Homemade Deli Corned Beef on Rye
Cure your own brisket for six days in a salt, sugar and pink curing salt brine, simmer it in a low oven, then slice it thin, steam it and pile it on rye with deli mustard.
Wikipedia's account of the Jewish deli traces it to German immigrants in the mid-1800s and says its biggest growth came between the two world wars, citing historian Ted Merwin; at its height New York had an estimated 3,000 Jewish delis, and fewer than 30 by 2021. Smithsonian describes the corned beef those delis and kosher butchers sold as brisket, a kosher cut from the front of the cow, salted and cooked until tender, made by recent Jewish immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe. Wikipedia reports that Katz's Delicatessen, on the Lower East Side, sells about 8,000 lb of corned beef a week alongside 15,000 lb of pastrami. The name has nothing to do with corn: USDA explains that "corns" were salt pellets the size of corn kernels, rubbed into beef before refrigeration, and that today a brine has replaced the dry salt.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Cure your own brisket for six days in a salt, sugar and pink curing salt brine, simmer it in a low oven, then slice it thin, steam it and pile it on rye with deli mustard.
🇮🇪 The original
The Irish original is a boiled joint of cured pork (Irish bacon) with cabbage and potatoes, finished with a white parsley sauce. See the Irish Bacon and Cabbage with Parsley Sauce recipe.
🗳️ Corned beef or pastrami on rye? Vote: Corned beef vs Pastrami →
📖 : Corned Beef vs Pastrami: What's the Difference? → 📖 Myth check: Is Corned Beef and Cabbage Actually Irish? →
Why it works the kitchen science
Six days in the brine
That is how long the salt and nitrite need to reach the center of a brisket flat, so it seasons and turns pink all the way through instead of only at the edges (ATK).
Low oven, then steam
A gentle 275°F simmer melts the brisket's connective tissue, and a few minutes of steam after slicing warms the meat without drying it, the way deli counters keep it soft.
Step by step
- Step 1
In a container that fits in your refrigerator, stir the water, table salt, brown sugar and curing salt until everything dissolves.
- Step 2
Add the brisket with the 3 garlic cloves, 4 bay leaves, allspice, 1 tbsp peppercorns and coriander. Weigh the meat down with a plate so it stays under, cover, and refrigerate at 32 to 40°F for 6 days.
- Step 3
Heat the oven to 275°F. Take the brisket out of the brine, rinse it well and pat it dry; pour the brine away. Tie the remaining garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns in a triple layer of cheesecloth.
- Step 4
Put the brisket, the spice bundle and the 2 quarts of water in a Dutch oven, bring to a simmer over high heat, cover and move it to the oven. Cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until a fork slides in and out of the thickest part easily.
- Step 5
Lift the brisket onto a board and rest it 15 minutes. It looks gray while raw and turns pink as it cooks; that is the cure working (ATK).
- Step 6
Slice the beef across the grain as thin as you can, about 1/8 inch. Set a steamer basket over 1 inch of simmering water, pile in the slices, cover and steam 3 to 5 minutes, until hot and soft.
- Step 7
Spread mustard on the rye and pile on the hot corned beef, about 5 oz per sandwich.
Homemade Deli Corned Beef on Rye
Serves 10 · 1 corned beef (from a 4 1/2 to 5 lb brisket), enough for 10 sandwiches · 3 hr 45 min total
Brine
- 4 quarts cold water
- 3/4 cup table salt (or 1 1/8 cups Morton kosher, or 1 1/2 cups Diamond Crystal kosher, per ATK)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp pink curing salt #1 (Prague Powder #1), measured level
- 1 (4 1/2 to 5 lb) flat-cut beef brisket, fat trimmed to 1/8 inch
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
Cooking
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 quarts water
For the sandwiches
- 20 slices rye bread (seeded or not)
- Brown deli mustard
Method
- In a container that fits in your refrigerator, stir the water, table salt, brown sugar and curing salt until everything dissolves.
- Add the brisket with the 3 garlic cloves, 4 bay leaves, allspice, 1 tbsp peppercorns and coriander. Weigh the meat down with a plate so it stays under, cover, and refrigerate at 32 to 40°F for 6 days.
- Heat the oven to 275°F. Take the brisket out of the brine, rinse it well and pat it dry; pour the brine away. Tie the remaining garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns in a triple layer of cheesecloth.
