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Brine for Good Corned Beef

A simple brine for curing corned beef, made with water, saltpetre, sea salt, and optional sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Brine for Good Corned Beef

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat the water until warm.

  2. Dissolve the saltpetre in the warm water.

  3. Add coarse sea salt to taste.

  4. If desired, stir in a little sugar.

  5. Allow the brine to cool before using.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Saltpetre
Curing agent that gives cured meat its pink color and helps preserve it.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the brine and helps the meat hold moisture and flavor.
Sugar
Balances the saltiness and adds a mild sweetness.

The step that matters

Allow the brine to cool before using. Warm brine can partly cook the surface of the meat and encourage bacterial growth, so it should be cool before the meat goes in.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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