Corned beef, also called salt-cured beef, has been a part of Filipino staple food not only for breakfast but it has been more popular when the eatery business introduce the “silog” meal such as Tapsilog (Fried Beef with Egg), Longsilog (Longganisa with Egg) and Cornsilog (Corned Beef with Egg). It is also being used in other recipe in replacement to ground beef.
The word corn referred to a number of kernels or seeds, including the coarse salt granules packed around the brisket. Thus the meat was called ‘corned’ beef in reference to the corns of salt.
Corned beef is often boiled, not roasted. This allows some of the excess salt and pickling spices to boil out of the meat, and it makes the corned beef brisket more tender.
Making Corned Beef is a good business to start in your home with low production cost.
Raw Materials/Curing Ingredients:
- 1000 grams Beef brisket cubed 1 1/2 inches
- 1 tbsp. Refined salt
- 1 tbsp. Refined sugar
- 1 tsp. Curing salt
- 1 tsp. Phosphate (dissolved in 1/4 cup water)
- 1/4 tsp. Vitamin C powder
- 1 cup Chilled water (to be dissolved the four ingredients)
Cooking Ingredients:
(Add 2 cups water to the meat and cook with the following)
- 1 tsp. Nutmeg
- 1 tsp. Corned Beef seasoning
- 2 tbsp. Garlic powder
- 1 tsp. Vetsin (monosodium glutamate)
- Trimix (after cooking)
- Carageenan
Procedure:
The curing method is applied in corned beef making. This involves the application of salt, sugar, nitrate, and other chemical preservatives that kill micro-organisms or delay microbial action.
- Select quality meat.
- Cut meat into 1 1/2 inches. The best beef cut is brisket (punta y pecho) but any cut will do.
- Prepare the curing ingredients (40 salinity). Immerse the meat in the curing ingredients.
- Cure at room temperature for 8-10 hours or in a refrigerator for 1-2 days. After curing, wash meat for 20 seconds to remove excess salt.
- Cook in pressure cooker for 45-60 minutes or in open fire for 4-6 hours. Mix the cooking ingredients with 2 cups of water.
- Remove meat from the stock (sabaw) and flake.
- Pack in polyethylene bags and keep inside a freezer.
Yield:
- 1 kg. meat will produce 700 g. of lean and 300 g. of stock (sabaw)
- To get the yield of 1000 g., bring to boil the following until they thicken, and add to 700 g. meat: for a 300 g. stock solution add 1/2 tsp. Vetsin after flaking, 2 tbsp. Trimix, and 1 tsp. Carageenan (previously dissolved in 1/4 cup water).
- To increase yield, add 100-200 g. of pork skin to the meat before pressure cooking.
Sources: trc.dost.gov.ph, wisegeek.com; Photo: asia.ru export-forum.com