During the winter mostly but some in the spring, I’ve emptied so many jars. When Nicole was here last week, she brought me a bunch of my jars they had emptied. It makes me nervous and excited seeing all the empty jars stacked up. I always keep a few cases of empty jars on hand because I never know when I’ll need them but seeing a bunch of them means . . we have empty jars that I would prefer be filled and it makes me excited because I can make and can lots of stuff. So, I need to get some jars filled and on the shelves. I’ve always made corned beef to can and put it in pint jars because I thought Vince didn’t like it. When he was eating spaghetti, or not home (which rarely happens these days), I would open a jar, have corned beef and kraut, make a sandwich or chop potatoes and make a hash but the last time I cooked a corned beef, he said he loved it and was asking why we don’t have it more often. I’m not sure why I thought he didn’t like it. So, while we were out yesterday and he needed to stop at Walmart, I told him I was going to can some corned beef and since it doesn’t matter if you start out with good meat from the Mennonite farmer or Walmart meat, I might as well buy the less expensive Walmart meat. I usually get London Broil or chuck roast for the canned brisket. I cut it up into pieces that will barely squeeze into the mouth of the jar. If I use brisket, it falls completely apart during the canning process.
Yesterday I got 3 small London Broil pieces and 2 small chuck roasts (12 pounds all together) cut up and brining. I added a couple of plates on top, with jars of water to keep the meat submerged in the brine. That was Monday so I’ll probably leave it in the brine til Sunday or Monday, then can it. I’ll can some in pints. I may can it all in pints. I’d rather open two pints than open a quart and not eat it all. I definitely need pints for hash and a pint is probably plenty for us to have sandwiches with potatoes and a salad. I’ll see how much fits into a jar now that I know Vince will be eating it with me.
It will be nice to have corned beef on the shelves again.
Karen Stir says
Could you post the recipe for your corned beef?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I would suggest looking online at recipes. There are so many out there and all seem to be just a bit different. If you like like more pickling flavor, add more pickling spice. If you like it more or less sweet, add a bit more or less brown sugar. The one thing that needs to be a definite amount is the curing salt. I would recommend this web site for determining how much curing salt to use.
I don’t measure much but the curing salt and it’s always good . . just sometimes different.
Where we are, it’s very hard to find pickling spices so don’t be discouraged if you can’t find it already made up. Here’s a pickling spice recipe I like.