So this is a new one! I may be popping in from time to time with some new recipes both tried and true and experimental. This one? Definitely experimental! St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner as is plenty of corned beef and cabbage for our tummies. So I decided it would be fun and festive to try something a little new…making my very own corned beef from brisket! It is basically pickling the brisket over a couple of days. 2- 4 days to be exact. So if you want to try it, you could still do this tomorrow and have it in time for St. Pat’s!

Here are our starting ingredients:
½ cup white vinegar
6 peppercorns
1 cup kosher salt
6 cloves minced garlic (recipe calls for 4, but in my opinion there is no such thing as too much garlic!)
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp. pickling spice, (and I may have added a dash of red pepper flakes for a little kick!)

Our brine ingredients (sans water) and a shot of them all piled in the pot. 1 CUP is A LOT of salt!

I piled these all into the pot, took a photo and then had to go look up how many cups are in a quart. I know, a quart SOUNDS like 4 but I was pretty sure that it wasn’t that easy. Turns out it was. So then I added 2 quarts (aka 8 cups) of water and brought it to a boil.

Next, I placed a 2.5 lb brisket in an enameled, covered pot and once the liquid cooled (I sat it outside in the snow, speaking of which, can you believe this snow today?!) I poured it over the brisket and then put on the lid. Then it was off to the fridge to let it sit until Thursday! It says to turn it once a day or so. I will check back in on Thursday once we take our new corned beef to the next level!

Brisket, soaking in our cooled brine, covered and placed in the fridge for 2 - 4 days.