we've made "corned beef" many times, starting out with those pre-pickled packs in american supermarkets around st patrick's day that one just has to boil, gradually moving on to completing all steps of the curing process ourselves with, generally, a standard pickling spice mix and "pink salt" for both it's flavour and preservative properties. we find a hunk of brisket, dry rub it and let it sit in the bottom of the fridge for a while, curing away.
they've all been fine, tender juicy brisket cut across the grain and served with potatoes and other boiled vegetables. an important discovery was that the vegetables were far too salty (and frankly odd flavoured and coloured) when cooked with the meat and since we occasionally used the pressure cooker it was impossible to work with the various cooking times needed so we separated the cooking of the cabbage, carrots and whatnot from the meat. a little of the "pot liquor" can be used to flavour the vegetables for serving. it can also be used moisten the meat when reheating slices which are easier to cut the following day as the flesh tightens up on cooling.
i've been curious about "corning" meats other than beef for some time now, turkey breast comes to mind, so when i had a couple of pounds of pork shoulder left over from another project i found a recipe for a pork rub and left the meat for the full two weeks in the back of the fridge despite some misgivings about the length of the cure - this was supermarket pig after all, not someone whose provenance i knew. for safety there was pink salt in the cure mix but beyond that the original recipe post has disappeared so i've no idea what else :-(
during an outdoor jerk pork party i put the cured pork off to the cooler side of the barbecue and it baked away for the many hours that the charcoal was burning, truth be told i pretty much forgot about it in the bustle of the gathering so i've no idea how long it actually cooked. after chilling overnight we sliced it thinly and took a tentative bite. damn, it's good!
as you can see the cure didn't penetrate all the way to the center, the greyish as opposed to the pinkish flesh, but the flavour didn't seem to change all that much across the slices. next time i would choose a less fatty piece of meat or trim more carefully - the mouth feel of the fat wasn't too pleasant.
