Corned Beef At Home: Recipes, Tips, etc.

[lindag]

The Catholic Church located in the next town over has a fund raiser every St Patrick's Day.

They slow cook their corned beef (they get very high quality stuff) and then they smear it with yellow mustard and brown sugar and bake it slow for an extra couple hours or so.

It is the best corned beef I've ever had.  I tried their method last year at home and, for whatever reason, mine was not nearly as tasty as theirs.  I will probably try it again this year, just because.

And I will definitely be at their dinner!!!

[rotuts]

now that's an interesting idea

 

I could SV @ 140 until tender , taking out samples to check for enzyme activity

 

stop the cooking when just tender

 

and finish in the CSB s some dijon and B.S.

 

at 130 steam

[rotuts]

interestingly enough

 

America's Test Kitchen  ( ep # 1704 ) today in my area was NewEngland favorites :  CornedBeef dinner and Sinickerdoodles , which Id never had

 

until I came to college in NE.  A friend mother sent him some from time to time.  eventually I got to try one  Like trying to pry Gold from a Miser. !

 

anyway  in fairness to the Test Kitchen , they did a decent job considering they business demographic :

 

no SV, but they recommended brining your own , and showed how easy it is to do.

 

they simmered on the stove w additional whole seasoning but then put the Pot in a low oven to finish.

 

far better than boiling away for etc etc.

 

they took out the finished meat , put it on a platter w a lip , added a little of the stock and foiled it over in a very low oven to keep

 

warm while they did the veg in the pot of stock.  and used red new potatoes and left the skin on 

 

so good for them ( ish )

 

they also sampled sherry vinegar  and I learned something here and will look for their recommendation :

 

no CK histrionics which was an improvement :

 

#1 Napa Valley Naturals Reserve Sherry Vineger   $ 5.49  even though Ive lived in Spain , I didn't know they had a Napa Valley !

 

none the less , Ill look for this V and try it.

[kayb]

Stopped by Aldi today to pick up a few things. They had packages of flat cut brisket, already corned, ready to cook. I started to buy one or two, but a quick read of the list of ingredients gave me pause. There were way too many things I couldn't pronounce. Including whatever it was that @rotuts mentioned that was the tenderizing agent (it started with a "p."). 

 

I may change my mind and go back. Or not.

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by kayb (log)

[Tri2Cook]

On ‎2017‎-‎02‎-‎10 at 5:54 PM, rotuts said:

there are past threads full of experience and resulting tastiness of different  CB 's

 

I took your advice, read through every thread on the subject that the search function found for me and came to a conclusion. The one common thread to all of the sous vide corned beef discussions is that nobody really agrees on much of anything. But that's probably a good thing because it leads to a large number of suggestions with accompanying information regarding the result using that person's preferred method. So I have some ideas in mind for how I want to approach this now.
 

12 minutes ago, kayb said:

There were way too many things I couldn't pronounce.

 

I try my best to steer people away from that idea. The idea that food safety has a direct correlation to how difficult an ingredient is to pronounce. There are a lot of completely natural and safe ingredients or ingredients derived from completely natural ingredients that don't just roll off the tongue when trying to pronounce them. I don't in any way try to tell people how to eat or how to decide what to eat or not eat, it's just that particular phrase in regards to food safety has been a pet peeve of mine since they started using it as a marketing gimmick in commercials.

[lindag]

17 hours ago, rotuts said:

interestingly enough

 

America's Test Kitchen  ( ep # 1704 ) today in my area was NewEngland favorites :  CornedBeef dinner and Sinickerdoodles , which Id never had

 

 

I can't figure PBS.  My ATK yesterday was a completely different episode.  Why?

And...in my area "Cooks Country" isn't even on PBS.  I have to go to a completely different cable channel for that. 

 

[rotuts]

PBS no longer broadcasts many of its cooking show in sync for some reason.  in my area Test kitchen is a few weeks later than others

[Toliver]

Regarding the Corned Beef, once plated I forgot to mention slathering some prepared horseradish on the meat. That's good eatin'...

