Corned Beef At Home: Recipes, Tips, etc.

[rotuts]

here is the S&S points , and I got two :

 

 

 

 

 

 

this was the first of the two that I pulled out of the refrig to trim.

 

17 % fat, which you see on the L.   the second one had even less !

 

Ill check my Industrial Rig upstairs later today , and make sure MC has not further chew'd the hard plastic that the bubbler 

 

gets connected to .   Its a SousVideMagic, my rusty but true work-horse.

 

if the bubbler tube is working or needs a simple repair    ( an aquarium pump is connected to the rig , and air bubbles through a large

 

Aquarium stone and that moves the water around,  works fine. )

 

Ill go tomorrow to S&S and get 4 more Points  , and them do the 6 pieces you  see here :

 

 

making a total of about 20 tranches.

 

Ill then smoke them at < 135 on the weber w wood chips for an hour or two and debag and rapidly chill and freeze is my

 

Semi-CO'd  freezer downstairs    now known as F_{A  ,}   Thanks go to @Anna N !  

 

that's going to make for some tasty sandwiches this spring and summer !

 

those w Eagle Eyes note the Chef-ey  butchers twine to get a more uniform thickness ?

 

No ?   you are welcome to look again !

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

BTW this is my downstairs Anova Rig , for re-heating and Experiments.

 

 

that a Colman cooler.  this one :

 

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-9-Quart-Excursion-Cooler/dp/B000G62SJE/ref=pd_sim_468_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VRK5AFXYYF5VCHSTGBQX

 

those w experience in the Arts of SV  note that there is not a lot of extra water.  Works fine as you see it.  tested the temp at the far corner many times

 

w the thermapen at equilibrium and its the same as the rest of the bath.  I cover w plastic wrap and then some cut hard foam insulation.

 

loose almost no water over 24 Hs.

[Toliver]

16 hours ago, HungryChris said:

I did up the Cattlemans's Ranch flat cut Corned Beef from Aldi tonight. It has been in the freezer for a few weeks and does contain papain. I did it in the IP, covered with water, about a 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, a half cup of Crystal hot sauce, 5 bay leaves, 5 cloves of garlic, peeled, for 90 minutes at high pressure. Natural release (took about 25 minutes) and wrapped it in foil and put it into a warm oven. Then I put the potatoes, cabbage and carrots in the IP with the pot liquor at high pressure for 5 minutes and pressure release at 10 minutes. Nice and tender and sliced well hot, which means it will slice even better for sandwiches, when chilled. We loved it.

HC

 

 

I got a flash of "kimchi" looking at your hot sauce-ish cabbage. My head is spinning thinking about that combo.  

 

This weekend I cooked up the corned beef I had in my freezer. What a complete failure. First off, the corned beef was slathered with pickling spices...I mean totally and completely covered on all sides with the stuff. I thought it was odd since the spice usually comes in a small plastic envelope wrapped in with the beef and you add it to your beef water when you cook it. This meat ended up tasting like bread & butter pickles!  If I had been thinking properly, I should have knocked off/rinsed off most of the spices before cooking it. Live and learn.

Plus, when the cooking time was up, I lifted the lid to see that the beef has shrunk to about the size of a softball. Yikes! I blame the bastards at the grocery store where I bought the beef for selling crappy cuts. I won't be going there this St. Patrick's Day to buy my next corned beef.  Live and learn, again.

[rotuts]

here is my precision smoking rig :

 

dont I love that old 3 burner weber  !

 

 

the last 24 H CB's on grill GrillGrates  next to the smoking tube , whose name ive forgotten  

 

it was 19.95  but made very well w heavy steel.   some Back Cherry hardwood pellets you start w a torch

 

a Redi-Check  dual channel thermometer that transmits to a station by the Comp.

 

front and back temps.   I keep the back temp 130 or so   no more than 140  

 

front weber burner is on as low as possible.   this rig does not work so well when warmer  weather comes by.

 

 

note the brick that regulates cold are inflow.   its  42 outside.

 

gets the job done.   I had a series of hardwood spacers I made years ago , but who knows what happened to them

 

always check you experimental work station before you begin your Experiments !

 

I used to use a used aluminum pie plate for the wood pellets  after I ate the pie.  worked well

 

but was not as cool his heavy duty Smoke Tube.  can't find the URL , sorry.

 

that tube will last about an hour which is all this need.

