Recipe: Corned Meat - More on How to Make Corned Ham

Hi Jon,

I checked a few more sources for corned ham. The following has three methods and recipes for corning, or "curing" meat and there is also a little history behind coring and questions and answers about it. I hope this helps a little better.

Corned Meat- Y2K Survival

This is an old recipe, one that our ancestors knew well when they did not have a local meat market to drop by. This is a good way to store the meat from a large animal that has been killed and butchered if you do not have a fridge or a freezer handy. Corned meat is also very, very good eating.

Corned meat is done in a large crock or barrel, and is best when it cure at fairly cold temperatures. A root cellar or cave is good, but anywhere the temperature is relatively cool and even will do. Kill your animal, bleed it well, and cool it as well and as quickly as you can. If you can leave the animal hang in a cool spot for a day or two, so much the better. Then bone the meaty parts of the animal that you want to corn and cut the meat into regular shaped pieces, big enough for a meal or two. Put the pieces loosely into the crock or barrel, and cover well with a brine made of:

10 oz sugar
2 oz sodium nitrate, opt, see below
1/2 oz sodium nitrite
3 lb salt
2 Tbl black peppercorns
1 tsp cloves
6 large bay leaves
4 Tbl mixed pickling spices
small handful garlic cloves
enough water to make six gallons

Make more brine if needed to cover meat well. Place a weighted clean plate on meat to keep it under the brine and cover the container with light cloth to keep out bugs. Stir the meat around a bit every few days. Keep the crock as close to a steady 38 degrees as you can. If you must keep it in a warmer place, for every 15 degrees average temperature above 38 degrees, add one more pound of salt to brine. The nitrate and nitrite above is optional, and mostly used to give the meat a nice red color. If you plan to store the meat for a long time and crowded in the crock, a bit of nitrate, a couple teaspoons per six gallons of brine, will eliminate any possibility of botulism. Under normal conditions, this possibility is zero. The corned meat is ready to eat after 12- 15 days of curing. Wash well, put in pot and simmer slowly until nice and tender.

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Corned Meat (Method #1)

Hi all, since I have been asked a lot of questions in regard to SODIUM NITRATE and SALTPETER, I must say that as of April 12,2002 nothing has changed. Sodium Nitrate is still the best bet and Saltpeter is the other one. I have heard from the FDA, the meat industry and the University they have all said the same thing. A substitute is trying to be found. This is where patience comes in. When I hear something different, I will let everyone know. Thanks to Glenn Schmidt and Dr. Martha Stone of Colorado State University, Virlie Walker of the FDA in Denver, CO and Cody Brown of Allied Kenco Sales in Houston, Texas. Without them, I wouldn't have an answer.

Corned meat originated in the town of London, England in 1725. It was invented by a man named John Wilson, a chemist. The real secret of producing true corned meat is known only by a very few people and they guard their secret very carefully. Although some cookbooks and food editors of magazines from time to time publish recipes for corning meat, these recipes are not even close to the real one. This is the first time the real authentic recipe for corning meat has ever been published.

You can corn venison, antelope, moose, bear or beef with this same authentic corning method. It makes all of these meats simply wonderful eating. People who will not eat wild meats just love them corned. Corning wild meats takes out all the musky wild flavor that most people do not like and even the toughest of wild meats becomes as tender as can be.

The canned corned meat called corned beef that you can buy in all our grocery stores is not corned beef at all but simply a poor a very poor preserved beef made in South America and sold under the label of corned beef.

In World War 1 this South American so-called corned beef was shipped to our fighting forces in Europe. They did not like it at all and gave it the nickname of "Corned Willie", meaning goat meat preserved by soaking it in corn whiskey. The name stuck. In corning beef no corn or corn whiskey of any kind is ever used.

In stores the fresh corned beef you can buy is never really good. Packing houses invariably take the brisket of beef which is the cheapest, poorest possible meat and corn it so they can get a high price for it.

Here are the ingredients to make up to 6 gallons of corning liquids. If this is too much, cut the recipe in half or if too little, double it.

10 ounces of sugar
2 1/2 ounces of sodium nitrate
3 pounds of salt
3 level teaspoons of pepper
1 level teaspoon of ground cloves
6 bay leaves
12 level teaspoons of mixed pickling spice
If you care for onions, mince one onion 3 inches in diameter
If you care for garlic, mince 4 garlic cloves.

Put the ingredients into a pickle crock or glass jar and add enough water to make a total of 6 gallons including the ingredients.

