Corned Beef At Home: Recipes, Tips, etc.

[HungryChris]

The local Aldi also has these bottom round roasts on sale for $2.99 pp for your corning pleasure.

HC

[rotuts]

oooops   S%S  does have it on sale this week.   Ill stop by and compare the points.  if it has papain  and the MarketBasket does not at the same price

 

Ill go with MB as I have experience w CB w/o papain.   I also don't know what temp papain is denatured , which would be important to know if that

 

was my only option.

[kayb]

1 hour ago, HungryChris said:

The local Aldi also has these bottom round roasts on sale for $2.99 pp for your corning pleasure.

HC

Picked one up last week. It'll go in the brine tomorrow.

[lindag]

Had lunch today with a friend who is a very accomplishes home cook.

she mentioned going to Costco for her corned beef because it's always better quality than that found in grocery stores.

it's on my list now!

[ElsieD]

If anyone in Canada finds corned beef at their Costco, please post here.  I was there today and carefully perused the meat counter and didn't see any.  Having missed the short ribs when they carried them, I'm not going there anymore without at least a cursory look at the meat offerings, whether I need any or not.

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

Had lunch today with a friend who is a very accomplishes home cook.

she mentioned going to Costco for her corned beef because it's always better quality than that found in grocery stores.

it's on my list now!

True in general for Costco beef.

[rotuts]

Ive started my CB studies early , as yest. MarketBasket had it CB already on sale. they have tow brands , but its the same meat packing unit

 

w just a different pic. on the plastic.  no papain.

 

I turned over many Points , my preferred cut in the past , as the 24 h / 140 turns that connective tissue into tastily gelatin.

 

one note on low end  i.e. On Sale Points :  you have to spend some time flipping the packs over as some have an outstanding amount of Fat !

 

I pick one up and brought it home for study :

 

 

 

out of the bag :

 

 

trimmed of excess fat.  Im not a beef fat sort of person :

 

 

note the Clouds have parted , and the Sun is shining on my work.

 

what to do now ?   

 

at this price I thought Id try iP'd  CB.   I of course know that SV treats this cut well and give you an optimum result :

 

tender , juicy , very little loss of flavor and moisture into the ' simmering pot '

 

so I iP'd what you see above , w water to cover , for 1 hour  LP.   " Hip " says HP.  I know that at these temps :

 

110 - 112 C 230 F @ LP   and 240 - 245 F at HP  you are going to get significant contraction of the muscle groups

 

resulting in lost of flavor and moisture of the meat.  Way Back When when the iPot was new 

 

@Anna N  did some babyBack ribs in the iPot , I tried it and was very surprised at the result

 

again , I did LP iPot 60 min  with a 10 minute release.   

 

Science Waits for KnowOne , and Marches on at its Own Pace    Id did not wait for natural Release.

 

the meat was tender  ( no pics , sorry )  very contracted , and there was a fairly unpleasant odor from the pot and the water

 

( I covered the meat w cold water ) was fairly insipid.  a surprise to me.   nothing wrong w these meat out of the bag.

 

my only take on this is iP'd corned fat is pretty awful  .

 

however , in an hour you got tender meat , perhaps for a Sandwich , etc ?   much faster than 24 H.

 

father down I have a pic of the breakdown of this cut and the S&S  Flat I then went to get.

 

having a Bee in my bonnet , i went to S&S and got a piece of Flat  for look into the papain issue :

 

 

 

 

 

 

here is this cut , sliced in 1/2 in the iP :

 

 

I started at 30 min LP to see if the papain affected the cooking time.  tested after 30  etc

 

it needed the same 60 min at LP for a tender CB.   same shrinkage  and same off aroma from the pot and unfortunate flavor to the liquid.

 

I any one tries  CB @ iPot   Id like to hear if they had this off result.  nothing wrong w the meat pre IP.

 

so my take :  you can get a tender CB in the iPot , but you are gaining time , and not getting the optimal CB

 

that comes w SV.

