I grew up in an era of small grocers and family butcher shops. In fact, my family ran one for many years until my grandfather passed away. I am so thankful for that experience and it’s part of the reason why I believe so firmly in a decentralized food supply chain. But that’s a chat for another day.
Grovenstein’s Grocery was a small family owned grocer on Main Street Shelburne where I grew up. I have done blog posts about them before which you can find here.
We recently had a couple steers we put into cuts and I had a hankering for Corned Beef and Cabbage. We used rib stew cuts for this process, but you can use most any cut. We grew up on this staple, which my grandparents usually did themselves or they purchased it from Grovenstein’s Store. Cheri Hallett, the daughter, has generously passed on the recipe to others so we can carry on the tradition of making Mary Lou Grovenstein’s Corned Beef.
She’s definitely my people.
Here’s the How to in Mary Lou’s own words.
Love Jenn and Cheri xx
Grovenstein’s Corned Beef
Equipment
- 1 food grade 5 gallon bucket
- 1 potato
Ingredients
- 1 box pickling salt
- 10 lbs rib stew meat or any other desired cut
- water
Instructions
- Get a clean bucket with a cover. Fill 3/4 full of water.Drop a medium sized potato in it. Add salt, a half cup at a time and stir. Keep doing this until the potato floats. When it floats, remove potato and add meat and cover. I put a glass bowl over meat to keep it below the brine.Store in cold place for 7 to 10 days. Remove meat from brine and either freeze or cook as follows:When ready to cook, place meat in pot of cold water and bring to boil. Always start in cold water so as not to set the salt. Cook for half hour and taste broth. If too salt, remove some broth but don't toss it. Add some cold water. Boil for another half hour and taste. Repeat if too salt or add some broth if too fresh. Adapted with permission from :Mary Lou Grovestines instructions on making and cooking corned beef.