 

the de-bag  and rapidly chill and freeze

 

Good Eating in thee Future Id say !

[rotuts]

here is The Tube :

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/A-MAZE-N-Pellet-Tube-Smoker-6/dp/B00IXMPW5K/ref=pd_sim_86_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QYNW6N2SGAPSSG23X92V

 

it dropped 2 bucks since I got mine !

 

don't like Pie or can't get any really good stuff , consider the above.

Edited March 6, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

my dinner tonight :

 

A:

 

 

B :

 

 

this the Mutt you see above second from the R

 

 

see that ?

 

its from a trimmed Point  its not from the round !

 

 

mum dinner tonight , sliced from the above

 

indeed it not thin.  and that deep mahogany you see on the Rim  : it does have a nice chew it it

 

although not as thin as you might like from the Deli counter ,  the inner bits melt in my mouth !

 

I though about getting 4 more CB points from S&S

 

Ill study them more carefully and get more that that of the above is easy for me to do !

[Lisa Shock]

On 3/4/2017 at 2:41 PM, ElsieD said:

For those of you who will be corning their own beef, how do you avoid getting that grey middle?  The last time I corned some beef, I even injected some of the corning liquid into the meat and still got a grey band in the middle.  

 

I brine for a minimum of two weeks (I do a whole brisket, about 16+ lbs) I turn it regularly, I poke tiny holes in it, and I even (occasionally, depending on how I am serving it) will butcher it down to smaller sections. I do use some food grade saltpetre, but just a bare minimum, I get grey centers. I have given up on trying to get pink all the way through. I am assuming it has something to do with commercial brining or vacuum packaging. Honestly, I stopped worrying about trying to fix it. I just tell my clients that I make it the old fashioned way, like people did in the 1600s. I explain how I use fresh, whole spices that I roast and crush by hand in my brine. I also explain that I use a bit less salt in the brine than 'factory processed' beef -enough to still be safe, but I definitely let the spices take center stage. I also roast and crush a second set of spices when I cook the meat and vegetables, to make sure the vegetables taste authentic. So, basically, I just push the 'fresh, handcrafted, real spices' angle and characterize the pink stuff as a factory product.

[Tri2Cook]

The small number of times I've done this, I've always done 7 - 10 days depending on thickness. I try to keep things no more than 3" thick and have never had the grey center issue. I don't inject and don't poke holes. I just toss the meat and brine in a bucket, put a big Ziploc full of brine (so if it leaks, things don't get diluted) on top to keep things submerged, put a lid on it and toss it in the fridge. I don't think there are any secrets or magic tricks involved, I think it's just a matter of sufficient time for the curing salt to find it's way completely through the meat. I've been assured by people I've discussed the subject with that ten (or even more) days isn't going to hurt anything even if it was fully brined and ready to go at the five or seven day mark so I tend to go a little longer than I think I actually need to.
 

[robirdstx]

On 3/5/2017 at 7:47 PM, HungryChris said:

I did up the Cattlemans's Ranch flat cut Corned Beef from Aldi tonight. It has been in the freezer for a few weeks and does contain papain. I did it in the IP, covered with water, about a 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, a half cup of Crystal hot sauce, 5 bay leaves, 5 cloves of garlic, peeled, for 90 minutes at high pressure. Natural release (took about 25 minutes) and wrapped it in foil and put it into a warm oven. Then I put the potatoes, cabbage and carrots in the IP with the pot liquor at high pressure for 5 minutes and pressure release at 10 minutes. Nice and tender and sliced well hot, which means it will slice even better for sandwiches, when chilled. We loved it.

HC

 

 

 

Hi HC, I followed your method for my corned beef and cabbage dinner last night, except I used only the spices in the packet and only half the hot sauce. My husband really liked the heat the hot sauce added to the cabbage! Thank you!

 

[Lisa Shock]

For those who make their own brine, I just remembered that at some point I want to try adding some Angostura bitters and see how that works out. (I'd add after the brine is cooled, to prevent damaging the flavor.) Next time I corn some beef, I'll try it and let you know how it went.

[Tri2Cook]

Yesterday, I did a 5% brine with water, kosher salt, brown sugar and added lots of pickling spice, some chile flakes, cloves, allspice and cinnamon stick, fresh garlic and prague #1. Gonna let it go until next Friday and then toss it in the sous vide tank.