 

so this AM  I went back to S&S and got another Flat , and am now doing a SV at 140 F

 

one thing about SV :  12 hours is a significant milestone in SV  :  less than 24 H  your can start it in the AM and be finished in the late PM

 

> 24 hours :  you can think about starting it in the late PM , and have the next day , if you are around , to study the optimal time.

 

I chose this AM , as , well , I wanted to move along.  the nicest CB in the BOS area  ( S&S has the beSt deals ) disappears early.

 

this AM they only had one Flat in the case  but had plenty in the back.   the flat is almost identical to the previous one pic's

 

w papain.  I cut into 4 chunks after the same trim and its in the Anova SV bath now.

 

Ill pull one out at 6 h and see how its doing , re bag and put it back

 

at 12 hours  ( 9:30 PM )  Ill decided what to do then

 

of note re papain :

 

papain activity vs temperature curve

 

and

 

http://lollystarz.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html

 

for us :

 

 

meat heats up slower in the SV bath than in the iP.  after the papain'd meat reaches 60 C  , there is no more activity

 

the question for me re SV 140 F / 24 H CB   how much ' tenderness ' did I get for that first hour or two ?  after that

 

it doesn't matter anymore , but seems to effect the total cook time.

 

Ill let you know how this works out after Im done with the SV papain exp.

 

analysis of the point and flat above :

 

 

 of note , trimmed Flat is cheaper that Point, by a lot at the prices available to me.

 

if you have an EagleEye for numbers , you will note that the Flat , w 15 % loss , should have costed more , trimmed.

 

the meat seems to have been under weighted dans le Plastique Pack 

 

more later

 

CB , SV is the optimum way to cook CB, but you have to have a rig , time etc.

 

well worth it in my book

 

now for some Icy Cold Green Beer while I watch the Anova do its stuff !

 

 

[kayb]

I looked at corned beef at Kroger, just out of curiosity (as I plan to corn that bottom round I bought at Aldi the other day). $5.99 a pound! I didn't even look to see whether it was flat or point; just wheeled on by.

 

[rotuts]

@kayb  

 

the stuff Ive recently bought , except for StP's day 

 

goes for $ 6.49 an lbs.  and that's not an inflated price

 

what I purchased for $ 5.40 , any other time of the year would have been $ 17.78

 

that's why I wait and do what i can for sandwiches through out the summer at the sale price.

 

no sales your area ?   corning your own makes a great deal of sense  

[Tri2Cook]

The local store brought in corned beef this year, saw it this morning while getting the shopping done. They only brought in points and I think they may have already been pretty well picked through because the few that were there were mostly hunks of fat with a little meat holding it together. I know the point isn't lean by any means but these were a bit over the top and pricey too. So I'll stick with the plan to make my own. The top sirloin roast I bought, once untied, gave me a lean hunk with a little marbling that's somewhat similar in appearance to rotuts post-trimming flat he posted above and a thinner portion with the fat cap, which I didn't remove. Not sure if I will before brining or not. Right now they're both sealed and in the freezer until next weekend and I'm considering going back for another. I don't do it often, might as well do a bunch while I'm at it and have plenty for sandwiches.

[rotuts]

 I grew up in the BayArea

 

and St.P's day Id never hear of

 

we dd have CB w the veg's trimming as my parents were from the East

 

having worked for a lot of time in BOS

 

its different here :

 

today its 11 F in the morning  and now a balmy 22 F

 

St.P's day is not until March 17th

 

DownTown here  there was green beer, lots o vomiting , and maybe a Parade

 

its colder here than in N'Oleans

 

same sort of thing

 

Id guess

Edited March 4, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[HungryChris]

I got 2 flats at S&S today, biggest and leanest ones I could find. They are in the freezer and will soon be joined by several of their mates. 

HC

[rotuts]

what Ive learned so far :

 

I put the iP'd meats in their liquid in the frig over night.

 

I had a sandwich of just the Point meat sliced w mayo and mustard

 

decently nice.  no pic

 

then I sliced up one of the flat and here it is :

 

 

i hr LP iP'd

 

you may note it quite lean.