[FeChef]

If you looking for a good dish that works well with CB in a PC then roasted cabbage and noodles (Halushki) is something my wife begs me to add chopped CB. Its pretty simple. Just caramelize chopped cabbage and onions, and combine with buttered noodles and a hunk of CB cooked in the PC for 90 minutes so it can be chopped. You can pull it also, but texture wise i prefer it chopped rather then stringy.

[Tri2Cook]

This is probably going to sound like silly overkill but I'm thinking I'm going to toss a small cheap hunk of beef in some brine at the same time I'm brining the roast for my corned beef. That way I can cook the roast sous vide and cook the other piece in a pot on the stove with the potatoes and cabbage. It's purpose will be to add flavor to the vegetables but I'm thinking I could use the meat for hash or something.

[Porthos]

On 2/10/2017 at 1:53 PM, Porthos said:

 

I will try 145 F. I hope it renders enough fat out of the meat.

 

I pulled the bag out of the bath after it's 18 hour cook, chilled it, and now it is in the fridge waiting to be dinner tomorrow night.

 

One thing is certain. I can tell just looking through the bag that very little fat was rendered out of the meat.  I have one more CB in the freezer and I will pull it out in a couple of weeks and try a higher temp/shorter time to see if it comes closer to what I am looking for.

[Porthos]

On 2/11/2017 at 5:57 PM, Tri2Cook said:

I try my best to steer people away from that idea. The idea that food safety has a direct correlation to how difficult an ingredient is to pronounce. There are a lot of completely natural and safe ingredients or ingredients derived from completely natural ingredients that don't just roll off the tongue when trying to pronounce them. I don't in any way try to tell people how to eat or how to decide what to eat or not eat, it's just that particular phrase in regards to food safety has been a pet peeve of mine since they started using it as a marketing gimmick in commercials.

 

When we had a Fresh and Easy down the street I didn't really shop there much. My DW and I were not their target demographic. One of the large banners hanging down in the store proclaimed, "Food with ingredients you can pronounce." I would always laugh to myself and say, "I can pronounce Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. I'm not too worried about your ingredient lists."

[Tri2Cook]

Just realized St. Patrick's Day is on a Friday this year. I'm probably going to have to settle for a St. Patrick's weekend corned beef.

[robirdstx]

8 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

Just realized St. Patrick's Day is on a Friday this year. I'm probably going to have to settle for a St. Patrick's weekend corned beef.

 

Perhaps this will happen again this year.

 

As Luck Would Have It, Bishops Allow Meat on St. Patrick's Day

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502340.html

[Tri2Cook]

32 minutes ago, robirdstx said:

 

Perhaps this will happen again this year.

 

As Luck Would Have It, Bishops Allow Meat on St. Patrick's Day

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502340.html

I actually hadn't thought about that aspect, doesn't apply to me. I was just thinking I'm not likely to do it by the time I get home from work that day.

[rotuts]

@Porthos  

 

pay attention to the meat , not the fat.  don't like the fat , deal with it with an EP'd knife.

 

rendering fat is not what SV's about :  using SV for that  will just ruin the meat.

 

its about the meat.    and the fat/collagen that's intramuscular.    not the other fat.

[rotuts]

@Tri2Cook  

 

Wow  !   1/3 d of Bishops Know more than God !

 

makes one wonder , and under the above circumstances Id be pretty uneasy fostering  that line of thinking.

 

Bad for Job Security.

 

both for God and the Bishops.

[HungryChris]

Time for an update on my bottom round roast CB (for a little history, see the second post in this thread).

After 2 weeks in the brine, I put the beef in the IP on manual for 70 minutes, let it cool in the fridge overnight. Today I put it on the slicer and here is what I got.

Encouraged, I proceeded to make a sandwich, a Reuben, in fact.

 

I liked it. I liked it a lot!!

HC

Edited February 16, 2017 by HungryChris (log)

[rotuts]

@HungryChris  

 

congratulations

 

was that iP  :  70 min steam above water ?  in water ?  HP  LP ?

