Corned beef today

Homeland security did not keep the Phactor from obtaining an adequate supply of saltpeter to last for a couple of years of beef pickling, and today the product of that effort is going to be sampled. This is a bit late for St. Patrick's day, but it was a busy week and cooking takes some time. This takes long-range planning because you get a craving for corned beef, and it takes 4 weeks to get some made. This also carries on an old family tradition of making it yourself. The big old farmhouse, home of my youth, had catacombs for a basement, but it had all sorts of space for preparing all sorts of things, including it's own stove and canning kitchen. It also had a beautiful old smokehouse, and once a year, just for the heck of doing it, my Father would butcher a side of port, cure it in big crocks and then smoke it. That was some amazing bacon, and that's why the Phactor goes to such trouble as making corned beef; mine doesn't taste like the stuff you buy today in the grocery stores.