Go over to the cooking forum...there was a thread there about this....

you put a potroast or roast beef in water with a block of ice about 1 gallon of water to 1 pound of meat , you also add a handful of Kosher or coarse salt leave it for 3 days to make the grey Irish cornbeef . this is used to extend the refridgerator shelf life of the meat by 10 days max . WE never made the red corn beef ,the red corn beef (Jewish corn beef ) is made with salt peter .

Yes I know it's made with salt peter, but how much and for how long and how long will it keep after curing? I went to the cooking forum but didn't find the thread ruthieg mentioned. I'll try again.
I believe the Kosher corned beef is called "pastrami."

No pastrami is both SMOKED and corned . It is to beef what ham is to pork . we never made the red Jewish corned beef just the "grey Irish corned beef " which is prefered on St. Patricks day in Massachusetts .

You can always check the U.S.D.A. county extension service for free pamphlets on meat curing . We got some in the pre- Reagan era on sausage making . Try home coldcut making , corned beef, smoking meat and fish, sausage making ! look up these subjects in books in your local library ! Try to get a good recipe for the Swedish sausage , KOK KURV itb is my favorite sausage !

Most of the information and thread about corned beef is in the Harvest Forum. The people there use premixes which contain salt, saltpetre and sugar/dextrose.

I have made Canadian Bacon and I use a brine solution, quantities and ingredients from the following link. I inject the meat with the brine until it has gained 30% if its original weight. I then brine in the fridge for 3 days.
Then I either use it for corned beef or make pastrami, following the recipes given in the Harvest forum.

Hope this helps

Helen

Here is a link that might be useful: corned beef

If anyone is interested, I found a reciepe for making corned beef. To my surprise, it used very little saltpetr.
For each pound of meat use 1 1/2 to 2 cups plain (non-iodized) salt and 1/2 tbs of saltpetre. Coat the meat thouroughly, put in a container to catch drainage and refrigerate for 10 days to 2 weeks.