Corned Beef (and cabbage?)

[MarkinHouston]

Cabbage for corned beef?  Best methods?

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I'm doing the "World's Best Braised Cabbage" from All About Braising by Molly Stevens. It's been revewed iver on the cookbook forum. Excellent stuff!

[qrn]

Cabbage for corned beef?  Best methods?

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Use the liquid you cooked the beef in , make sure it is salty enough, put it in the pressure cooker for 5 or 6 minutes , along with some small red potatoes.

Bud

[Smithy]

I'm bumping up this old, old topic to see whether any of the current members have preferred ways to ensure that their corned beef -- purchased that way from the store, not corned at home -- has a good corned flavor. My husband and I have noticed a difference between corned beef purchased at home in Duluth, Minnesota and that purchased in the southwestern US. It might have to do with buying a store brand (Kroger's, in this case) as opposed to a dedicated meat packer (Klement's? Flanagan's? at home) and cost-cutting efforts. It doesn't really matter why the difference; what matters is that there IS a difference. So how does one know in advance that the meat won't be as salty and spicy, and what can one do about it? 

[AlaMoi]

way back when, the question circulated:  "Would you fly to the moon in a rocket ship built by the lowest bidder?"

 

the same applies to "store brands"

#1 - they are inconsistent because the stores switch suppliers as fast as the price changes....

#2 - if 'made just for xxx' it's usually lowest cost and the joined-at-the-hip aspect of low(est) quality.

#3 - not all store brands are "bad" - well, at least this week.....

 

brand label producers are much more sensitive to producing the same product - good/bad/mediocre.... - "as always"

consumers either "like" the brand or "not like" the brand.

 

bottom line, if you find a specific brand 'really good' to your own tastes - stick with it.

a store brand will almost never be the same from (semi-extended) time-to-time.

[Smithy]

@AlaMoi, you raise very good points. We probably should memorize / write down the brand we like, and look for it down here. It may not be possible to find it, but if we find another single-source (craftsman?) version we might like it better than the store brand.

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

I'm bumping up this old, old topic to see whether any of the current members have preferred ways to ensure that their corned beef -- purchased that way from the store, not corned at home -- has a good corned flavor. My husband and I have noticed a difference between corned beef purchased at home in Duluth, Minnesota and that purchased in the southwestern US. It might have to do with buying a store brand (Kroger's, in this case) as opposed to a dedicated meat packer (Klement's? Flanagan's? at home) and cost-cutting efforts. It doesn't really matter why the difference; what matters is that there IS a difference. So how does one know in advance that the meat won't be as salty and spicy, and what can one do about it? 

 

I find that there's St. Pat's corned beef and deli corned beef.  The latter has more spices and just tastes better. 

[lindag]

Since I have some corned beef left over I decided to make this casserole.

It's on tonight's menu.