Corned Beef At Home: Recipes, Tips, etc.

[David Ross]

While I was late to get my corned beef done by St. Patrick's Day, I realized that really doesn't make a difference.  I should be making corned beef any time of year.  I'll be making Rueben Sandwiches and Corned Beef Hash with Poached Egg.  One note: The only brisket I could find was in the full brisket size which is a lot more than I wanted to wrangle with.  I took a chance and used a tri-tip.  It had a good layer of top fat so I figured it would work, but I was nervous.  It turned out just as delicious as the corned beef I made in this thread some years back.

 

Ingredients-

For the brine-

1 6-8 lb. beef brisket substitute a smaller tri-tip roast

6 cups water

2 12oz. bottles of artisanal ale avoid dark beers like Guinness

1 1/4 cups Kosher salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 tbsp. Insta-Cure Pink Salt buy a sodium nitrate pink salt

1/4 cup mixed pickling spices

3 dried red chiles

3 bay leaves

1 tbsp. black peppercorns

1 tbsp. crushed juniper berries

 

For the braising liquid-

The brined and cured corned beef

2 12 oz. bottles of artisanal ale avoid dark beers like Guinness

1 tbsp. black peppercorns

1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

water

 

Instructions-

Brining and Corning the Beef-

Pour the water and ale in a large, deep container. Add the Kosher salt, brown sugar, pink salt, pickling spices, dried chiles, bay leaves, black peppercorns and juniper berries. Stir to combine all the brine ingredients.

 

Place the beef in the brine and cover. Place the beef in the fridge and let it cure for 10 days, turning it over every couple of days.

 

Braising the Corned Beef-

Heat the oven to 300. Remove the corned beef from the brine, and discard the brine.

 

In a heavy Dutch oven, pour in the ale, peppercorns, onion, carrot and garlic. Put the corned beef in the pot and add enough cold water to come up about 4" of liquid and 1" from the top of the beef. Cover the Dutch oven and slowly braise in the oven, about 4 hours.

 

Gently remove the corned beef from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a carving board for 15 minutes. Cut the corned beef across the grain and serve.

[gfweb]

I've corned many cuts, brisket, chuck, top round, bavette.  Usually I use a rub rather than a brine. If I'm making it for pastrami it'll be with more spices ( alspice, mustard, garlic) than for Irish corned beef.

 

Cooking for a couple days sous vide tenderizes the cheaper cuts and it comes out great.

 

 

[David Ross]

14 hours ago, gfweb said:

I've corned many cuts, brisket, chuck, top round, bavette.  Usually I use a rub rather than a brine. If I'm making it for pastrami it'll be with more spices ( alspice, mustard, garlic) than for Irish corned beef.

 

Cooking for a couple days sous vide tenderizes the cheaper cuts and it comes out great.

 

 

Thanks for the tips.  A local butcher who has been making corned beef for over 50 years does it with eye of round.  I think these cuts work ust as good as brisket.  Because of the brisket bbq craze in recent years the cost per lb.  has really gone up.  I care more about flavor and tenderness than cost of the meat.  I'll do my pastrami in the next few weeks.  I actually prefer it over corned beef.

[chromedome]

20 minutes ago, David Ross said:

Thanks for the tips.  A local butcher who has been making corned beef for over 50 years does it with eye of round.  I think these cuts work ust as good as brisket.  Because of the brisket bbq craze in recent years the cost per lb.  has really gone up.  I care more about flavor and tenderness than cost of the meat.  I'll do my pastrami in the next few weeks.  I actually prefer it over corned beef.

That's good to know.

One of my local supermarkets frequently has eye of round on for a pretty good price, and I'd actually thought it would be a viable option for corning. Nice to have confirmation.

[David Ross]

2 minutes ago, chromedome said:

That's good to know.

One of my local supermarkets frequently has eye of round on for a pretty good price, and I'd actually thought it would be a viable option for corning. Nice to have confirmation.

