homemade cornded beef without nitrate

[mousefan73]

So I am in Germany and no access to quick corned beef, but I have a need for one. I did some research and found some recipes and a willing to make my own. Most recipes call for sodium nitrate / pink salt. I dont need my meat to be cured pink but has anyone made a recipe that tastes like your typical corned beef but without that salt. It's a pain to get here and to be honest, simply for health reasons, I would love to leave it out.

any recipes? and tips? thanks!

 

[Praying Colonel]

IMHO it's going to be difficult to get corned beef that tastes "typical" without the pink salt, because that's a big part of what gives the typical look, texture and taste.

Here's a recipe for doing your own corned beef--at :30 he discusses why pink salt is important to the traditional corned beef and how you can make it without it, but the end result is different:

 

[NYCgrrl]

What are you planning to use instead of the picklingsalt? Just wondering what an appropriate substitute would be

 

[NYCgrrl]

Another chef opining on the process:

““The reason to corn your own beef is flavor,” said Michael Ruhlman, a chef and passionate advocate of the process. He wrote about it with Brian Polcyn in their book, “Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing.” “You can achieve tastes that aren’t available in the mass produced versions,” he said. Feel free to experiment with the “pickling spices” called for below — you can customize them, if you like, from a base of coriander seeds, black peppercorns and garlic — but please do not omit the curing salt, which gives the meat immense flavor in addition to a reddish hue. (It’s perfectly safe, Mr. Ruhlman exhorts: “It’s not a chemical additive. Most of the nitrates we eat come in vegetables!”) Finally, if you want a traditional boiled dinner, slide quartered cabbage and some peeled carrots into the braise for the final hour or so of cooking. Or use the meat for Irish tacos.”


This year I bought a two lb flat that was already pickled by a local butcher and added whole allspice, coriander seeds and a 1/2 cinnamon stick to the liquid.

 

[_19disnA]

Probably can look around online for various recipe sites. In the US, you can bar a jar of 'pickling spice' that can be used for any number of things. Don't know if such a product is sold in Germany. When I made it in the past, never used the pink salt and tasted/looked fine to me.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Here’s a link to a nitrate free recipe. Never tried it but you will note from the photo that your finished product will have a different texture and color:

https://www.growforagecookferment.com/how-to-make-corned-beef/

Have fun and GL!

 

[cabanafrau]

This year I bought a two lb flat that was already pickled by a local butcher and added whole allspice, coriander seeds and a 1/2 cinnamon stick to the liquid.

Is cinnamon typically in the mix with corned beef seasoning? If it is I never even realized.
If not, how much does it impact the flavor? Is it distinctly identifiable, or just bolsters the overall flavor?

 

[tvguy]

So I am in Germany and no access to quick corned beef, but I have a need for one. I did some research and found some recipes and a willing to make my own. Most recipes call for sodium nitrate / pink salt. I dont need my meat to be cured pink but has anyone made a recipe that tastes like your typical corned beef but without that salt. It's a pain to get here and to be honest, simply for health reasons, I would love to leave it out.

any recipes? and tips? thanks!

It is interesting how different foods are harder to find in some parts of the world. My daughter is stuck in Hamburg (due to the airport security workers strike) and the friends she is staying with wanted her to make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. They couldn't find a whole turkey, so made do with a goose. No cranberries either, not even canned. But she found everything else to make home made dressing, and side dishes.
Funny they asked her to fix the turkey as she is vegetarian. And I have been getting texted photos of the HUGE vegetarian sections in the grocery stores. So lots of non-meat options.

 

[_19disnA]

I wouldn't use cinnamon in any seasoning mix to make corned beef.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Is cinnamon typically in the mix with corned beef seasoning? If it is I never even realized.
If not, how much does it impact the flavor? Is it distinctly identifiable, or just bolsters the overall flavor?

A college chum who spent a school year attending culinary school in Ireland came back home singing the praises of adding multiple warm spices to pickling spices. By the time I met him we were enrolled at a hotel/restaurant mgmt program in the US and frequently broke so anything we could do to enliven food was a goody. One of the best T-Day meals I ever had was at a state park near Cornell U with like minded and circumstanced people. Those were the days

This is one of my favorite spice purveyors and one of the owners is a Penzey by birth, a family well versed in the spice business. Reading the ingredient list you’ll note several warm spices such as allspice, juniper berries (often I sub gin for the berries), cassia bark (aka cinnamon) and cloves.

https://www.thespicehouse.com/products/pickling-spices-blend

I add coriander seeds at times too because it gives a distinctive “green” flavor that reminds me of Northern Europe.

What does the cinnamon do? Doesn’t change the flavor profile just adds to it.

 

[dizneegirl]

Is cinnamon typically in the mix with corned beef seasoning? If it is I never even realized.
If not, how much does it impact the flavor? Is it distinctly identifiable, or just bolsters the overall flavor?

It's in the mix DH makes to make his own corned beef (sticks, not ground). You can't really pick it out, but it adds to the flavor.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I tried to do it healthy once, it came out of the pot an odd gray that was tough like a leather coat and not yummy, not a Beauty and the Beast moment, the gray stuff was not delicious.

Good luck but maybe have a backup dinner ready to go.

 

[ronandannette]

It is interesting how different foods are harder to find in some parts of the world. My daughter is stuck in Hamburg (due to the airport security workers strike) and the friends she is staying with wanted her to make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. They couldn't find a whole turkey, so made do with a goose. No cranberries either, not even canned. But she found everything else to make home made dressing, and side dishes.
Funny they asked her to fix the turkey as she is vegetarian. And I have been getting texted photos of the HUGE vegetarian sections in the grocery stores. So lots of non-meat options.

