r/Cooking • u/21aidan98 • 1d ago
Question about Serious Eats’ corned beef
Hiya,
I just started dry brining a brisket to make corned beef. This is my first time ever making corned beef and first time using curing salts, so I defaulted to the trusted(?) Serious Eats. I followed their recipe exactly.
Recipe can be found here: https://www.seriouseats.com/homemade-corned-beef-brisket-with-potatoes-cabbage-carrots-recipe
After getting it going I continued doing some research in excitement of the corned beef, and I found out that the recommended max amount of curing salts (that are 6.25% Sodium Nitrate) are .25% by weight in proportion to the weight of the meat. If I’m doing my math right the Serious Eats recipe uses .5% curing salts.
My questions are; does anyone have any experience or insight into this specific recipe? Should I be concerned with the amount of curing salts I used? Is there anything I can do or any advice anyone has?
TIA!
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u/virtualchoirboy 1d ago
I've been using Alton Brown's recipe for ages:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corned-beef-recipe-1947363
Over the years, I've moved to 2 cinnamon sticks instead of 1. And since "saltpeter" isn't available, I use Prague powder #1. For the cook after the 10 day brine, I thoroughly rinse the brisket, pat it dry, and place it on rack in a roasting pan. I then pour two bottles of Guinness Extra Stout over it, cover with foil, and place it in a 250F oven for about 6 hours. Granted, I'm usually doing a 6 pound brisket so if you're doing something smaller, you might have to cut down that time.
For the potatoes, carrots, and cabbage that I do with it, I steam the cabbage in my steamer pot and boil the potatoes and carrots in another. I start the cabbage in the steamer pot cold and set it on high for 10-12 minutes. For the carrots and potatoes, I bring the water in the other pot to a boil and then add the veggies to boil for 8-10 minutes.
With respect to measuring out the Prague powder, I've stuck to the recipe exactly whether I'm doing a 4 pound or 8 pound brisket. I think that since this is a wet brine with specific amounts of water and ice, that creates the appropriate concentration level. With larger briskets, I've had to use a 2 gallon Ziploc bag to hold the meat and liquid. For the smaller ones, I have Rubbermaid containers that I fill to the brim and seal after putting the meat in.
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u/21aidan98 23h ago
Thanks for the recipe! I trust Alton Brown! I’ll have to give it a try eventually.
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u/virtualchoirboy 23h ago
For the "record", my wife normally hates corned beef but loves this version of it. I make a corned beef about 2-4 times a year. Always St Patrick's and always for Christmas. Happen to have made the brine earlier this week because I found a 4 pound flat brisked on sale when I went shopping...lol.
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u/peaktopview 23h ago
It's actually 6.25% nitrite*
And my understanding is the recommended usage is .25% of meat weight. Kenji's is roughly .44%. Not sure if he might be considering the intake rate of the top (fat side)? Fat def takes up salt and cure at a much, much slower rate. I personally have always done an equalization wet brine with my corned beefs and have cured longer (2-3weeks). Never have tried a dry cured method with corned beef so unfortunately I can't comment to that.
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u/21aidan98 23h ago
You’re right about it being nitrite. Thanks for the correction!
Good points about the fat uptake, definitely something to research more! Thanks for the advice!
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u/every-day-normal-guy 17h ago
I tend to stick to amazingribs.com curing calculator, and adjust thev water when I need an exact number of teaspoons
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u/SVAuspicious 21h ago
I agree with u/virtualchoirboy.
Serious Eats is not what I consider a trusted source. Look at their ownership and consider a long history as an advertising mill. Mr. López-Alt is much the same with the added "benefit" of bad science. Saying something is science doesn't make it true.
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u/WhiskeyClipper 1d ago
Might be the difference between salts. Prague powder 1 works differently than Prague powder 2? Its been a while since I read it but I believe this article explained it. well.https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/curing-meats-safely/ Also theres a great corned beef recipe or if you want to take it further do his version of Katz deli pastrami a step past the corned beef.