I started buying eye of round about two years ago for roast beef sandwiches.  I use the really high oven heat method.  Put it in, turn off the oven and then let it cook.  I usually take it out when it registers rare.  It make really delicious roast beef sandwiches.

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, David Ross said:

Thanks for the tips.  A local butcher who has been making corned beef for over 50 years does it with eye of round.  I think these cuts work ust as good as brisket.  Because of the brisket bbq craze in recent years the cost per lb.  has really gone up.  I care more about flavor and tenderness than cost of the meat.  I'll do my pastrami in the next few weeks.  I actually prefer it over corned beef.

I think Dietz and Watson uses round for one of their CB products. 

 

In another thread I mentioned my quick corn of small cuts like bavette. I'll put the rub and cure on it ...pop it into a sv bag and next day I have cooked ready to eat corned beef.  its cured all the way through and tastes right.

[rotuts]

@gfweb 

 

"  my quick corn of small cuts like bavette "

 

Im hoping you haven't lost your mind , @gfweb

 

maybe Tartare   ,but corned ?

 

 

my mother would have suggested     ' you get your head examined '

 

however , remember , those offices are closed.

 

Id just " Pull a Cork "  or " Twist a Top "

 

if I were you before you do this sort of thing again.

 

 

Just Saying

Edited March 26, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, David Ross said:

I started buying eye of round about two years ago for roast beef sandwiches.  I use the really high oven heat method.  Put it in, turn off the oven and then let it cook.  I usually take it out when it registers rare.  It make really delicious roast beef sandwiches.

I typically buy them for jerky, but the characteristics that make them ideal for that also make them excellent for sandwich-ing.

[heidih]

30 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I typically buy them for jerky, but the characteristics that make them ideal for that also make them excellent for sandwich-ing.

 

In my location eye of round has been pricey for a number of years as Korean  and Vietnamese  population in particular use thin thin slices in hot pots and other dishes. When the kids were learning to cook unsupervised they sometimes picked it up. Less than a minute in the pan and dinner on the table.

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

@gfweb 

 

"  my quick corn of small cuts like bavette "

 

Im hoping you haven't lost your mind , @gfweb

 

maybe Tartare   ,but corned ?

 

 

my mother would have suggested     ' you get your head examined '

 

however , remember , those offices are closed.

 

Id just " Pull a Cork "  or " Twist a Top "

 

if I were you before you do this sort of thing again.

 

 

Just Saying

 

 

 

It's a thin strip of meat...it corns fast. Why not?

 

 

[weinoo]

So I got a corned beef brisket from Fresh Direct. A couple of questions:

 

1.  Soak it before cooking?

 

2.  I want to cook it in the slow cooker, but it's bigger than will sit nicely in the slow cooker (as most briskets are). Should it be cut in half?

 

3.  Add my own spices or use the weird little packet that is packed with it?

 

4.  Cook in plain water?

 

[rotuts]

@weinoo 

 

1 ) no

 

2) no problem cooking it 1/2.

 

3 ) the little packet is , well  little.  the Beef is big  ad your own , just no salt.

 

4 ) the plain water will become salty , thus the Beef less so

 

SV is best  but that's not your plan

 

140 - 142.5  for 48 might some sort of goal for you

 

if not SV

 

then in your oven , w regular delicious NYC water , plain

 

w your chosen whole spices 

 

at the lowest temp of that oven

 

some time ago , it was 140 F   , maybe 160 f now ?

 

then be patient .  if the water slowly evaporates  just add some more of

 

that deviousness.

 

low , slow will get you an outstanding pice of meat

 

pls report back

 

 

[weinoo]

7 minutes ago, rotuts said:

140 - 142.5  for 48 might some sort of goal for you

 

if not SV

 

then in your oven , w regular delicious NYC water , plain

you saw where I said...?

 

2.  I want to cook it in the slow cooker, but it's bigger than will sit nicely in the slow cooker (as most briskets are). Should it be cut in half?

