What's Better on St. Patrick's Day Than Corned Beef and Cabbage?

What's Better on St. Patrick's Day Than Corned Beef and Cabbage?  Corned Moose and Cabbage!

With today being St. Patrick's Day, we thought we would share the recipe that we use to make corned venison, moose, bear, etc.  It is truly one of the highlights of St. Patrick's Day every year for our family.

Here is the recipe for making corned venison. If you don't have venison, any "lean" cut of beef will also work. BTW Moose and bear is fantastic!!  If you like Reuben Sandwiches...it makes the best you'll have ever had.  We have friends that don't eat wild game, but can't stay out of this when we make it.

If your cut is thicker than 1 inch, use an injector to get the brine into it, or simply cut it down so that it will completely penetrate the cut. When I do mine, I have done upwards of 12 pounds with this much brine. But rather than placing it a bowl, I place it in a 2 gallon Ziploc freezer bag, and then squeeze the air out of it to completely submerge the meat. Every couple of days, open the bag, move the pieces around and then squeeze the air out of it again and put it back in the refrigerator.

Corned Venison

2 to 3-pound brisket, flank, or shoulder roast up to 1 inch thick
2 quarts spring water or distilled water
1/2 cup canning/pickling salt
1/2 cup tenderizing salt (e.g. Morton's Tenderquick®)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spice
2 bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

Place cuts in a large glass or pottery mixing bowl (I use the 2 gallon Ziploc bags). In a stainless kettle, glass or enamel saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Heat just to boiling. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. Pour cooled brine over meat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; or if using Ziploc bags, squeeze to remove air, then seal. Refrigerate 7 to 10 days, (the last batch I did was almost 14 days) turning meat occasionally. Drain. Rinse meat thoroughly with cold water. If you are not going to eat it all at once, take a normal portion size that you would cook and place that in a quart size or gallon size Ziploc. Add some of the brine, squeeze the air out and then place it in the freezer. That way you have more ready to go for next time. The brine makes enough meat for several meals, but believe me you will go through it faster than you think. The recipe that we first found called for preparing it the following way. To prepare corned meat, place in Dutch oven. Cover with cold water. Heat to boiling, then drain. Cover with cold water again. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until tender, 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours. We have found that just putting it in a Crockpot with beef broth for about 8 hours is the best! And the easiest..... Enjoy!