 

what surprised me , compared w the Point similarly iP'd :

 

this was tough , and dry.  as we know the dry probably relates to there is little to no intramuscular fat

 

however , connective tissue  that turns to collagen is not fat.  this had little

 

so Ill leave the SV 140 flat cut in the SV'der until the AM , maybe 20 hrs  even it it had papain.

 

I was a bit disappointed

 

but probably knew in the back of my mind :

 

Point Cut  trimmed of fat . bagged and SV  140 X 24 H is the way to go.

 

reporting tomorrow ...................

[rotuts]

a quick P.S. :

 

when you see a possibly tasty piece of beef like this :

 

 

that's the Flat as above

 

there is no way in the world   its going to even taste, remotely,  as it looks,  at its price point.

 

reporting tomorrow from the 20 hr SV

 

[Porthos]

Do you all know just how jealous I am of you all finding corned beef on sale already. If things continue the way they have the last couple of years here in SoCal it will be on sale for 2 days with a limit of 2. Fortunately for my I know how the game the system so that I can acquire more than 2. (Pay cash, go to stores without the "loyalty" cards, etc.)

[rotuts]

in my area , the limit is for each purchase.   the cashiers or the self service slots give you the limit , then just buy the limit again

 

over and over , w a new transaction

 

even the cashier at Shaw's don't mind doing this 

 

Odd , yet effective.  consider it at the Self Check Out doing it twice and see !

[HungryChris]

19 minutes ago, rotuts said:

what Ive learned so far :

then I sliced up one of the flat and here it is :

 

 

 

In my opinion, that looks waaayyyyy too thick for sandwich slices.

HC

[rotuts]

indeed.  but the point cut as above , was far more flavorful and very tender.

 

this was a big surprise to me.

Edited March 4, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[ElsieD]

For those of you who will be corning their own beef, how do you avoid getting that grey middle?  The last time I corned some beef, I even injected some of the corning liquid into the meat and still got a grey band in the middle.  

[HungryChris]

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

For those of you who will be corning their own beef, how do you avoid getting that grey middle?  The last time I corned some beef, I even injected some of the corning liquid into the meat and still got a grey band in the middle.  

I had that issue a few times on corned beef tongue, until I started injecting the meat and leaving it in the brine for 2 weeks. That took care of it.

HC

[rotuts]

if you used ' pink salt '  which keeps the meat ' red '

 

perhaps you didn't wait long enough for the brine to penetrate , invent w injections ?

[gfweb]

Corning salt/brine penetrates about a 1/4" at most/day. Nice piece here https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/171-homemade-corned-beef

[Tri2Cook]

2 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

For those of you who will be corning their own beef, how do you avoid getting that grey middle?  The last time I corned some beef, I even injected some of the corning liquid into the meat and still got a grey band in the middle.  

I haven't done this as much as most posting here but the times I have, it was never an issue. I don't inject the brine but I don't use pieces more than 3" thick and I leave it in the brine for a minimum of 7 days, usually 10 if it's more than 2" thick. I've always used a 10% brine but this year I'm going to give a 5% brine a shot. I'm cooking it sous vide for the first time and hoping the 5% brine will help avoid it being too salty. That shouldn't have any effect on how long it has to brine though, so I'm not altering that.

[rotuts]

@gfweb 

 

nice link , thanks

 

this was mentioned and featured in the Tk episode :  1704

 

they claimed using the above method  ( in the show ) had less salt that commercial preps.

 

i can't imagine them making this up.   I would love to see the " sur le plate "  conventionally cook results for each

 

re NaCl

[rotuts]

the A1704 Rx was :

 

4 Qts water    3/4 C table salt  1/2 C brown sugar  2 tsp Pink salt    and various flavorings ;  bay leaves , garlic , whole black pepper , whole coriander , and 

 

whole allspice

 

Flat cut was placed in the brine  for 6 - 8 days in the frig.  the flat cut did not look very very thick to me :

 

I completely

 

the picture I completely credit to America's test kitchen , A1704.  owned by Boston Common as far as I can tell

 

PS  the TK's also claimed in blind tastings , the pick cured CB tasted better , at the same ' salt point ' no data given.

Edited March 4, 2017 by rotuts (log)