Something I've been talking about for quite a while now is making my own corned beef for St. Patty's Day. Two years ago I bought an already brined brisket & cooked it... it was mediocre. Last year Peter attempted to brine his own. He only brined it for a couple days, which is apparently insufficient. Well, I've finally learned the ways of brining brisket!
While I was on vacation a co-worker of mine forwarded me the recipe that he swears by. To say I was excited to give it a try is an understatement. Peter was pretty sick of me talking about this corned beef. I can't really say why I was so excited, but my theory is that the idea of REAL corned beef reminded me of my Nana's corned beef that we ate every St. Patrick's Day & the memory just made me feel all warm & fuzzy inside..... but I digress....
After some minor setbacks we were ready to begin this lengthy process...
I had no idea briskets were this big! This one was about 6.5 lbs.
Peter taking it out of the package
Trimming the fat
More trimming, I think
Poking holes into the brisket
The brine needs lager, so we stuck with the irish theme
Me & my double chin shoving the brisket in it's new home for the next 2 weeks
The brine
Where the pot stayed for a while 'til the heat wave hit & then it had to be relocated to the fridge
Unfortunately due to our busy work, running (and drinking) schedule eating the corned beef on St. Patty's Day was not in the cards for us. Instead a few days later we had some friends over to share in the yumminess.
Brisket post-brine
Yes, I bought this whole package just so I could have one damn chile for my spice packet!
Homemade spice packet
Look how pretty!
Let the boiling begin!
Ready to carve!
Yum!
Perfect!
So, would I do this whole process again? Yes, definitely. It honestly wasn't that much more work. You just have to make sure you begin the brining process well ahead of when you want to eat the corned beef. The taste & texture definitely reminded me of St. Patty's Day past... which is exactly what I wanted.
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