Crab Boil Corned Beef

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Crab Boil Corned Beef

In search of a corned beef point cut to smoke for New Year's day, I was frustrated to only find flats. Since that cut doesn't have enough fat to smoke, I had to think of something else. I was looking at the piddling little package of seasoning and thought... "Gee. That looks a lot like crab boil." Off to the spice aisle to get some crab boil. A new way of doing corned beef was born.

This is one of those slow cook recipes that you can set up and leave to its own devices while you go do something else for a few hours.

• 1 corned beef, flat or point, about 4 lbs.
  
• 1 package crab boil spices (whole spices)
  
• 1/4 c brown sugar or more to taste
  
• 1 c beer
  

Rinse the corned beef well. I like to put it in a bowl with running cold water for about 15 minutes to remove more of the salt. Pat dry.

Thoroughly coat all surfaces with the spices. I like to do this by putting the meat in a large (2 gallon) Hefty zipper bag. You can toss it around to coat and massage in from the outside of the bag. The spices stick to the meat, not the bag.

Put the beef fat side up in a heavy dutch oven. Put the brown sugar on top of the beef. Add beer as needed to provide about 1/4 inch of liquid. (The amount is not critical.) Cover and put in a 225F oven for 6 to 8 hours or until meltingly tender.

"Rinse" off the bulk of the spices by spooning juices over the beef. Don't worry about doing too good a job of this. Slice and serve.

You can strain the juices and use to cook cabbage or potatoes or use as the base for a sauce.

Notes:

I used McCormick's brand boil mix the first time because they were out of my favorite Zatarain's. I did use the Zatarain's on the next try and I was surprised to find that I liked the McCormick's better. I think it has more allspice and cloves. You can also make your own. The typical ingredients (all whole spices) are: Mustard seed, coriander seed, red pepper flakes, allspice, cloves, finely shredded bay leaves, some brands add dill seed. Lately I have started with the bag of whole spices and added a couple of tablespoons each of lightly crushed allspice and cloves. I think it improves the final product.

Variations:

Put the beef on a bed of 2 or 3 sliced onions.

Add small potatoes about an hour before serving.

One of our esteemeed members (dls) found himself with a big hunk of ginger and some dried ancho peppers that needed using up. Sheer brilliance.

Add garlic.

Keywords: Easy, Main Dish, Beef

( RG632 )