'll give me a chance to see which cooking method i prefer. more on cooking this later. :)

Corned Beef
(adapted from Saveur and Healthy Green Kitchen)

1 tbsp allspice
1 tbsp cloves
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp crushed red chile flakes
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1/2 tbsp juniper berries
2 cinnamon sticks
5 bay leaves, crumbled
1 ¼ cups kosher salt, plus more to taste
¾ cup sugar
2 large beets, sliced in half and divided
1 5-lb. first-cut beef brisket
4 cloves garlic
1 medium onion

Combine spices and 3 bay leaves in a 12″ skillet over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan constantly, until spices are toasted and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer ¾ of the mixture (reserving the rest in a covered jar) to a 5-qt. pot and add 8 cups water, kosher salt, sugar, and half of the beets. Bring to a simmer; remove pot from heat and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate brine until chilled. Add brisket and weigh it down with a plate so brisket is submerged. Refrigerate for 5 days.

Drain corned beef and rinse. Transfer beef to a 5-qt. pot along with the reserved pickling spices, garlic, onion, and remaining beets. Cover corned beef with cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until corned beef is tender, about 1 hour. Remove pot from heat and let cool slightly.

To serve, transfer corned beef to a cutting board, thinly slice beef across the grain, and transfer to the platter. Spoon some of the cooking liquid over the beef and serve warm.