This was home-corned beef with vegetables.
It was my first home-corned beef! I have seen a recipe from Cook's Illustrated before, but hadn't had a chance to make corned beef because there was an ingredient I have never owned - pink curing salt. In the early March, St. Patrick's day was coming soon, which reminded me of home-corned beef. I checked the Cook's Illustrated's recipe again, and saw a picture of cabbage. It was very attractive. Yes, I am still talking about cabbage. Because of my love to cabbage, I decided to make home-corned beef for celebration of St. Patrick's day along with
Irish buttermilk brown bread. I bought pink curing salt via online, and started brining brisket with garlic and spices. The solution was made with water, brown sugar, salt and the mysterious pink curing salt.
Making home-corned beef was a simple task. Just needed to start working in advance. A true challenge was to find a large and deep but still-fit-in-refrigerator, food-safe container for brining. I had thought my roasting pan would work fine, but on the brining day, I realized it was actually not deep enough. I was panicked. I hoped the local grocery store had something I could use. They didn't have any large plastic container but disposable aluminium baking pans in several sizes. I grabbed one with the deepest depth. The brining liquid was almost overflowing when I added brisket. I carefully covered the pan with multiple layers of plastic wrap and placed in the roasting pan to catch any brine if it overflew, very slowly carried the pan and securely placed it in the refrigerator. I managed it, but that was the troublesome part of the entire process.
After 6 days brining and 3 hour cooking in the oven, my corned beef was done! It was time to cook cabbage, carrots, and potatoes in the stock that the brisket was cooked.
Ta-da! The plate with two pieces of cabbage was mine. With our favorite
Pommery's Meaux Mustard, corned beef and all vegetables were flavorful and delicious.
J praised my home-corned beef! He said it was much better than one served at restaurants. Well done, myself!
