Make Your Own Corned Beef - Without Nitrates!

We are less than two weeks away from St. Patrick's Day - it's time to start preparing the corned beef!

Last year was the first time I "corned" my own beef using a brisket from our own grass-fed beef.  It was amazing!  Not only did we get all the healthy goodness of grass-fed beef, but my own corned beef was nitrate, nitrite, and phosphate free!  Yesterday, I started this year's corned beef.  It's actually pretty easy to do.  Here's the recipe I use:

1 (3-5 pound) beef brisket (grass-fed, of course!)
2 quarts water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 teaspoons pickling spice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 quarts of ice cubes






Put the brisket in a large (one to two gallon, depending on the size of your brisket) sealing freezer bag and set the freezer bag inside a baking dish or bowl.











In a large stockpot, combine the water, salt, brown sugar, pickling spice, and ginger.  Cook over high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve.  Remove the pot from the heat and add the ice cubes.









Once the mixture has cooled, carefully ladle the brine mixture into the freezer bag.  Seal the bag and place the bag (inside the baking dish) in the fridge.  Refrigerate for about ten days, turning the meat once a day to ensure that the brisket is completely covered in brine.






The brisket I used was very long and thin, so I cut it in half and put each half in a separate one-gallon bag.  Grass-fed beef is very lean. You can see the thin strip of fat along my brisket in the picture above.  I did not (and will not) trim any fat from it.

When I first looked into making my own brine for corned beef, I noticed that a lot of recipes called for using saltpeter.  Saltpeter is just another name for potassium nitrate.  Potassium nitrate is what gives corned beef that red color.  Because this recipe does not have nitrates in it, I was afraid the meat would look gray. However, my corned beef came out looking great!

A note about the pickling spice: I purchased my pickling spice from a bulk foods store, and the spices it contained were not listed.  I could recognize mustard seed, cinnamon stick pieces, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and cloves, among other spices.

I'll share my favorite recipe for cooking the perfect corned beef soon!