How to make corned beef - the real deal

For each 12lb beef, allow 1 - 1/2 lbs salt - scale down accordingly. Place a layer of salt in a container (I used an ice cream tub), place meat in and cover with salt. Cover and leave in fridge for 24 hours. Make up a curing solution: to every 4 pints water, add 8 oz brown sugar, 1 tsp bicarb, spices as liked (bay leaf, allspice, peppercorns, etc). Heat to dissolve sugar, cool, then pour over meat in tub, return to fridge when cold and leave 3 - 4 weeks. When ready, take out, soak for a few hours in cold water before cooking. To cook, simmer in water for about 20 minutes to the lb or so, with 20 minutes over; I baked mine which was successful too. Don't expect it to look or taste anything like the tinned stuff, though, because it really won't! It's a good thing to know how to do for keeping beef without using the freezer. It's nice served hot with potatoes and vegetables and dumplings, or in a hash, as I did with the first bit of mine. Hope this helps, shout if I've missed anything. This is how I do mine, by the way, adapted from several methods/recipes