Corned Beef

[Cooking Goddess]

Liz, I added about a half bottle of Guinness to a pot of corned beef - once. I suppose it works if you don't like the taste of corned beef. [emoji38]

When I make corned beef and cabbage now, I cook the meat with a whole onion or two and some celery until it just starts to have a little give when you poke it with a fork. Then move it to a baking dish, cover with foil, and finish off in the oven. Meanwhile, cook the veggies in the broth in the pot. I especially like the broth sopped up with seeded rye bread.

 

[CWS4322]

I make a rub and do that the night before, then I pressure cook it with about 8 oz beer (or water) for about 90 minutes (I check it after 40-50 minutes and go from there). wrap it in foil, put some juice in, and put it in the oven at 250 for about 20-30 minutes . I (check after 15 minutes). The one I made last week was the bomb. It was so perfect. I love to do it on the smoker setting of my pressure cooker, but the KN wanted corned beef, not pastrami last week.

 

[kenmiller]

Corned beef is made from brisket, a relatively inexpensive cut of beef. The meat goes through a long curing process using large grains of rock salt, or “corns” of salt, and a brine. It's then slowly cooked, turning a tough cut of beef into one that's super tender and flavorful.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Corned beef is made from brisket, a relatively inexpensive cut of beef. The meat goes through a long curing process using large grains of rock salt, or “corns” of salt, and a brine. It's then slowly cooked, turning a tough cut of beef into one that's super tender and flavorful.

While aboard the U.S. Kitty-Hawk aircraft carrier, I one ordered a Reuben Sandwich. It had a slap of corned beef inside. I could not eat it as a sandwich as the meat was so tough, you couldn't cut it with a steak knife. I had to literally hold the meat with both hands, bite, and tear it with my teeth. It was about as tough as jerky, but a quaater-inch thick.

the corning uses coarse salt, and pickling spices to favor the meat, not tenderize it. Proper cooking makes it tender. In any case, Corned beef is very tasty indeed. Not only is it great for Rubens, but is also great as the meat used in boiled dinner, or simply cut into slices and served with smashed spuds, and a tasty veggie, like sweet potatoes, or rutabaga, where the sweetness of the veggie balances out the salty corned beef.

Put some black pepper on the corned beef, and smoke it to make pastrami, which is smoked corned beef. You don't even need to spice it with pepper if you don't want to.

If you keep your fridge at about 4o degrees or so, you can easily make your own corned beef, wet brined. The meat, bi it brisket, or eye of round, just needs to sit in the brine for 2 weeks. You can even omit the pink salt if you want. I've made my own corned beef numerous times. I like to add black peppercorns to the pickling spice mix. I think it ads a nice flavor.

Oh, and I think sushi made with thin slices of corned beef, and wasabi dipping sauce would be great. For this, I would use a corned beef made from the beef round, sliced paper thin, then rolled with very thin sliced sweet onion, and finely minced red bell pepper, all rolled into the fice wheel. Just a novel idea for conred beef. To bad I can't have corned beef, at least not the deli stuff. I'd have to make my own, and reduce the salt content. I might just have to do this one day this month.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[taxlady]

I would be sure to get a coarse salt that is specifically for food use. Rock salt can be the stuff used for de-icing roads and walkways. It can have contaminants that are okay on a road, but which you wouldn't want to ingest.

 

[RCJoe]

I've cooked the store packaged corn beef's for years. Only thing I don't like about them is the smell when they are cooking.

One day on another forum it was suggested to me to "smoke" one of them.

I had found a Brinkman Smoker in a yard sale for cheap so I got it up and working and ready to use. I prepped the corned beef brisket by washing it off and patting it dry. Then I used a rub mostly of coarse kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper. (applied a thin coating of dijon mustard to the meat to make it sticky so the rub would hold during the long slow cook) 200 to 250 degrees F for about 4 hours. I saved the spice pack for another time.

It was quite tender and I cut it in about 1/2 thick slices. I could probably smoke it for less time and throw it in the fridge to get it cold enough to slice thin with my electric slicer I suppose. But smoked corned beef brisket is something worth trying if you or a friend has a smoker. (or a Weber Kettle Grill with the domed lid)

What you would get looks about like so.

