This recipe was show stopper, every mouthful was absolutely delicious. The brisket really takes on the spice blend flavours and I don’t think I have ever had brisket so succulent it just melts in your mouth. It was so tasty we simply had some new potatoes and eggless mustard mayo (recipe here )on the side. We ate half warm and we are saving the other half to have cold. Forget the bright pink processed stuff, this natural version really is the business. We decided we have to have one on the go once a month as it was so tasty, it was that tender that whilst warm we couldn’t cut into slices as the meat just broke up with a slight touch. Please don’t be put off by the processes involved it really is just time, this is 100% the best cured beef I have ever eaten. (Recipe adapted from simplyrecipes.com)

Ingredients

For the Spice Blend Mix

• 1 Tbsp whole allspice berries
• 1 Tbsp whole mustard seeds (brown or yellow)
• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp chilli flakes
• 1 Tbsp whole cloves
• 1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
• 9 whole cardamom pods
• 6 dried kaffir lime leaves or bay leaves, crumbled
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 stick cinnamon

For the Brine

• 6 pints of water
• 350g of Kosher salt
• 3 Tbsp spice mix
• 85g of brown sugar

For the Brisket

• 1kg of beef brisket
• 1 tbsp spice mix

Method

1. Heat a frying pan on a medium – high heat. Dry toast the allspice berries, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, chilli flakes, cloves, peppercorns, and cardamom pods until fragrant and you hear the mustard seeds start to pop.
2. Remove from heat and place in a small bowl. Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to crush the spices lightly. Add to a small bowl and stir in the crumbled lime leaves and ground ginger.
3. Add about 3 Tbsp of the spice mix (reserve the rest for cooking the corned beef after it has cured), plus the half stick of cinnamon, to 6 pints of water in a large pot, along with the Kosher salt  and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate all day or overnight so it becomes well chilled.
4.  Place the brisket in a large cooking pot (we used our slow cooker pot), cover with the brine and weigh it down by adding 1 or 2 plates on top so the brisket is fully covered.
5. Add the lid to keep bugs etc away and leave to brine for 7 days.
6. At the end of the cure, remove the brisket from the brine and rinse off the brine with cold water. Place the brisket in a large pot that just fits around the brisket and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Add a tablespoon of the pickling spices to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a very low simmer (barely bubbling), and cook  for 4 hours, until the corned beef is fork tender. (At this point you can store in the fridge for up to a week.)
7. Remove the meat to a cutting board. Notice the visible lines on the meat; this is the “grain” of the meat, or the direction of the muscle fibers. To make the meat easier to cut, cut it first in half, along the grain of the meat. Then make thin crosswise cuts, across the grain to cut the meat to serve.