Corned Beef At Home: Recipes, Tips, etc.

[TdeV]

@Duvel, when you cure the brisket, do you air dry it in the fridge? Also, could you please guesstimate the amounts of spice (whole spices) in your recipe?

[rotuts]

unfortunately 

 

my Anova was left unplugged for 8 hours.

 

I have circuitry issues in my kitchen

 

Micro //  CSO are on the same circuit 

 

and someone forgot to get the Anova going after using the

 

Micro , the the CSO

 

so CB was canceled for now

 

of note :  w a beer-cooler , a bubble wrap ' top ' for the 

 

BC :

 

142.5  goes to 95 F  in 8 hours.

 

there is also currently no snow , in general a good thing

 

but not a good thing for cold Weber smoking

 

as I used to shovel snow on top of the Weber for the

 

hour's smoking.

 

based on Current Affairs

 

maybe next year., although that's looking like an iffy thing.

 

 

[gfweb]

@rotuts Does your tube smoker actually heat up the Weber?  Mine doesn't.

[rotuts]

no Im sure its minimal

 

but leaving the CB  for an hour

 

is a concern when its warm outside.

[Duvel]

21 minutes ago, rotuts said:

no Im sure its minimal

 

but leaving the CB  for an hour

 

is a concern when its warm outside.

From my point of view not. That is cured meat and I would expect it starts without a major bacterial growth on its surface, so an hour will be no issue …

[Tri2Cook]

Last week, I pulled a brisket flat I picked up at the farmer's market last summer from the freezer to thaw. Saturday, I calculated for a dry equilibrium brine, ran the spices I wanted to use (standard corned beef stuff) through my spice grinder, rubbed the brisket down, split it into two pieces and vac bagged 'em. They'll have 10 days of fridge time before a trip through the sous vide tank.

 

[TdeV]

@Tri2Cook, where could I find what those dry equilibrium brine calculations should be?

[Tri2Cook]

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

@Tri2Cook, where could I find what those dry equilibrium brine calculations should be?

 

There are online equilibrium brine calculators all over google that will allow you to fine tune the salt level and give you the numbers but I used 2.5% salt, 1.25% sugar and .25% #1 cure by weight based on the weight of the meat.

[rotuts]

Ha Ha Ha :

 

3 " of snow coming !

 

[ed.:  Heavenly cooling , pre=paid ]

 

I might have done a re- do 

 

Ill Prepare Myself 

 

and open the Upright Freezer

 

ans see what I already have in it

 

need very serious defrosting 

[scubadoo97]

I usually cheat and buy prepared corned beefs when on sale.  Desalinate them add  spices and smoke them to make pastrami 

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

I usually cheat and buy prepared corned beefs

 

If the local grocery store could be counted on to bring in decent looking corned beef briskets, I'd be tempted to do the same. But most years they don't bring in any and the few times they have, it would have been less disappointing if they hadn't. They looked pretty awful.

[cyalexa]

6 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

Desalinate them

Please explain how you desalinate. 

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, Tri2Cook said:

 

If the local grocery store could be counted on to bring in decent looking corned beef briskets, I'd be tempted to do the same. But most years they don't bring in any and the few times they have, it would have been less disappointing if they hadn't. They looked pretty awful.

I rummaged through a bin of points and flats and found one that wasn't floppy from papain and general crapitude. One out of about 20. And at a good price. Usually I'll corn a brisket, but this was too cheap to pass up. We shall see on 3/17.

[rotuts]

Stop & Shop does have CB on sale !

 

sitting down ?

 

$ 1.49 /lbs  limit 2 , point cut !

 

Shaw's    point cut , $ 0.97  , limit 2 , w $ 25 purchase !

 

indeed , in the past here , the first week of sale @ S&S  had some

 

very nice cuts , which became not so nice as the sale progressed.

 

good luck finding any point cut w/o gobs and gobs of fat k the week of ..

 

I did in the past get some nice points that had not so much external

 

gobs of fat , but quite a decent amount intramuscularly .

 

those , cold smoked , cut thin in the summer for a sandwich ? 

 

Devine

[kayb]

I am toying with the notion of going to the local diner and ordering a plate of corned beef hash and over easy eggs, and calling it done. May my Irish forebearers forgive me!

