Quote Originally Posted by Oily View Post
Idaho Mule, can you give us your recipe or is it a family secret. Would love to corn my own.
Oily, no family secret here, I'll see if I can compose this for you.

We start with 4-5 lbs. beef (I usually use round roast because I don't like the fatty brisket), good lean deer or elk works well too.
2 quarts water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
curing salt...We use from Hi-Mountain Seasoning... 1/8 tsp/lb. Just follow directions for whatever you use.
5 TBS Pickling Spice (Penzy's)

To a large 6-8 qt stockpot, add the water, salt, sugar, curing salt, and pickling spices. Bring to a boil for a few minutes to be sure all sugar and salt are dissolved. Remove from heat, add 2 lbs of ice and let cool to 45 degrees. You may have to put in fridge to help it cool. Once cool, place the meat in a 2 gallon zip-lock bag (we use food saver bag) and add brine. Remove all the air you can and seal bag. Lay flat in fridge for 10 days, roll the bag over once a day or so to keep cure even. You can go longer if you want, and if the meat is thicker than 3 inches it would be advisable to go 14 days to allow brine to penetrate fully.
Remove from brine, rinse well in cool water and place meat in crock pot. Cover with spuds, carrots, onions and celery, and put about 1 inch water in bottom. Cook on low heat for 6 hours. After 3 hours we add as much quartered cabbage as we can stuff in, and let it all cook for the remaining 3 hours.

This method will yield much better corned beef than you can buy in the store, that pre packaged stuff is junk if you ask me. Be sure that the meat is less than 3 inches thick so the cure can penetrate fully. Enjoy. JW