I decided to make corned beef for St. Patrick's Day. After looking at a couple of recipes, two things stood out; the long cure, and saltpeter. the cure isn't a problem, I just need a big enough ziplock to hold a 5 pound piece of meat in a brine in the fridge for 10 days. I can figure that out.
Saltpeter, on the other hand, is a problem. Living in New York I figure I can buy anything here. Greatest City In The World, right? This is not an easy ingredient to find. Being a key ingredient to gunpowder, it is difficult to find on the open market. So I did some google searching, and started at the pharmacy. The old, independent place around the corner first. The pharmacist was very polite, and luckily knew what I was talking about. She was so old school she spoke of grinding ingredients together with a mortar and pestle and filling gelatin capsules for prescriptions. Alas, she hadn't seen saltpeter in years and her distributor no longer carried it.
On to my regular pharmacy! While my pharmacist didn't know what it was, saltpeter did appear in the Rite Aid drug catalog. However, it was listed without any pricing, dosage, or form (liquid, powder, pill, capsule) information. She graciously called her distributor, who laughed and asked if someone was making corned beef! Progress! And then defeat. They haven't had it in years.
On to the witchy store! Luckily(?), there are 3 wiccan/herbal shops in our neighborhood. The first didn't know what i was talking about, but then I realized they only dealt with herbal organics. Down the block, through the door with a broom as a handle, past the 4 black cats, waving the incense clouds out of the way, was a polite young lady with a giant urn of saltpeter. The wiccans use it to prevent infidelity. Despite my lack of wiccan wardrobe, she was polite and willing to sell me some. 2 ounces, 6 dollars. Meat goes into the brine on Sunday!
Labels: chemistry, preservation, the hard way
