Corned Beef At Home: Recipes, Tips, etc.

[rotuts]

the Reuben is an interesting taste direction  

 

mine unsmoked is indeed Boston Irish boiled dinner

 

however

 

the lightly smoked CB Ive made would make an award winning Ruben Id say.

[rotuts]

Its that time of year again :

 

Corned Beef Sales for St.Patricks day

 

sales in my area start tomorrow :  $ 1.47 for point.

 

Ill get there tomorrow at Stop & Shop  

 

which has always had the best CB's in my area , generic of course.

 

has anyone made changes to their SV method(s) for CB ?

 

this year Ill cook probably 142  for 24 H ++  , chill , then cold smoke for an hour on the cold Weber w fruit-wood pellets.

 

I save some of the jus from the cook , and add a few TBs to the new bag p cold smoke and seal and freeze.

 

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[Martin Fisher]

I think I'm going to corn a chuck-eye roast in the style of Darina Allen's  "Ballymaloe Spiced Beef."

Slightly adapted.

Balleymaloe is in Cork, Ireland.

Recipe here "Ballymaloe Spiced Beef."

I better get my heinie in gear! 

[rotuts]

a P.S. :

 

those 2 + Tb's added back to the new bag after a cold smoke make a difference

 

I think it makes up for some moisture loss during the cold smoke.

 

I do the same w my turkey breasts :  chill , cold smoke , add 2 + TB's of TurkeyB jus back into the new bag.

 

seal and Fz.

[chromedome]

10 hours ago, rotuts said:

Its that time of year again :

 

Corned Beef Sales for St.Patricks day

 

sales in my area start tomorrow :  $ 1.47 for point.

 

Regrettably, though Saint John calls itself "Canada's most Irish city," that doesn't happen here. Corned beef remains costly, it just gets easier to find.

[kayb]

Picked up a piece of CB brisket at Aldi today. Regrettably, flat cut was all they had. $2.99 a pound. I'll likely cook it Sunday, and have leftovers through the week. Look out, corned beef hash; here I come.

 

[ElsieD]

Yeah, $3.99 a pound is about as cheap as it gets here, and that is a brand called Rachel and it isn't even all that good.  The Maple Leaf brand (more expensive but better) seems to gave gone tte way of the dodo bird, at least around here.

[Tri2Cook]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

Corned beef remains costly, it just gets easier to find.

There are no St. Patrick's Day corned beef bargains where I live either. The corned beef they usually bring in at the local grocery store this time of year is small, not all that wonderful looking and expensive. Makes it real easy to convince myself to make my own. Of course, brisket is never available her either so I have to use other cuts. But I cook it sous vide and I'm not a big fan of chewing on fat so using other cuts is fine with me.

[heidih]

I just default to crock pot. Always works for me.

Kinda of low brow sous vide?

[chromedome]

10 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Yeah, $3.99 a pound is about as cheap as it gets here, and that is a brand called Rachel and it isn't even all that good.  The Maple Leaf brand (more expensive but better) seems to gave gone tte way of the dodo bird, at least around here.

The last piece I bought was Maple Leaf. IIRC it cost me $13.99 for a piece that was just about 1 kg. The bucket of corned short ribs is $42.99 for four pounds, but I could only bring myself to do that just once.

[Tri2Cook]

6 hours ago, heidih said:

I just default to crock pot. Always works for me.

Kinda of low brow sous vide?

I only use sous vide because I usually use lean cuts to make my corned beef and don't want it dry. If I was working with brisket based corned beef, "low brow", as you put it, methods would be fine with me.

[rotuts]

I guess CB is the loss-leader in the BOS area , at some stores :

 

just got the flyers :  Point Cut / lbs :

 

S&S :  $ 1.47   if you buy $ 25 worth of other stuff , $ 1   off /lbs for two CB's of your choice :   i.e. $ 0.47  

 

Market Basket :   $ 1.69

 

Shaw's $ 1.49

 

RocheBros  $ 3.49

 

Wegman's $ 4.49

 

both RB and Weg  will probably drop the price next week,

 

also to get you into their store :  Cabbage , carrots , and yellow potatoes on sale.

 

 

 

 

[ElsieD]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

The last piece I bought was Maple Leaf. IIRC it cost me $13.99 for a piece that was just about 1 kg. The bucket of corned short ribs is $42.99 for four pounds, but I could only bring myself to do that just once.

 

I have never seen corned short ribs.  Is that a Mapke Leaf product?  I love short ribs and you have just given me the idea to corn my own.

[chromedome]

It's not Maple Leaf, it's a local company. They sell it in a bucket from the same section of the cooler that has buckets of salt pork riblets.

 

The price is steep, but it's good stuff and the cost isn't out of line with the price of non-cured short ribs. I just usually can't bring myself to buy short ribs anymore unless they're marked down by 50 percent (and ideally, were on sale first).

[ElsieD]

 I was at the Superstore for something today and checked out the short ribs. They had them for $14.71 a POUND!  That is for AA beef.  Right near here there is s store called Farm Boy where I buy most of my stuff and that was my last stop of the day and that is where I ordered the short ribs.  They were $8.99 a pound and are AAA beef.   So better quality, lower price.  Win, win.  I also bought pickling spice and will follow Michael Ruhlman's recipe for corned beef from his Charcuterie book.  Since I will have two strips of short ribs, I may sv one strip @133F and simply braise the other.  I haven't decided yet.  I've never corned short ribs before and I'm excited to see how they will turn out.  

