# Corned Beef and "brining spacers" w/finished pics 2/17



## daveomak (Feb 5, 2012)

Our last corned beef, that we store bought, is in the pot....  W-M had a brisket packer and it went into the "*Pops Pickle*" yesterday...  This morning, at 5 AM, I was turning it and all that, and said, "self, there has to be a better way"... About 6 hours later an idea popped into the CRS brain and here it is.....

Perforated plastic screens from the arts and crafts department....  Used as spacers for the pickle to circulate around all sides of the meat....   I will "lift" ends and sides of the tub to get the liquid to move "to and fro"... "back and forth" etc... to keep it mixed and homogenized.... There is a spacer on the bottom and between each layer and on the top of the meat.... Then the zip bag with water to hold it all down.....

Safety concerns.... There may be recycled plastic in the screen.... I figure since it was extruded at about 600* deg, and will be in use at temps below 40* deg. there should not be a problem.... If I am an idiot, (about this specific question only), let me know the facts please......  

I'm pretty sure this idea will work... I will report back in about 15 days or so.....   Dave

Screen on the bottom... the white is a reflection of something, or fat ????








First layer of brisky and second screen in place.....







Second layer of brisky and third scren in place.....







Zip bag with a little water in it to hold everything under pickle....







Hope this works and pickling becomes easier in a tub....  Thought this was a cool idea and was worth sharing..

Enjoy, my smokin' friends...   Dave


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## chef jimmyj (Feb 6, 2012)

Looks pretty Slick!...You will get good brine contact from the Wicking action of the Screen...Not bad for an " Oldtimer "...
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





...JJ


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## SmokinAl (Feb 6, 2012)

We have some pretty ingenious people on here!


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## daveomak (Feb 7, 2012)

I once heard, " Invention is spawned in the mind of an old lazy person ".....


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## chef jimmyj (Feb 7, 2012)

I have come up with a whole bunch of " Million Dollar Ideas "...I just keep forgetting by the time I find a Pen and Paper! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





...JJ


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## pops6927 (Feb 7, 2012)

Shouldn't need to do that, being immersed is all that is necessary, there's enough liquid even in tightly packed containers for it to cure properly as long as it's in the brine (routinely stacked 50 bellies in an empty poly 55 gal. drum then filled it with brine and just let it soak with a collapsible 5 gal. water jug on top, no agitation necessary).


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## africanmeat (Feb 7, 2012)

I like the idea


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## daveomak (Feb 7, 2012)

There I was, thinking again, wondering how to keep the brine mixed, and Pops knew the answer all the time.....( as usual)....  Pops, I'm doing it this way anyway... I think it looks cool and how would I explain to bride that I peed away $3.20......

Listen up Pops....  Tell us EVERYTHING you know right now......  learning in bits and pieces is killin' me at the very least.... I'm very sure there are others here wanting, begging, crying to glean ALL of your knowledge.....  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	






Pops6927 said:


> *Shouldn't need to do that, being immersed is all that is necessary, there's enough liquid even in tightly packed containers for it to cure properly as long as it's in the brine (routinely stacked 50 bellies in an empty poly 55 gal. drum then filled it with brine and just let it soak with a collapsible 5 gal. water jug on top, no agitation necessary).*


      Another noteworthy tip from the great Pops....    Thanks, Dave

.........EDIT..........
So, according to the FDA, mixing of meats and brine solution is necessary..

*6.2.4. Cure Penetration*
Cure mixtures do not penetrate into frozen meats. Before curing, it is essential to thaw meats completely first in the refrigerator. Pieces must be prepared to uniform sizes to ensure uniform cure penetration. This is extremely critical for dry and immersion curing (PHS/FDA 2001). Use an approved recipe for determining the exact amount of curing formulation to be used for a specified weight of meat or meat mixture (PHS/FDA 2001). All surfaces of meat must be rotated and rubbed at intervals of sufficient frequency to ensure cure penetration when a dry curing method is used (PHS/FDA 2001).  Immersion curing requires periodic mixing of the batch to facilitate uniform curing (PHS/FDA 2001). Curing should be carried out at a temperature between 35°F and 40°F. The lower temperature is set for the purpose of ensuring cure penetration and the upper temperature is set to limit microbial growth (PHS/FDA 2001). Curing solutions must be discarded unless they remain with the same batch of product during its entire curing process –because of the possibility of bacterial growth and cross-contamination, do not reuse brine (PHS/FDA 2001).

https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_pres.html


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## smokinhusker (Feb 7, 2012)

Dave-Great idea! Keep us posted on the progress and info as I want to try this in a few months. 

Pops-you are a wealth of information, just waiting to get out! Thanks again


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## daveomak (Feb 17, 2012)

Here we are after 9 days in the brine/pickle.....  The surface was dried with paper towels and the spice mix was finely ground and rubbed into

the meat....  Bride decided chunks of pepper corn, coriander, juniper berry etc was not all that appetizing... she was right about a fine grind....

The flavor is very good and without the "chunky texture" of the spices, easier to eat.....

 I decided to put the meat on wire racks and baking sheets to dry and form the pelicle...

Here it is on my pellet stove with the fan blowing on it.... The top on the stove is about 85*F....

Works pretty good for pelicle formation....  Lousy pic taking...







In the smoker w/alder for 3 hrs smoke and IT of 147* at 190* smoker temp for 6 hrs....







Out of the smoker and into the refer overnight.... then into the steamer.... Never done this before !!!!! ....

Steamed at oven temp of 210*F for 5 hrs....

Brisket/Strami was absolutely tender.... Had hot strami sammies for dinner... They were really, really good....







Wrapped the leftovers in plastic and foil and in the refer overnight......

Then into the slicer.....







Had more strami sammies for dinner the next evening....

Wrapped some for the refer and a later lunch, and the remaining slices into the vac bags from Lisa B.... 

I love those bags... so good they are...







I like the plastic screens for spacers.... The color on the brisket was uniformly brown except for 2 very small red spots...

In pops thread about brining, the red spots is not a problem and he has a lengthy, excellent explanation on what goes

on, in the meat, during pickling.... worth reading to dispell any questions you may have on curing your next batch of meat...

I will continue to use the spacers... they make me "feel good" about even distribution of pickle... warrented or not....

I think the screens will be used for brining pork chops and similar foods too....

I think it was a good test... Strami was perfect.... Hope you enjoyed the "testing in the kitchen with Dave"


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## pops6927 (Mar 15, 2012)

Excellent post and great results!  Sure looks wonderful!  Great idea on the screens and grinding the spices!  What did you use to grind them with?  Coffee grinder, spice grinder, mortar and pestle?


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## daveomak (Mar 15, 2012)

Pops....  One of those blade $20 grinders.....   Bride doesn't like the big chunks of spices.... The flavor worked using fine grind......
 


Pops6927 said:


> Excellent post and great results!  Sure looks wonderful!  Great idea on the screens and grinding the spices!  What did you use to grind them with?  Coffee grinder, spice grinder, mortar and pestle?


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