Homemade corned beef? page

[BJK77]

Any good recipes out there for making your own corned beef? I'd like to avoid sugar and nitrates if possible.

[ottercat]

I was thinking about making some too if I can find a piece of brisket smaller than a surfboard....
Here are the three very different recipes I found: the first doesn't use sugar so I'm assuming you could just leave it out altogether. The 2nd has sugar and the 3rd only uses 2T. The first recipe gets its nitrates from celery, which must be better than saltpeter.

Home-cured Corned Beef | Nourished Kitchen
How to Make Corned Beef Brisket, Nitrate-Free at Home | Jun-Blog
Pickl-It: Healthy "Gray" Corned Beef

[ottercat]

I was thinking about making some too if I can find a piece of brisket smaller than a surfboard....
Here are the three very different recipes I found: the first doesn't use sugar so I'm assuming you could just leave it out altogether. The 2nd has sugar and the 3rd only uses 2T. The first recipe gets its nitrates from celery, which must be better than saltpeter.

Home-cured Corned Beef | Nourished Kitchen
How to Make Corned Beef Brisket, Nitrate-Free at Home | Jun-Blog
Pickl-It: Healthy "Gray" Corned Beef

[RitaRose]

Celery salt is the same as just using commercial sodium nitrite.

Not a big deal for most people, but if you're sensitive to it, you'll react the same way.

[1949katie]

I'm not going to post a recipe, but, all iit takes a salt brine with pickling spices and takes a full week to mature. Simple city. Make it all the time. Good eats!

[Kevin_in_WMich]

The sugar in a brine like one for corned beef is there to offset potentially the bite of the salt. I really wouldn't worry about the salt or sugar content when brining too much though, very little actually ends up on your plate.

See my post here about the salt content of meats after brining.

As far as nitrates, sodium nitrate or saltpeter is completely optional when making corned beef. The lack of it will alter the color to be less of a bright red/pink when cooked and instead will leave it more of a grey color. Some folks will argue also that it will alter the taste because it can help preserve the tastes of the spices you add, but I don't think you'll miss it too much. Nitrates in meat is mostly to delay the development of the botulinal toxins which cause botulism. Assuming your not planning to store it for very long without refrigeration this shouldn't be a concern.