I followed a recipe that I found on the internet that was for "corning" my own beef. (Corned beef). I have had 4 bags in the refrigerator for the past 2 weeks. I took one out today to see if it would be okay for St. Paddys Day. It tasted okay, but it was intolerably salty. What can I do to salvage the other 3 bags? Right now the bags are sitting in the refrigerator, in ziplock bags, in the brine. What should I do?
SALTY Corned Beef
- Thread starter jrempire1
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Barbara L
Traveling Welcome Wagon
Are you going to bring it to a boil, then simmer to cook it? If so, after you bring it to a boil, drain the water. Fill with fresh water and bring to a boil again. This might help a little.
Barbara
Barbara
grumblebee
Contest Winner
I really am not too familiar with working with beef since I don't eat it, however, I'd think that if you drained the brine and briefly rinsed the beef it might make it salvagable. I would only drain and rinse what you are going to use up right away though.
Poppinfresh
Senior Cook
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2006
- Messages
- 496
The brine is salty or the beef is salty? Cause the brine is supposed to be almost inedibly salty.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
If you cooked the CB in water and the meat was salty, that can be fixed.
As was mentioned earlier, soak the meat in cold water, changing it a couple of times. Then cook it in fresh water.
It's not unusual for corning to make th meat a little salty. Soaking it in changes of waer will do the trick.
As was mentioned earlier, soak the meat in cold water, changing it a couple of times. Then cook it in fresh water.
It's not unusual for corning to make th meat a little salty. Soaking it in changes of waer will do the trick.
Barbara L
Traveling Welcome Wagon
I misread the question and assumed jrempire1 had cooked one. Great advice everyone.
Barbara
BarbaraMe again. Sorry if I didn't make it clear: I DID cook the corned beef. It was inedibly salty. Here's what I did. I took it out of the bag (that was in the brine for 2 weeks) and I washed the beef under running water real quick and plunked it in a pot full of water to cook it. That's all I did.
Hi jrempire, I'm Irish and when I was younger we'd often have corned beef and cabbage or boiled ham for dinner. What my mother always did was soak the beef or ham in cold water overnight, sometimes changing it every so often and then boil it in fresh water. The longer you steep it and more often you change the water, the more salt it will take out of it. When its boiling, skim off any of the scum that forms on the top.
I heard a trick before of how to take salt out of a sauce, it was put a cut, raw potato into the sauce and it should absorb some of the salt. I never tried this myself but it might work if you put it into the pot with the beef when its boiling.
I heard a trick before of how to take salt out of a sauce, it was put a cut, raw potato into the sauce and it should absorb some of the salt. I never tried this myself but it might work if you put it into the pot with the beef when its boiling.
jennyema
Chef Extraordinaire
Sorry, but the "potato theory" of making something less salty (generally a liquid, like soup) has been scientifically disproven. It doesn't work.
Andy, are you saying you can soak and re-boil already cooked CB?
Andy, are you saying you can soak and re-boil already cooked CB?
GB
Chief Eating Officer
This is actually an old wives tale that does not work. Well actually to be more accurate it does work, but it does not make the sauce (or whatever else you try it on) taste less salty. It will soak up some of the salt along with the liquid just as a sponge would if you were to throw a sponge in a sauce, but it does not change the concentration of the salt so it will taste just as salty as when you started.LaineyLoo said:
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
jennyema said:
No! I don't think you can save a cooked corned beef that's salty. My soaking suggestion was for the remaining uncooked pieces.
Swann
Senior Cook
When i make a country ham, I soak it for 2 - 3 days to get the saltiness out. Changing the water frequently. It should work as well for a CB. Add more spices when you change the water. I always add more to the cooking liquid.
Claire
Master Chef
As everyone has already said, soak and rinse, soak and rinse, then boil and rinse even more. If all else fails, use very small chunks of it in large amounts of starchy (i.e., beans or lentils) soup. It will still be yummy.
Claire
Master Chef
And yes, I bought a Virginia country ham one year and you literally (even according to the instructions on the bag) had to soak it in the bathtub for days on end. Even then it was pucker-your-mouth salty. My parents were visiting, and they said it reminded them of the hams when they were kids.
