The corning of the beef

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Twelve pounds of brisket have a date with my fridge for the next 3 weeks or so.First, I take a moment to weigh the spaniel against the meat...I think we'll keep her on for another year. Here's the curing rub. Two cups of coarse kosher salt, 4 tablespoons each ground allspice, paprika and dried thyme... Plus 4 tablespoons cracked black peppercorns and about 8 or so bay leaves, crumbled. Mix it all up together very well.Now you channel your rage! Get a fork and stab stab stab each side of the brisket many times. Visualize that yahoo who cut you off in traffic or the office creepster or whatever helps.Make sure you do both sides.Then you cover each side with a healthy handful of the spice/salt mixture and rub it in really well.Et voila. Gross hands = good corned beef.Pack it all up into heavy ziploc bags (I needed 3 2-gallon bags for my 12 pounds of brisket), stack them on a baking sheet in your fridge, and turn them every day so they each get a chance to be weighed down over the next few weeks. We'll check back in and see how this year's batch turned out after St. Patrick's Day!

(Thanks to Rick for taking a bunch of pictures! You are the wind beneath my wings.)