The ideal temperature for corning meat is 38 degrees. During the fall or spring months this is not too difficult to get. In the you can use an unheated part of your basement for corning meat. During hot summer months it is hard to find a place around 38 degrees. Higher temperatures will not affect the end result of your corning at all but for every 15 degrees of a higher temperature than about 38 degrees, add one-third more salt. At about 83 degrees for example, add 3 more pounds of salt making a total of 6 pounds of salt used.

Now place your meat into the liquid. If it tends to bob up, put a heavy plate on it smaller than the inside of the crock to keep it down. Cover well. A good piece of the round is wonderful corned but you can take poor pieces of meat like the brisket and corn it to make it easier to eat.

Let the meat remain in the corning liquid for fifteen days. On the fifth and tenth days stir the liquid well and remove the meat and put it back in a reverse position. After the fifteenth day remove the meat. Use what you want for immediate use and store the balance in a cool place.

The meat at this stage has a dull unappetizing color but pay no attention to this. When cooked, corned meat turns a beautiful fresh red meat color that is very, very appetizing.

Cook Corned Meat As Follow:

Place corned meat in a pan with a cover. Add enough cold water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil and remove the scum from the water. Reduce the heat and simmer for about five hours or until nice and tender. Season to taste and serve as the main meat dish.

Authentic Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage:

In writing about corned beef it would be a great oversight not to list this world famous recipe. It is a great recipe and if you have not tried it, you have missed one of the world's finest meals.

Cook the corned beef exactly as previously described but do the following. Use about a three pound piece of corned beef. For the last hour of cooking the corned beef, add six whole onions about 2 inches in diameter and six carrots about eight inches long. Three small cabbages about five inches in diameter or smaller. The smaller cabbages have an entirely different flavor than larger ones. A small cabbage has a true Brussels sprout flavor which it loses entirely as it gets larger. Large cabbage all have a strong cabbage flavor, not a Brussels sprout flavor. Nota all of the vegetables are cooked whole. Serve the meats and vegetables together on a large platter. This is wonderful eating.

Corned Meat (Method #2)

Another Method for Corned Meat

For 10 to 12 pounds of meat you will need 1 and a half cups of coarse or non-iodized salt (kosher salt is good to use but regular granulated salt without the iodine works just as well), 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, a generous tablespoons of cracked black peppercorns, 2 teaspoons of allspice berries, cracked, five or six sprigs of fresh thyme, a teaspoon of powdered sage, a teaspoon of paprika, 7 or 8 bay leaves, broken into small pieces, a small coarsely-chopped onion, a small chopped rutabaga, a chopped carrot, and 6 cloves of garlic, either crushed or finely minced. For pork, add two tablespoons of fresh juniper berries, broken with the flat of a knife. If you are only doing one tongue or roast, reduce the amounts of ingredients accordingly.

The corning process can be done in a large stone crock but is really much easier if you use freezer zip-lock bags. Assemble enough bags to hold all your different cuts of meat, one cut to a bag. Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl, except the juniper berries. Place all the meat in a roasting pan and cover all sides with the salt mixture, rubbing it in well. Put each piece of meat into a bag and divide the remaining salt mixture among the bags. If you are doing a piece of pork, add the juniper berries to that bag. Remove as much air as possible from each bag and seal. If you have one of those vacuum sealers, this is a perfect use for it. You want the meat to be bathed in the salt mixture at all times. Pack all the bags into a large bowl or crock and weight them down under a plate and about 10 pounds of weight (use canned tomatoes or the like). Place in the bottom of the fridge. Check the bags in a few hours. The juice should be running freely from the meat. Massage each bag to work the cure into all the crevices of the meat. Repack into the container, re-weight and return to the fridge. Turn the bags and massage daily to make sure the cure is getting into all sides of the meat. If a bag breaks, transfer the meat into a new bag with all the juices and about a quarter cup of salt. Leave the meat to cure for at least two weeks, three is better, before cooking one. Before cooking, you will have to soak the meat in several changes of fresh cold water to remove the excess salt. The longer the meat is cured, the longer it will take to soak. Twenty-four hours should be enough. The meat will lose its rubbery texture and begin to feel like fresh raw meat again. Because there is no saltpeter in this curing mix, the meat will not be bright red. Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong, this is what it should look like. If you really want it to look like purchased corned meat, find saltpeter at a pharmacy and add a half-teaspoon to the cure, but this is not necessary and only adds questionable, perhaps carcinogenic, substances to your food. There is no good reason to add nitrates to your food other than asthetic ones. Get used to grayish-brown corned beef, it is better for you!

