Hi, This is my first post on here so looking forward to hearing people's thoughts on this problem. I've been making salt beef (or corned beef depending on which side of the atlantic you live) to take back to the family for Christmas for the last few years and have seen a steady progression and improvement. Unfortunately, it's still not quite how I'd like it, I've done a good bit of searching but I'm still not sure what I should try next. The problem I have is that although the taste was the best I've managed the texture was still a bit on the tough/dry side. Here's what I did so feel free to suggest anything I might try next time: brined in an 80:20 solution of water:prontocure (pre-made mix of nitrate, nitrite and normal salt) equal to half the weight of the 6.5lb brisket. I left the meat in for 7 days which was slightly too short a time (tiny area of grey meat in the very centre after cooking). I then rinsed the joint thoroughly in cold water and put it in a large stockpot with plenty of cold water, a couple of onions, some celery, carrot, cloves, juniper berries and put it on a very low heat, this took about 4-5hrs to get the water upto 65C, I then did another couple of hours at a slightly higher flame which brought the water upto about 75-80C. The internal temp of the meat was mid 70sC so I took it off the heat and cooled it in the brine before vac packing and taking it down for the holidays. It was very tasty but also very firm and needed to be sliced wafer thin to not be too chewy. Sorry for the long ramble but any thoughts?
