Green Tea Brined Meat Recipe

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with DIY corned beef this year. We added our premium sencha green tea to the brine solution to cure the beef. We have never cured meat on our own before.  My first motivation to cure our own meat is so I can use locally sourced "natural" beef. As a green tea fanatic and explorer, I thought I would use green tea. I use "Matcha Salt/Rub" to season BBQ meat and steaks. I thought “why not green tea for corned beef.”  Besides, the ‘green combo’ sounded like a good match for a celebration of the Emerald Isle.

I thought about which green tea I should use. My specialty is Japanese green tea, and there are many types of green tea to choose from. Each has its own character.  I decided to use "Sencha" green tea instead of bay leaf in the recipe for two reasons:

  1. Sencha is pronounced "sen-cha", and it is one of the most popular types of green tea in Japan. The tea is made from the leaves of the green tea bush (Camellia sinensis) and is known for its fresh, grassy flavor.
  2. Sencha has a “bright, vegetal flavor with a subtle sweetness”, which enhances the overall taste of the brine, giving the meat a delicate yet distinctive green tea essence.

The curing process takes 4 to 5 days. Aworthwhile wait for the Umami tast of green tea.  Umami is pronounced “ooh-ma-mee”, and it is meaty savory flavor.  Green tea is one of the Umami rich foods.

This is how the meat looked soaking in the green tea bath.

Green Tea Meat Brine

On St. Patrick’s Day, I followed the recipe and cooked the meat.  The meat was tender, flavorful, and delicious!!

Green Tea Corned Beef

 

In the recipe, I used 1 Tbsp. Sencha as a replacement for Bay Leaf. We savored the best corned beef ever - "grass-fed beef cured with green tea for green day." Somehow the cabbage, carrots, and sliced red potatoes I cooked with our special green tea cured corned beef tasted much better too.

Now that we know how delicious and easy it is, we know we will be making this again - soon. Won't wait for next St. Patrick's Day!  Always use fresh, high quality teas for the best result.

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