Belated corned beef pics

Yes, these pics are three weeks old. Life will do that to you.

Last year I made corned beef for the first time, using Ruhlman's wet cure recipe. This year I wanted to try a comparison of wet vs. dry cures.

I used the same wet cure recipe as last year. http://ruhlman.com/2010/03/corned-beef-how-to-cure-your-own.html

For the dry cure, I cabbaged off a recipe I got online (pardon the pun). http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/03/homemade-corned-beef-brisket-with-potatoes-cabbage-carrots-recipe.html I used the blogger's ratios for the basic cure (salt, pink salt, sugar) but then used the same flavorings as I used for the wet cure. Aside from the changes to the flavorings, I followed the recipes. This meant that I started the dry cure 2 days earlier than the wet, so per the recipe, the dry cured brisket got 7 days, and the wet got 5.

Results: well, you can see easily how different the two briskets LOOKED. The dark one is the dry cured, lighter pink is the wet. The difference in taste was about as obvious. The dry cured brisket was much stronger tasting, almost overwhelming. However, I'm not convinced that the difference is due to the dry vs. wet cure. The dry cured brisket spent two extra days in the cure. There were also some significant differences in the recipes (aside from the water). The wet cure called for a lot less salt, and a lot more sugar. It also called for slightly more pink salt than the dry cure recipe did. But I think the biggest factor may have been the two extra days for the dry cure.

I reserved half of each brisket and made pastrami. Interestingly, the flavor (and even color) difference between the smoked halves was much less remarkable than the simmered corned beef.