Put the refreshed meat in a pot and cover with water. Add a carrot, some celery stalks with tops, a small onion, several sprigs of Italian parsley, some sprigs of fresh thyme, 4 bay leaves, and 5 cloves of garlic, flattened with the side of a knife. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Skim off any foam that rises for the first few minutes then cover partially with a lid and cook at the simmer until the tongue or roast can be pierced easily with a fork. This will take 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size of the meat cut. If you will be serving the corned beef or tongue cold, allow to cool in the cooking liquid. When cool, the tongue should be removed and the rough skin carefully peeled off. It will usually come off in one or two large pieces and this is MUCH easier if the tongue is still slightly warm. Discard the skin. Also remove any small bones from the large end of the tongue and discard. Put the meat in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Tongue or corned beef should be sliced thinly and served with good rye bread or rolls with mustard. Either corned tongue or other cuts of beef can be heated and served as hot sandwiches too.

Special Note:

Before cooking, do you soak the meat in several changes of fresh cold water to remove the excess salt. The longer the meat is cured, the longer it will take to soak. Twenty-four hours should be enough. The meat will lose its rubbery texture and begin to feel like fresh raw meat again.
How much saltpeter are you using when curing? Some people question the use of saltpeter, some feel that nitrates are not good to digest, everyone has there own say these days. The grayish-brown corned beef is better for you.

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[Why is meat cured?]

For a couple of reasons. One is safety. When meat is cold smoked its temperature often stays in the danger zone for several hours or days. Many environmental factors of this treatment are such that the growth of dangerous bacteria is greatly accelerated. The curing of the meat inhibits this growth.

The other reason is traditional preparation. There are many curing techniques that were developed in the days before refrigeration that are continued today for traditional reasons. A good example is corned beef.

Oldtime butcher shops closed every weekend. Ice, the only refrigerant available, could not dependably hold fresh meat for two days. To keep unsold meat from going to waste, the butcher soaked the meat in a strong brine or covered it with coarse salt to trigger osmosis. The grains of salt were called "corn" in England, and the
name "corned beef" stuck with the product. [1]

Contribution from rlogan@ianet.net

Meat is cured for one other reason, color. Using prague powder is what gives meat its pink color.

[What is osmosis?]

Osmosis is the movement of water across a membrane from weak solutions toward strong solutions. [1]

[What is meant by "the danger zone"?]

The "danger zone" is the temperature range between 40 and 140 degrees F. When uncured meat remains in this range for more than 2 hours the growth of dangerous bacteria increases to a dangerous level.

[What other factors affect the growth of bacteria?]

When meat is smoked, the environment is robbed of most if its oxygen. If this is combined with temperatures in the danger zone, the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism is increased.

[What is botulism?]

Botulism is an intoxication of the bacteria clostridium botulinum. This bacteria is anaerobic meaning that it requires an environment relatively free of oxygen to multiply. It also requires a moist environment and temperatures in the danger zone. The symptoms of botulism are sore throat, vomiting, blurred vision, cramps, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, and central nervous system damage (including paralysis). Symptoms usually occur within 12 to 36 hours. The fatality rate is up to 70%. [2]

[What are the commonly used curing compounds?]

Salt, sugar, sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate. Salt and sugar both cure meat by osmosis. In addition to drawing the water from the food, they dehydrate and kill the bacteria that make food spoil. In general, though, use of the word "cure" refers to processing the meat with either sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate.

Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are the basis for two commercially used products: Prague powders #1 and #2. Prague powder #1 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite and 16 parts salt. The chemicals are combined and crystallized to assure even distribution. Even though diluted, only 4 ounces of Prague powder #1 is required to cure 100 lbs of meat. A more typical measurement for home use is 1 tsp per 5 lbs of meat. Prague powder #2 is a mixture of 1 part sodium nitrite, .64 parts sodium nitrate and 16 parts salt. It is primarily used in dry-curing.

One other commonly available curing product is Morton's Tender Quick. It is a mixture of salt, sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate and sugar. Ask your butcher or grocer to stock it for you.

[Why use soy protein concentrate?]

Soy protein concentrate is used to bind together sausages and slow the loss of fat and moisture during smoking. This is extremely important to ensure that the final product is not dry and crumbly inside the casing.

[Where can these compounds be obtained?]

If you are chummy with a local butcher who does curing, maybe (s)he will sell you a small quantity. Otherwise, the Sausage Maker offers all items mentioned here and elsewhere in this FAQ mail order. See the books section for a phone number where you can obtain a catalog.