March 17, 2012 Corned Beef Dinner

[Aliantha]

It's mostly brined beef, but there are other flavours used in the corning process such as peppercorns, mustard, brown sugar, juniper berry, bay leaves. The list goes on. You can really do whatever you like with the flavours.

Commercially manufactured corned beef usually contain nitrates the same as most bacon and ham products, but they're not necessary if you're doing your brining at home and want to avoid that sort of crap.

After you've brined your meat for a few days or even up to a week depending on the size of the piece, you boil it for up to a couple of hours - again, depending on the size of the piece.

You can also roast a piece of brined meat.

One tip for if you're boiling your brined meat. Always make sure the liquid you're going to boil it in is boiling at the time you put the meat in. This will seal the juices in instantly so that you have a juicier cut when you're finished cooking.