[gfweb]

Did a dry rub last night on a nice cheap piece of flank steak. Mustard, garlic, allspice, coriander,pepper, salt, instacure. Going to go 6 days and then SV

[rotuts]

I realized this AM how close home smoked Cb is to Ham.   its better.

 

 

[Martin Fisher]

On 3/4/2017 at 11:27 PM, gfweb said:

I don't see why a corned beef brine needs to be so salty if one is corning for taste rather than preservation.

 

Yeah, it definitely doesn't. And why waste extra ingredients when it's not necessary?

Equilibrium brine (and pump if you like) for consistency.

[Martin Fisher]

On 3/6/2017 at 5:34 PM, Tri2Cook said:

I've been assured by people I've discussed the subject with that ten (or even more) days isn't going to hurt anything even if it was fully brined and ready to go at the five or seven day mark so I tend to go a little longer than I think I actually need to.

 

Yes, that's usually fine.

But with thick pieces of meat there may be a salt, cure, sugar, etc. gradient that's undesirable (personal preference)—so some folks pump/inject for even distribution of ingredients.

[Tri2Cook]

5 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

 

Yes, that's usually fine.

But with thick pieces of meat there may be a salt, cure, sugar, etc. gradient that's undesirable (personal preference)—so some folks pump/inject for even distribution of ingredients.

If the beef starts pushing towards 4" or more thick, I split it into thinner planks. I'm not at all opposed to pumping, just haven't needed to so far. If I ever decide to brine something on the larger side that I don't want to cut first, I'd probably do it.

[rotuts]

here is the bulk SV for the Cb's ive bought ;  20 ++ bags in the cooler w the old SousVIdeMagic on the bottom ' bubbling ' away :

 

 

the bubbles come from an aquarium pump that pumps air through a porous ' stone ' built into the SVM

 

this has the standard hollow top.  once im at equilibrium , I tape the sides w clear packing tape ( to minimize

 

water vapor loss ) , cover the top w

 

plastic , then several blankets to cut down on heat loss.  works very very well for large SV'ds

 

Ill do 143 for 24 hours plus and lightly smoke about 1/3 and rabidly chill the rest and freeze

 

good eating coming soon !

Edited March 10, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I gave in to my wants and have two different cuts partying in the brine bucket. The top sirloin is still going in the sous vide tank but I really wanted something I could cook more traditionally with cabbage and potatoes. Thick cut (~2") well-marbled blade steaks were on sale so I grabbed a pack with three nice ones in it and tossed them in the brine as well. I frequently use blade roast when I want to do beef in my smoker and it turns out really nice, tender and not at all dry. So I'm going to cook the blade with the vegetables to get my corned beef dinner fix and use the sirloin for sandwiches.

[kayb]

Good Lord, @rotuts, you'll have enough corned beef to feed the entire island!

 

[scubadoo97]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

Good Lord, @rotuts, you'll have enough corned beef to feed the entire island!

 

But his freezer is clean and has plenty of room now to store  cooked CB.  Makes for an easy dinner 

[rotuts]

all told and added up :  w the various experimental early groups  at least 30 lbs

 

its very cold here so when  i remove the CB from that large cooler early this PM , I might try some cold smoking after i throughly chill; the lot

 

I did have a CB dinner  last PM.  tasty .  I used the iPot for the veg

 

a la @HungryChris  

 

and a Fz CB which I thawed and rewarmed in the Anova set up.

Edited March 11, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[HungryChris]

@rotuts,

You may have noted that the latest S&S flyer extends the madness for yet another week.

HC

[rotuts]

indeed    

 

but I think Im OK w 30 lbs.    I did note on my last pick-up of 5 the quality is slowly declining

 

in the sense there is more fat on the points than before.

 

the week of St.P's day evey year they have run out of O'Donnell's brand and subbed other brands in the final days

 

those were terrible.

 

with experience Ive gotten fairly good as guessing what's on the side of the CB that you can't see.

 

this is the most Ive ever made and im glad the papain ended up not mattering at all.

Edited March 11, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[ElsieD]

I was going to corn my own beef but saw some nice ones at the grocery store yesterday so ended up buying one.  The brand I bought is Maple Leaf.  The other brand they had was Rachel's which, the few times I've tried it, was terrible.  A LOT of gristle and fat, well hidden until you open the package.  I now stay away from that brand unless I see it at 50% off which makes trimming it worthwhile.

[rotuts]

the rest on my CB's this year is here :