[menuinprogress]

Here in San Diego, corned beef is generally obtainable under $2/lb at this time of year. We snagged two 4lb chunks of point - one at $1.69/lb (you could only get one at that price) and one at $1.99/lb.

 

Both are destined to become pastrami at some point in the not-too-distant future.

[kayb]

H'mmm. May have short ribs in the freezer. Must look. Never occurred to me to corn them. Highly recomend the Ruhlman recipe for corning beef; only one with which I've ever been successful.

 

[chromedome]

16 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 I was at the Superstore for something today and checked out the short ribs. They had them for $14.71 a POUND! 

...which is less than the price of oxtail.

 

One day I hope to find out who's the SOB who decided my favorite braising cuts needed to cost more than grilling steaks, and when I do he's going onto a rotisserie over a slow fire.

 

Right beside the guy who decided you don't need to actually be able to retrieve change from the change pocket in a pair of jeans.

[rotuts]

here is my St.P-CB project so fat :

 

i got three packages of Point from S&S  ,   @ 1.47 / lbs.    total cost :  $ 24.   savings $ 29.27

 

 

some packs have a lot or thick red goop . note on the L.  on the R  very little goop.   wonder why

 

the cuts looked very decent turned over out of the bag , they pack them so the fat cap is easy so see, under the colored opaque front 

 

label.   But Ive been a student of CB for a while , and you can guess what the fat cap is like from the side.  if the fat on the top

 

is hard fat , they will be more of it than soft fat for some reason.

 

Ive learned to go early in the week to the store and take a few minuets looking over the selection.    later in the week ++ sale the quality

 

deteriorates

 

and they have run out of the O'Donnell's  brand and finished up the sale on a far inferior brand in the past.  the O'Donnell sells out

 

Im guessing its a S&S brand.

 

 

 

each tranche was trimmed of its fat cat , and cut into three hunks , and bagged.   the above weighed  in at 1.2 kg.  the other packs are similar looking

 

waste fat maybe 250 gms ?

 

 

this is a 30 qt Igloo cooler  I have had for a while but never used.  I used to use the SousVide Magic for years and years for large SV projects

 

but elected to retire it , but keep it and its matching large cooler just in case.   In years past Ive done 8 ++ bags in that system

 

I don't have a lot of room in my downstairs freezers , and realized i like TurkeyBreast and TurkeyThigh  SV'd  more.

 

especially now that Ive gotten the iPot Stock system for the turkey scraps down pat !

 

I plan on a bit different cook  this year :   130.5 for 24 H , then 135 for another 24 H and check

 

if all things look and taste good in two days , rapid chill,  then cold smoke for an hour or so,  then individually bag and freeze , w some jus if I remember.

 

 

the cooler w some bubble wrap on the top.  fits fairly snuggly w a viewing space to check the water level.

 

more in 2 days ++

 

P.S.:  I used some clear generic packing tape to seal the bubble wrap in , across the lower part and around the edges.

 

looks like a decent and easy system to me at this point.   I use hot tap water to fill the 30 qt container.

 

Edited March 9, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[ElsieD]

@rotuts  great idea on the bubble wrap.  I have been throwing mine out but will save it from now on, at least enough of it for sv purposes.

[rotuts]

this bubble wrap is very ' High End "

 

came from Zwilling , and was so high grade , Ive kept it 

 

and now  :  viola !

 

two layers work perfectly .

Edited March 9, 2019 by rotuts (log)

[kayb]

Bubble wrap is a great idea. Will be hanging on to the next I get.

 

[gfweb]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

...which is less than the price of oxtail.

 

One day I hope to find out who's the SOB who decided my favorite braising cuts needed to cost more than grilling steaks, and when I do he's going onto a rotisserie over a slow fire.

 

Right beside the guy who decided you don't need to actually be able to retrieve change from the change pocket in a pair of jeans.

 

Yup. It’s crazy. I rely on ethnic markets for braising meat at a fair price

[rotuts]

C*R&A#P

 

as this is a family Blog 

 

I lost an entire hour of SV Perfection

 

Gone ForEver

 

based on the DST

 

I hope to remember top make that up

 

Yikes !

 

 

come on.

 

3 " of snow , Then Granular Snow ?   then Rain !

 

Yikes again

 

P.S. :    the bubble wrap , very high end works very well

 

on the  Igloo cooler , 30 Qts

 

it was a bit of a mistake to use generic cleat pasting tape on it

 

although it is working well

 

Im not going to be able to revoke from the bubble wrap

 

but Ill but it of carefully

 

and the nest tome I use the Ig-30

 

Ill fashion a high end foam insulation piece, I have

 

to fit on the top of the Ig-30

 

w the bubble wrap under neath

 

and seal that , after trimming to the Rim of the Ig-30

 

at the Ig-30 rim

[ElsieD]

I picked up my beef short ribs today and my brine is cooling.  Ruhlman says to brine for 5 days.  Does brining short ribs change the brining time, does anyone know?  Also, what I have is what I was lead to believe was the full cut, which they cut in half lengthwise for me.  This brings me to two more questions.  Should I cut the ribs and brine them as individual ribs?  Also, they trimmed them fairly well but there are still some pockets of fat.  Should I trim this off?  Any advice appreciated.