How to Make Your Own Corned Beef for St. Patrick's Day

It's easy as can be to make your own corned beef. Get ready the week before St. Patty's Day, and you can have a great treat. You'll need to look for a source for the Prague Powder ("the cure"). You may have to order it online or on the phone. This cure is what gives the corned beef that nice red color. You can make it without (and many people do), but it will look rather gray so I use the cure.

You will need a nice round roast or brisket. The round roast will make some nice sandwiches the next day, and you can get round roast on sale sometimes. Use fresh round roast that hasn't been frozen.

Clean and trim the round roast to prepare. I like a bit of the fat left after trimming but most folks in the family don't want much fat. This can be done either way.

Make the brine in a non-reactive pot. I use my big enameled stock pot. Put in 5 cups of water, mix in the salt, sugar, and cure (prague powder #1), then bring just to a boil. Turn off and mix in 2 bay leaves, a teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cracked black peppercorns, and thyme, together with 1/2 teaspoon of whole black cloves. The brine has to be at room temperature. It was a cold night when I did it last week, so I just placed the pot on a chair outside on the porch for a half hour.

After the brine is at room temperature, place the roast in a non-reactive container. I used an empty Aldi plastic ice cream bucket with a cover. I have a regular brine bucket, but it takes up a lot of space in the fridge. Cover with brine. The roast will float so it needs to be weighted down. I took some of the brine that wasn't used and put it in a quart zip lock bag and placed that on top. You can also put some stones or a brick in a zip lock.

Put the brine bucket in the back of the fridge. Let it stay there for 3-7 days. The larger the roast, the more time. I did mine for six days and it came out perfect. Every day (or at least every other) turn the meat over in the bucket.

Take the beef out of the brine, and throw away the brine. Give the bucket a rinse and put the beef back in, covered with fresh water. Let it soak in the water for two to four hours. Or overnight. Then prepare as you usually would for corned beef. I simmer it on the stove for 2 to 3 hours. Remove the beef to a platter. Cover with aluminum foil and let it rest while the veggies cook. Then slice thin.

I cut up and cook a cabbage, some carrots, potatoes, and a couple onions in the broth. You can cook the corned beef in slow cooker for the day while you're at work, and then just cook the veggies when you get home. I was looking forward to sandwiches this time, but unfortunately, it went over way too well!! There was none for my lunch the next day.

Next time there's a sale on round roasts, I'm going to do up a few to try making pastrami in my smoker.

The brine

5 cups Water

1 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup white sugar

1/3 cup prague powder no.1 (cure #1)

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns; cracked

1/2 teaspoon whole black cloves

1 teaspoon thyme