Beef Corned beef brining help

[Msbaugh440]

Just got a traeger ironwood 880 this year and am trying some different recipes after some successful traditional BBQ stuff. I am planning for a smoked corned beef/pastrami and decided to just follow this traeger recipe (already have everything ready so not interested in switch recipes st this point) https://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/corned-beef

Please refrain from commenting if you’re unfamiliar with pink #1 salt, brining, and curing. I’m trying to understand why I need the amount of cure salt this recipe calls for.

-the recipe is for a 12-16 lb brisket
-brined in 1 gallon of water for 4/5 days
-4 tablespoons of pink curing salt
-I have a 8 lb brisket flat I am doing

4 tablespoons (12 teaspoons) seems like A LOT. Every other piece of literature I can find suggests 1 teaspoon per 5 lbs of meat. If this is correct, this recipe has enough cure salt for 60 lbs of meat!!! I’m unsure if the time that the meat sits in the brine or dilution of the salt (with more or less water affects how much you need to use). Getting the amount of cure salt correct is really important not to get anyone sick or worse. I plan on feeding a big grouo of folks and some kids.

can someone who has done this that understands the brine process help me understand what I need to do? I don’t think the recipe would be wrong if it’s an official one posted on the Traeger app, but I’m not sure how these get reviewed and added.

 

[Timmy]

I haven't done pastrami yet, but I will in a week or so. I've got a 3lb corned beef in the fridge. There have been several members that have done it several different ways, steaming, sous vide etc. Here is a link to a thread with a calculator to figure measurements out. I hope it helps you out.

Post in thread 'What's for dinner tonight? Dinner ideas?' https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-for-dinner-tonight-dinner-ideas.93/post-19868

 

[Msbaugh440]

I haven't done pastrami yet, but I will in a week or so. I've got a 3lb corned beef in the fridge. There have been several members that have done it several different ways, steaming, sous vide etc. Here is a link to a thread with a calculator to figure measurements out. I hope it helps you out.

Post in thread 'What's for dinner tonight? Dinner ideas?' https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-for-dinner-tonight-dinner-ideas.93/post-19868

Wow!! I just read that whole thread and used the calculator to determine the amount of #1 cure salt to follow this recipe. First off the, the entire thread is very well written and describes the background behind the calculations some. I am going to choose to trust the source without reviewing the calculations behind them and go with it.

For the record, per the recipe, with the following calculation inputs (14lb brisket, 1 gallon of water, 150 ppm sodium nitrite) the recommendation is to use 4.4 TEAspoons of #1 cure salt. The recipe calls for 4 TABLEspoons. That’s almost 3 times the recommended amount of cure salt. Plugging in my brisket size results in only 3 TEAspoons. I think there’s a big typo in this recipe posted on the Traeger site and on the Traeger app. If that thread and calculator are accurate, the recipe has mistakenly called out TABLEspoons instead of TEAspoons. I’m not sure how critical this is, but judging by the safety emphasis in that linked thread this needs to be updated. It could potentially be harmful to those using it.

On a side note, I’m having trouble understanding why that calculator tells me I need more cure salt when I manipulate it to use less water. This doesn’t make sense to me, I would think you would need less salt with less water and more salt with more water to maintain the same dissolved cure salt concentrations. This has me doubting the accuracy, but regardless, I’m going to go for it. THANK YOU for sharing that.

 

[Timmy]

Wow!! I just read that whole thread and used the calculator to determine the amount of #1 cure salt to follow this recipe. First off the, the entire thread is very well written and describes the background behind the calculations some. I am going to choose to trust the source without reviewing the calculations behind them and go with it.

For the record, per the recipe, with the following calculation inputs (14lb brisket, 1 gallon of water, 150 ppm sodium nitrite) the recommendation is to use 4.4 TEAspoons of #1 cure salt. The recipe calls for 4 TABLEspoons. That’s almost 3 times the recommended amount of cure salt. Plugging in my brisket size results in only 3 TEAspoons. I think there’s a big typo in this recipe posted on the Traeger site and on the Traeger app. If that thread and calculator are accurate, the recipe has mistakenly called out TABLEspoons instead of TEAspoons. I’m not sure how critical this is, but judging by the safety emphasis in that linked thread this needs to be updated. It could potentially be harmful to those using it.

On a side note, I’m having trouble understanding why that calculator tells me I need more cure salt when I manipulate it to use less water. This doesn’t make sense to me, I would think you would need less salt with less water and more salt with more water to maintain the same dissolved cure salt concentrations. This has me doubting the accuracy, but regardless, I’m going to go for it. THANK YOU for sharing that.

I'm glad it helped. I haven't read it yet, am going to get serious about it next weekend.

When you do it, please post your results and findings! I'm all for real time results.

 

[Tallyman89]

Have done our own corned beef. Loved the results. Pink curing salt, kosher salt, and pickling spices. Boil until salt dissolved. Cool. Brine brisket at least 4 hours. Cook in oven. Smoking it, it is pastrami. I just google corned beef recipes. We loved the results. Was very easy.

 

[Parrothead1809]

I haven’t yet braved the corned beef / pastrami smoke yet. Check out Chud’s BBQ on YouTube for his recommended salt brine recipes. He uses everything as a percentage of the meat (or water?). Seems to be very exact. Good luck & please post your recipe and pictures!!
-PH

 

[RustyJake]

I haven’t yet braved the corned beef / pastrami smoke yet. Check out Chud’s BBQ on YouTube for his recommended salt brine recipes. He uses everything as a percentage of the meat (or water?). Seems to be very exact. Good luck & please post your recipe and pictures!!
-PH

When using a cure (sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate), it needs to be added in the correct amount related to the protein being used, and if using a wet brine it is calculated on the protein weight and water values.
You don't want to mess us with the cure amounts, more is not better (it can kill you), less isn't better because it won't be present in a value that will stop botulism.
I have posted a dry equilibrium brine recipe for corned beef/pastrami. All the amounts are in gms/kg of protein.
Using weight as opposed to volume measurements is a more precise way to use spices for stuff like this and sausage making
The equilibrium dry brine is easy and not as cumbersome as a wet brine for storage during the curing stage

Post in thread 'What's cooking today? Pics are necessary!' https://www.traegerforum.com/threads/whats-cooking-today-🔥-pics-are-necessary.3207/post-47349
I have also posted one for bacon as well

What's cooking today? 🔥 Pics are necessary!

Sticks turned out great As.did the chicken on the Kamado. So moist and tender

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