- Put the brisket, the spice bundle and the 2 quarts of water in a Dutch oven, bring to a simmer over high heat, cover and move it to the oven. Cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until a fork slides in and out of the thickest part easily.
- Lift the brisket onto a board and rest it 15 minutes. It looks gray while raw and turns pink as it cooks; that is the cure working (ATK).
- Slice the beef across the grain as thin as you can, about 1/8 inch. Set a steamer basket over 1 inch of simmering water, pile in the slices, cover and steam 3 to 5 minutes, until hot and soft.
- Spread mustard on the rye and pile on the hot corned beef, about 5 oz per sandwich.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Home-Corned Beef with Vegetables" by Lan Lam (January 24, 2016). We keep ATK's brine, curing time, oven temperature and timing exactly, leave out the vegetables, and finish the beef the deli way: sliced thin, steamed and served on rye with mustard (the slicing thickness and steaming times are ours). ATK says it serves 8 to 10; as sandwiches we call it 10. The 32 to 40°F curing temperature is from Mississippi State University Extension, and the 145°F minimum from USDA FSIS. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Do not shorten the cure. If the center is gray when you slice it, the cure did not get all the way in.
- Cooked corned beef keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge (USDA FSIS); it slices thinnest when cold, then steams back to tender.
- Want hash or Reubens? Hold back a pound for our Reuben Sandwich, Diner Corned Beef Hash and Sheet-Pan Reubens recipes.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- "Corned" means salt the size of corn kernels. Disputed: USDA FSIS and Smithsonian say so; Wikipedia says "corn" may also refer to grains of saltpeter used in curing.
- Real corned beef must use nitrite. Disputed: nitrite gives the pink color and blocks botulism (Wikipedia, citing USDA), but uncured gray "New England corned beef" also exists (Wikipedia, citing Atlas Obscura, 2018).
- Corned beef is gray before cooking. Documented for this recipe (ATK): it turns pink once cooked.
- Jewish delis are disappearing. Documented as Wikipedia's figures: an estimated 3,000 at the peak, fewer than 30 in 2021.
Every other corned beef
Irish Bacon and Cabbage with Parsley Sauce
The real Irish dinner behind America's corned beef and cabbage: a cured bacon joint simmered in a big pot, cabbage cooked in the salty bacon water, and a white sauce full of parsley.
Cork Spiced Beef
Cork's Christmas beef: a corned joint marinated for a week in allspice, brown sugar and three peppers, simmered gently, cooled in its liquid and sliced thin.
Corned Beef and Cabbage
The Irish-American St. Patrick's Day dinner: flat-cut corned beef braised low and slow in the oven, then cabbage wedges, carrots and red potatoes simmered in the strained, buttered cooking liquid.
Reuben Sandwich
Corned beef, Swiss cheese and quick-cooked sauerkraut on rye with a Russian-style dressing, griddled in butter until the bread is golden and the cheese melts.
Diner Corned Beef Hash
Leftover corned beef and diced potatoes, steamed tender in one skillet, partly mashed so they hold together, then browned hard in butter on both sides and topped with fried eggs.
Montreal Smoked Meat
Montreal's answer to pastrami: a whole brisket dry-cured for a week, soaked, crusted with pepper, coriander and dill, smoked low, steamed in foil until tender and piled on rye with yellow mustard.
Filipino Corned Beef Silog (Corned Beef, Garlic Rice and Egg)
The Filipino breakfast plate: tinned corned beef fried with browned garlic and onion, a mound of crisp garlic fried rice and a sunny-side-up egg.
Jamaican-Style Bully Beef
Tinned corned beef simmered with onion, tomatoes, sweet peppers, thyme, ketchup and a whole Scotch bonnet into a quick, peppery stew for rice.
British Corned Beef Hash
The British storecupboard supper: parboiled potatoes and cubes of tinned corned beef fried with onion, pressed into a crust, splashed with Worcestershire sauce and served with baked beans.
Sheet-Pan Reubens
Four Reubens at once in 30 minutes: quick sweet-and-sour cabbage instead of sauerkraut, a mayo-mustard spread, deli corned beef and Swiss on rye, baked on a preheated sheet pan so they toast without flipping.
Pastrami on Rye, Inspired by Katz's
Inspired by, not official: store-bought corned beef soaked to pull out salt, crusted with cracked black pepper and coriander, smoked low, finished in foil to 203°F and hand-sliced onto rye with mustard, the way Katz's Delicatessen serves it.
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