The Corned Beef Brining Tip Alton Brown Swears By

Because corned beef is usually piled high in layered Reuben sandwiches or slathered with a powerful horseradish sauce, you might be fooled into thinking that it's just an average piece of meat. However, it takes some love and care to make a good one. In fact, celebrity chef Alton Brown takes days to cook his, due to his special brining tip and slow cooker method.

In the Food Network star's recipe for corned beef, he recommends brining the meat for at least five full days before cooking. It's not unusual to brine corned beef for this long, with some chefs opting to leave it in the fridge for up to 10 days, especially when using a bigger cut. However, Brown likes to stir the brine daily, flipping the bag over and giving everything a quick massage each time. This ensures the beef is fully submerged in the liquid and that it brines evenly.

Brining is similar to pickling or curing. It creates a salt solution that flavors meat and breaks down any hard muscles, leading to a juicer, more flavorful, tender cut. Corned beef is essentially cured brisket, so it needs the long brining time that Brown recommends.

Not every recipe will instruct you to massage the meat, but it can lead to better salt penetration. The more brine that gets into the meat, the better the flavor and texture. As Brown mentions in his recipe, it's not an essential step. Just make sure the beef is sealed in a plastic bag with the brine and that you at least flip it every day. Put the bag in a plastic container, rather than a metal one, and ensure any excess air is puffed out.

If you're new to making brine, Brown simply boils water with pink salt, peppercorns, sugar, cinnamon, and other seasonings like mustard seed and cloves. But we have a handy guide for cooking corned beef at home that you can follow.

After Brown has brined his meat, he likes to cook it on high in a slow cooker with onion, carrot, and celery for about eight hours. The slow cooker is great for corned beef and cabbage, and we have a perfect Crock Pot corned beef recipe if you want to try it out. Feel free to attempt it at any time of the year — we're sorry to tell you that they don't actually eat a lot of corned beef in Ireland, so there's no need to wait until St Patrick's Day. But maybe the luck of the Irish will be with you and your brine anyway!