 

if you do this again , Im interested in the water  i.e. was it salty ?

 

Im trying to get a high quality CB  ( commercial preps OK once I solve the papain issues ) w has less salt in it

 

do you plan to try SV  and compare ?

[rotuts]

@HungryChris  

 

P.S.:  like the DDP

 

I keep several of those 12 packs around for Medical De-hydration  

 

I use the at 50 % straight  after i can't stunt the sight of water

 

well well enough.

 

they come around  , like Free Krack :  Try it You Never Go back  for about 1.99 or even $ 1  / pack

 

Must Buy 6 !

[HungryChris]

I covered it with water (with a splash of vinegar and Crystal hot sauce), because I was hoping to leach out some of the salt. It was a bit salty. Next time, I might soak it overnight in fresh water. It took almost a half hour for the natural release, probably because of all the water, but very little shrinkage. Ultimately I will try SV.

HC

 

[Porthos]

On 2/14/2017 at 10:36 AM, Porthos said:

 

I pulled the bag out of the bath after it's 18 hour cook, chilled it, and now it is in the fridge waiting to be dinner tomorrow night.

 

One thing is certain. I can tell just looking through the bag that very little fat was rendered out of the meat.  I have one more CB in the freezer and I will pull it out in a couple of weeks and try a higher temp/shorter time to see if it comes closer to what I am looking for.

 

I chilled and refrigerated this CB Tuesday morning thinking it would be dinner Wednesday night. Life got in the way.

 

I decided last night to set the SV rig to 165 F and re-run it, still in the unopened bag, for 10 hours. It will be dinner tonight.

[Porthos]

On 2/14/2017 at 10:36 AM, Porthos said:

 

I pulled the bag out of the bath after it's 18 hour cook, chilled it, and now it is in the fridge waiting to be dinner tomorrow night.

 

One thing is certain. I can tell just looking through the bag that very little fat was rendered out of the meat.  I have one more CB in the freezer and I will pull it out in a couple of weeks and try a higher temp/shorter time to see if it comes closer to what I am looking for.

 

Since I chilled and refrigerated the CB without breaking the seal, as noted above, I did the 10 hours at 165 F, and served it for dinner tonight.

 

The meat was tender and more of the fat had rendered, but the flavor wasn't that of my normal recipe. Since this was an experiment I have determined that I will continue with my normal recipe.

 

FWIW: I see  SV as another technique for cooking and am not at all committed to find ways to use it just because I own it. YMMV.

[Lisa Shock]

As an experiment for one of the senior citizens I occasionally volunteer to cook for, last year, as I brined the usual huge full-sized brisket, I also 'corned' a pork shoulder that I cut in half to fit in a 6" half-hotel pan and some boneless skinless chicken breasts. (the fellow had found a reference to corning pork in an old book on Google)  The breasts were only brined for 4 days, the other items were brined for 2.5 weeks.

 

Consensus was that the pork tasted almost identical to the beef. The chicken was 'not bad', 'hearty', and 'beef like'. One person said, "If I hadn't been told I was eating chicken, I'm not sure I'd know what it was. It's like what I expected the corned pork to taste like."

 

I had wanted to try this partly because of some odd ways of cooking chicken mentioned in an old New Mexico cookbook I have. (like boiling a whole bird for 3 hours in water with allspice, cinnamon, and cloves) And, I had heard of corning other meats.

 

Might try some corned fish this year.

[chromedome]

My father's family were fishermen in Newfoundland for generations, and made traditional sated and dried cod. One of my uncles later started selling what he described as "corned" fish...salted for just a few hours, long enough to taste well-seasoned but not to alter the texture of the fillets. He used to sell it from the back of his truck across a route spanning several hours' drive. 

 

He still makes it, though none has made its way to my freezer for the last few years. 

 

I have a vague recollection of seeing something similar in one of Thomas Keller's books and thinking it was much like my uncle's technique, but I no longer recall which of his books that might have been. Bouchon, perhaps.