Sorry - I just gotta ask...why are they intent on a Thanksgiving dinner in mid-March?

 

[NYCgrrl]

It is interesting how different foods are harder to find in some parts of the world. My daughter is stuck in Hamburg (due to the airport security workers strike) and the friends she is staying with wanted her to make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. They couldn't find a whole turkey, so made do with a goose. No cranberries either, not even canned. But she found everything else to make home made dressing, and side dishes.
Funny they asked her to fix the turkey as she is vegetarian. And I have been getting texted photos of the HUGE vegetarian sections in the grocery stores. So lots of non-meat options.

Believe it or not, Germany is one of the biggest turkey producers in Europe which actually made a “backwards” trip from the new world to the old. A good friend lives in Aachen and would have me bring paper T-Day tablecloths and turkey cut outs for her holiday table any time I was nearby. Eventually I bought her a themed cloth table covering and she’s still laughing at it. She lived in NYC for a year or two and fell in love with the celebration. Once, I bought cranberry sauce in Zurich( there’s an speciality food section in an dept store there where I also bought ketchup, lol) and brought it to her but she came to make a credible substitute from lingonberries over time.

Sorry - I just gotta ask...why are they intent on a Thanksgiving dinner in mid-March?

Since Thanksgiving is an imported celebration you can pick anytime of the year to put it together. It’s not like you are getting a day off from work or school so why not make your own schedule?
The time of the year could also be why the Hambugers couldn’t find a whole bird.

 

[mousefan73]

It is interesting how different foods are harder to find in some parts of the world. My daughter is stuck in Hamburg (due to the airport security workers strike) and the friends she is staying with wanted her to make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. They couldn't find a whole turkey, so made do with a goose. No cranberries either, not even canned. But she found everything else to make home made dressing, and side dishes.
Funny they asked her to fix the turkey as she is vegetarian. And I have been getting texted photos of the HUGE vegetarian sections in the grocery stores. So lots of non-meat options.

How funny even Tvguy is affected by these damn strikes... turkey is a late fall, christmas thing...they arent hard to find, but you have to look form them. you probably could ahve found a frozen one from Poland at Kaufland.
Cranberries fresh are a fall thing, but no canned. good substitute are preiselbeeren. too bad I didnt know but I have a reat green bean cassersole recipe without the campbells. i make here.


The organic whole chicken at Aldi for 10 euros stuffed would have been like a mini turkey.

 

[cabanafrau]

A college chum who spent a school year attending culinary school in Ireland came back home singing the praises of adding multiple warm spices to pickling spices. By the time I met him we were enrolled at a hotel/restaurant mgmt program in the US and frequently broke so anything we could do to enliven food was a goody. One of the best T-Day meals I ever had was at a state park near Cornell U with like minded and circumstanced people. Those were the days

This is one of my favorite spice purveyors and one of the owners is a Penzey by birth, a family well versed in the spice business. Reading the ingredient list you’ll note several warm spices such as allspice, juniper berries (often I sub gin for the berries), cassia bark (aka cinnamon) and cloves.

https://www.thespicehouse.com/products/pickling-spices-blend

I add coriander seeds at times too because it gives a distinctive “green” flavor that reminds me of Northern Europe.

What does the cinnamon do? Doesn’t change the flavor profile just adds to it.

Interesting. I've never thought of cinnamon being included and just can't wrap my brain around it. I am curious since you say it is more about depth than being noticeable in the flavor profile.

 

[tvguy]

How funny even Tvguy is affected by these damn strikes... turkey is a late fall, christmas thing...they arent hard to find, but you have to look form them. you probably could ahve found a frozen one from Poland at Kaufland.
Cranberries fresh are a fall thing, but no canned. good substitute are preiselbeeren. too bad I didnt know but I have a reat green bean cassersole recipe without the campbells. i make here.


The organic whole chicken at Aldi for 10 euros stuffed would have been like a mini turkey.

I will get the full story when my daughter gets back. She has been staying with friends in Hamburg. I gather they don't normally eat turkey, that could be why despite being local, they couldn't find one.

 

[tvguy]

Sorry - I just gotta ask...why are they intent on a Thanksgiving dinner in mid-March?

No idea. My daughter lived in the U.K. for a year during College 10 years ago and her flat mates were from Japan, Germany and Spain and she ended up making a Thanksgiving dinner for them too, so I guess she was around Europeans who were interested in trying a traditional American Thanksgiving number.
Flip side, when her friend from Germany was here a couple of months ago, one of the things he was interested in doing was going to a shooting range. That was a tough one for my daughter as she despises guns.

 

[BayouQueen]

Many years ago I read that it's much better to boil a hot dog rather than grilling or broiling because a lot of the nitrates boil out. Not sure if this is true, but I tell myself it is when I eat corned beef on St. Patrick's Day. Hopefully not too much of that stuff remains in the meat after long boiling.
Also, while sacrificing flavor, I now drain the fatty meat water and add fresh water to boil the potatoes and cabbage. Fatty flavors just don't appeal like they used to.

 

[tasha99]

Is cinnamon typically in the mix with corned beef seasoning? If it is I never even realized.
If not, how much does it impact the flavor? Is it distinctly identifiable, or just bolsters the overall flavor?

I wouldn't use cinnamon in any seasoning mix to make corned beef.

Cinnamon sticks are in the pickling spice used in the brine.

I made a salt rubbed instead of brined in liquid corned beef many many years ago. It was a Julia Child recipe, possibly in The Way to Cook. It didn't have pink salt, or else it was optional. I remember we thought it was only okay, but this was 25 years ago or more. I will say I use pink salt #1 when I make it now, which is more like what you'd buy in the supermarket.