 

[gfweb]

6 minutes ago, weinoo said:

you saw where I said...?

 

2.  I want to cook it in the slow cooker, but it's bigger than will sit nicely in the slow cooker (as most briskets are). Should it be cut in half?

 

You could easily halve it.

One advantage of sv is you can use the bag jus to braise cabbage. Tasty that way

[heidih]

I think he meant ok to cut in half. My crock pot must be huge - never an issue. I just do plain water and the packet but I adore garlic so I cut a head in half and toss in. Ni need to soak. It is a salty beast - let the salt/brine flavor the vegetables as well. .I usually just did potato and cabbage; maybe carrots. Nobody would eat turnips but they would be good. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by heidih (log)

[rotuts]

well , maybe you might want less of the slow cooker than you think

 

but  if the SC is talking to you

 

you must heed the SC

 

it will be tasty 

 

just not as tasty as in the oven

 

but Done is done these days

 

so enjoy

[Toliver]

Just posted on the Dinner thread about my belated slow cooker corned beef.

I never soak my corned beef either. 

As for the little package of spices., if you prefer your own spices, then add your own and get down with your bad self!  

There was one time I opened my package of corned beef and couldn't find the usual enclosed spice package. So I thought "How hard can this be?" and added some pickling spices I had on hand. I should have measured better...it ended up tasting like bread & butter sweet pickles! 

Once the corned beef is done in the slow cooker, I use the cooking water in another pot to boil the potatoes and carrots and the cabbage is done in its own little pot since it would just shred if boiled along with the potatoes and carrots. 

My slow cooker is actually a Westbend brand cooker. The rectangular cooking pot can be removed from the heating "griddle" and used on the stove top, which comes in handy.

[David Ross]

This is the Reuben Sandwich made with the corned beef I posted earlier.  This batch used a tri-tip.  As good as ever.  Next few weeks I'll move toward pastrami.  For my Reuben I make thousand island dressing, use sauerkraut but no cheese.

 

 

For the Russian Dressing-makes 1 1/2 cups

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup chile sauce substitute cocktail sauce

2 tbsp. sour cream

1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup mined onion

1 tbsp. dill pickle relish

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tsp. horseradish

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

[David Ross]

@ShelbyThis is a recipe I used to use to corn Canada geese.  When I was working, one of my employees was an avid hunter.  He brought me big goose breasts, and I'd corn them and then a few weeks later make sandwiches and feed the morning crew corned beef ala goose Reuben's!

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, David Ross said:

@ShelbyThis is a recipe I used to use to corn Canada geese.  When I was working, one of my employees was an avid hunter.  He brought me big goose breasts, and I'd corn them and then a few weeks later make sandwiches and feed the morning crew corned beef ala goose Reuben's!

Oh wow!  Definitely a great idea.  Thanks!

[David Ross]

Just now, Shelby said:

Oh wow!  Definitely a great idea.  Thanks!

I think you just maybe don't brine it quite as long or braise it quite as long since we used skinned goose breasts. But sliced really think it was never tough.

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, David Ross said:

I think you just maybe don't brine it quite as long or braise it quite as long since we used skinned goose breasts. But sliced really think it was never tough.

Just went out and told Ronnie about it.  Going to lay out a couple goose breasts and try it  

[lindag]

My slow cooked corned beef and cabbage this year was really, really good.  

I thought about picking up another to tuck in the freezer for another time but when I checked the prices I was astonished that now it's $10 a pound.  The one I just cooked was about 2½ pounds and cost around $8.

What?  Why the big jump in price after SPDay?  Or has it always been that way before and I'd never noticed?

[heidih]

3 minutes ago, lindag said:

What?  Why the big jump in price after SPDay?  Or has it always been that way before and I'd never noticed?

Yes it is a "loss leader". Just like the even cheaper than usual cabbage heads around that date. They know they can move it and you will buy other stuff.

[gfweb]

Brisket is just too expensive for what it actually is.  A shame.