[cyalexa]

Prepared the second of 2 cheap CBs from Aldi's. The first was very salty. Soaked the second one overnight, dumped the water, braised in beer as per my usual. The second specimen was not overly salty. Maybe it was the soaking step, maybe it was something else. 

[scubadoo97]

On 3/10/2022 at 9:05 PM, cyalexa said:

Please explain how you desalinate. 

Soaking in fresh water to leach out the salt, and do one or two water changes until the water no long taste of salt

Usually when cooking in water this occurs naturally.   More often than not, I use these prepared corned beefs to make my version of  pastrami.   After desalination, the meat is dried overnight in the fridge and covered in a pastrami spice blend.   I use mustard as the binder to hold the spices on.    Then it goes in the smoker and finished in the oven over steam.   I set up a foil pan with water off the boil and a rack on top to hold the meat and cover with another pan with clips to hold the top on and pop it in the oven to steam finish.  May not be Katz Deli but it gets close 

[chileheadmike]

I've done this as well with good results. Not the mustard step though, that's a good idea.

For steaming, I use the IP. Works pretty well.

[gfweb]

I just had my first CB failure. Store bought pre-cured flat CB.

 

140F x 2 days... which I've done many times, though almost always with CB I cured myself.

 

This time it was pure mush.  I guess there was papain involved at the packer (which I didn't see on the label).  I looked up the temp optimum of papain. It is right around the SV temp.

 

So I'm smarter, but still hungry.

[btbyrd]

Exogenous enzymatic tenderization is no bueno. Sorry for your loss.

[btbyrd]

But now that I've thought about it for a second, a shio koji cured corned brisket has potential. Appropriate all the cultures!

[TdeV]

I planned on 133°F for 60 hours, but.

Underneath the supermarket label, it reads "Tenderized with papain".

So now what do I do, @gfweb?

 

 

[gfweb]

45 minutes ago, TdeV said:

I planned on 133°F for 60 hours, but.

Underneath the supermarket label, it reads "Tenderized with papain".

So now what do I do, @gfweb?

 

 

 

Based on my single disaster...I might cook it traditionally.

 

@rotuts Master of CB...what do you think?

[rotuts]

I had a problem w papain , when it appeared in the S&S CB

 

I had left the bags in the coldest part of my refrigerator for

 

' a bit ' , and then cooked them up as usual .  they were awful

 

I re-did one or two the day I purchased them , and I think they turned out fine

 

I did a rinse and short cold water soak.

 

but Im  hazzy on this .   

 

somehow I dealt w the papain , or maybe found other w/o

 

I don't remember .   have to scroll through the entire thread

 

and I think there was a lot of CB in the SV thread before it bacme

 

St.P , etc.  wish I could be more helpful 

 

I personally never made my own , as the cost of brisket 

 

even back then , pointed me in other directions 

 

ie  sirloin tips , on sale , but full flap meat , not sliced into ' tips '

 

a P.S.:  what I dont know about CB w papain is if the papain is

 

in the solution and on the surface ,or injected.

 

based on my hazy recollection , I might just be on the surface and the solution

 

not injected into the meat...Im also postulating that if its injected

 

any CB traditionally cooked would be quite mushy, even though papain

 

breaks down in simmering water

 

just some thoughts.

Edited March 17, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[TdeV]

So, I should rinse and soak in cold water (3-4 hours)

or cook as per the suggestions on the bag?

----------------------------------

Instructions on bag:

Slow Cooker: Remove meat from package. Place meat in slow cooker and cover the roast with cool water. Set cooker on high for 4 hours or internal temp to 160°F. Let cool 20-30 min before slicing.

Oven: Preheat to 300°F. Remove meat from package and place on rack in pan, fat side up. Add 1" water to bottom of pan. Cover with contents of spice pack if desired. Cover pan with lid. Bale 1.5 - 2.5 hours, with 10 minutes left uncovered to internal temperature of 160°F. Let cool 20-30 minutes before slicing.

Reminder: We recommend that any juice in this package be used in cooking the product.

----------------------------------

To me, the juice in the package looks semi-solid, like very loose jello.

 

Advice?

 

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by TdeV
Spelling errors rise again. (log)