Homemade Corned Beef Sandwich on Rye for Lunch and Charcutepalooza

It may not be immediately apparent, but this lunch is a trifecta of food preserving. It's not just any old corned beef on rye, but corned beef cured in my very own fridge for the March Charcutepalooza challenge, topped with awesome Tarragon Mustard made with local wild garlic by Dawn of Dawnabelle's, via the Well Preserved jar swap, and a side of my own Spicy Pickled Carrots from Tigress' Can Jam of last year, more than a year old and still as crisp and sweet as the day I put them in the jar. (Of course, I was longing for a dill pickle to accompany this sandwich, but I never ended up making them last summer.)

Just one shadow to dim the pleasure of this feast: when I sliced the corned beef, I noticed that there was a strongly defined grey section in the centre. As far as I can guess, this must mean one of two things. Either the salt cure did not penetrate a four-pound brisket within seven days, or the heat from the simmering pot did not penetrate the centre in four hours.

Either way, I mercilessly sliced my corned brisket in half and excised the grey part and a good bit of the pink around it. I don't want to take any chances. I would be very interested to hear whether any other Charcutepaloozans found similar manifestations within their slabs of meat.