Brisket is a favorite and popular food and a great source of energy. It is consumed on weekdays and served on the festive table as a snack. The most delicious brisket is the one that is cooked with homemade recipes.
How to choose brisket for pickling
To make a homemade delicacy tasty, you need to use high-quality brisket. For pickling, a fresh piece is obtained that has a good color of bacon, white, pinkish, but not yellow, with a pleasant aroma, with alternating layers of bacon and meat. The skin on the brisket must be intact, without damage. It is better to purchase it in the market or from farmers in the first days after slaughter. In the store, there is usually little chance of buying fresh goods.
How to prepare brisket for salting
All edges are cleaned with a sharp knife, including the skin, removing 1-2 mm of the layer. In case of severe contamination, wash a piece of brisket, clean the skin with a knife. Then dry the raw brisket with a towel and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
Large pieces must be cut, otherwise the brisket will be salted unevenly. It is convenient to cut pieces 7-8 cm wide and 15-20 cm long.
For salting, ordinary coarse salt without preservatives, iodine is suitable. The brisket is salted in a bowl that will not oxidize from reaction with salt. Glass, plastic, ceramic, wooden, enameled dishes are suitable.
Pork brisket is salted dry, mixed or in brine.
Method 1. Dry salting of brisket with skin
This is one of the most common methods of salting brisket and is considered a classic. This simple recipe has a minimum of ingredients.
Required products:
- 1000-1200 g fresh pork brisket;
- 100-150 g of coarse salt;
- 1 head of garlic or more as desired.
Cooking step by step:
1. Prepare the brisket. We moisten the skin with water and clean it from dirt with a sharp knife, rinse it off with cool water. We clean the edges with a knife, removing 1, 5-2 mm of fat.
2. Dry the brisket piece with a clean cloth or thick paper towels. We leave it on the table to dry the brisket.
3. At this time, peel the chives and cut them into medium slices.
4. Roll the brisket on all sides with coarse salt. In the container where the salting will take place, pour a little salt, a little garlic on the bottom and spread the brisket with the skin down.
5. With a knife we make cuts for the cloves of garlic and put them into the cuts. Lay out some of the garlic cloves on the brisket. We close the container with a lid (plate) and leave it at room temperature for a day for the salt to start working.
6. During the day, liquid can flow out of the brisket, which is squeezed out by the salt. It is drained.
7. After a day, put the container in the refrigerator for 7-8 days. The time depends on the weight of the brisket. If 1 kg of brisket is cut into pieces, then they are salted faster.
8. After salting, wash off the remaining salt from the brisket, remove the garlic, dry it from the water and place it in the freezer compartment.
Old cooks adhered to the rules that salting should take at least 14-19 days. If there are many layers of meat in the brisket, then it may be oversalted. This is worth considering.
Method 2. Salting brisket with seasonings
Seasoning herbs that can be used for salting brisket: all kinds of peppers, basil, coriander, nutmeg, savory, oregano, cumin, marjoram, dill, cloves, thyme, sage, rosemary, bay leaf, garlic, mustard seeds, fennel.
Salting with herbs and spices gives you a wide opportunity to cook the brisket to your liking. This is a chance to express your culinary imagination, as most spices harmoniously complement the taste of pork. No norms are even required here: spices can be applied by eye. The main thing is not to overdo it. The recipe suggests the use of ready-made herbal mixtures.
Required products:
- 1000 -1200 g fresh pork belly;
- 100 g of coarse salt;
- 1 large head of garlic;
- 2 tsphops-suneli or Italian herbs;
- 1-2 tsp a mixture of ground peppers;
- 5 laurel leaves.
Cooking in stages:
1. Finely chop the chives, chop the laurel leaves. Combine salt, garlic, laurel and herbs in one bowl. If necessary, cut the brisket into several pieces.
2. Sprinkle the prepared brisket on all sides with a mixture of salt and spices.
3. Place the brisket pieces tightly in the container. Close the lid. Refrigerate for 5-7 days.
4. When salting in one piece, the brisket must be turned over several times a day and the forming liquid must be drained.
5. We release the finished product from the "coat" of salt and spices using running water. Remove excess moisture with a paper towel. We store in the freezer.
Cunning. You can pickle brisket with spices in a vacuum bag with a fastener (zip bag), removing air from it with a straw, you get a delicious delicacy. The bag with brisket will be salted in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Method 3. Salting brisket in onion skins
Salted brisket is prepared in a mixed way. Pork is boiled in a strong salt brine with the addition of spices and onion skins. The brisket turns out to be an appetizing golden color. The recipe is easy and very simple to prepare.
Required products:
- 1000 g fresh pork belly;
- 1 liter of water;
- 1 cup or less coarse salt
- onion husks, 1-2 handfuls;
- 3-4 large cloves of garlic;
- 7-8 pcs. allspice peas;
- 3-4 leaves of laurel;
- pepper red paprika for sprinkling the brisket.
Cooking in stages:
1. Rinse the onion peel in running water to remove dust, drain and put in a saucepan.
2. Boil water in a saucepan, adding salt, pepper, laurel, garlic (you don't need to peel it, just rinse it in water). Cook for 5-7 minutes, so that the water is colored, and the spices give the aroma to the water.
3. Dip pieces of brisket in hot brine and boil them for 5-10 minutes, depending on their weight.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Cover the brisket with a plate so that the pork is completely covered in the brine. Leave for 10-12 hours at room temperature.
5. Drain the brine. Free the pieces of brisket from spices and husks. Dry the brisket with paper towels to remove the brine.
6. Sprinkle the surface of the brisket with paprika (minced garlic). Wrap each piece of brisket in paper, parchment, or foil. Put the brisket in the refrigerator for 2-3 days to ripen.
… The bay leaf and garlic are best removed from the brine when it cools. Otherwise, the brisket may acquire bitterness from these spices.
Method 4. Salting brisket in brine
The value of this recipe is that the brisket is softer and more tender than with dry salting.
Required products:
- 2300-2500 g brisket;
- 1 liter of water;
- 5 tbsp coarse salt with a slide;
- 3-4 leaves of laurel;
- 10-12 pieces of allspice peas;
- 3 liter jar, clean and dry.
- if desired, other spices are added to the brine.
Preparation:
1. Pour water into a saucepan. Dissolve salt in water, add pepper and laurel. Bring to a boil and boil over low heat for 7-10 minutes. Cool the marinade.
2. Cut the prepared brisket into portions. Fill the jar with them tightly so that the neck is free.
3. Strain the brine from the spices. Pour the pieces of brisket with brine, spreading the brine evenly in the jar so that there is no air. The brine should cover the brisket with a 2-3 cm margin.
4. Leave the jar with brisket in brine for 5 days at room temperature for salting.
5. After 5 days, remove the brisket from the brine. Dry. Arrange in bags and store in the freezer. If desired, the brisket can be grated with chopped garlic with the addition of pepper, coriander seeds and other spices.
Some cooks add sugar to the brine, 1-2 tsp, claiming that sugar makes pork softer and more tender.