My Smoker is an old one much like this. It has been modified considerably since I purchased it. It can burn charcoal as originally intended, or sticks,
or set on the base of a Turkey Fryer to operate on Propane. There are now temperature gauges at each grill.(these have an upper and lower grill) The
manual controlled dampers are a modification that drafts better than the original fixed design. Thus I can get the performance of a $150 dollar smoker from a $5 dollar yard sale find. And I have less than $20 dollars in the mods.

 

[Just Cooking]

That looks delicious, Joe..

Ross

 

[taxlady]

If people want to experiment when smoking brisket, I would suggest using Montreal steak spice for seasoning. Montreal is known for something called "Montreal-style smoked meat". It's hot smoked, cured brisket, usually sliced thinly, and served on rye bread with mustard (the best smoked meat places cut it by hand). The Montreal steak spice you find at the grocery store is based on the spice mix used in the making of "smoked meat". Each place that makes smoked meat has their own secret variation.

My personal preference in "smoked meat" comes from The Main Deli Steak House. Yes, I did run into Leonard Cohen there on occasion. I first started going there in 1977, while Peter (the owner at the time) was still working out his smoked meat recipe. Here's a video about him and his resto and his smoked meat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K14ssqP7wS8&feature=youtu.be

 

[RCJoe]

Thanks Just Cooking and Taxlady

I've smoked a bunch of meat, made sausage & smoked it, and am getting ready to cold smoke some cheese when the weather breaks here in spring.

In the video he is quite right by the way I've learned. Part of it is in the brining of the meat (since so much of or meat is feed lot stuff), part in the rub seasoning, and then the wood(s) you select to smoke with.

After I soak my smoking wood in water I wrap it in foil and pierce holes in the foil with a fork. This keeps the wood from igniting in the coals and making soot that will settle on the meat. Another trick is building the fire for a slow controlled burn where it delivers a nearly even temperature thru the time of the smoking. What was once a preservative is now a delicacy.

My all time favorite is smoked Ox.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

On the Webber Kettle, to get that controlled temp, long burn, I arange the charcoal as a snake around the outside of the cooking grate, lleaving an inch fee. Place the smoking wood atop the unlit charcoal, and ignite one end. The charcoal will ignite the pieces nest to it, and get the wood smoking. Of course, you will want the charcoal two layers thick to get enough heat. Place the meat on the center of the cooking grid. This will provide several hours of smoke and moderate heat. It's great for corned beef, pork roasts, spatchcocked chicken, etc. It's great for ribs as well, both beef and pork.

And remember, smoked corned beef is pastrami. After brining, if the brisket, or round is boiled, or braised, it's corned beef. If it is smoked, it's pastrami.
The brine can have herbs, and spices added to it. that's not a requirement though. In any case, corned beef, or pastrami, it's delicious.

To make corned beef very tender, fast, I like to cook it in the pressure cooker. For the best slices, I like to make my corned beef from an eye of round roast. That's not my idea,but rather, Gordon's Food Service sold corned beef made from the round. It was every bit as good as that made from the briket, and a dream to slice with my electric slicer. I was able to get those paper-thin slices lilke you get from the delli, perfect for Rubens, or just served up on Jewish rye with grainy mustard.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Termy]

We had a place called Goodman's. They cut it hot and thick, and it was good. People were in line up the walk. I Mr. Goodman went to the bank I could see "What is your income ?", "I own a little sandwich shop", "What is the name of this shop ?". "Goodman's". "Oh sit down, would you like a cigar or glass of wine ?".

I counted people kinda. Just a sandwich and pickle are near $20, and everyone walked out with a bag full of sandwiches. That means if a guy gets five sandwiches it is like a hundred bucks almost. Sandwiches for three people were about fifty bucks. And the lines just to get in were long.

On the other hand we have Slimon's which is downtown. Now they slice it thin, and the sandwiches are just as good but with a slightly different texture.

Goodman's has a different name now, I think Slimon's is still there. I don't know of any other good places nearby except here when we boil it ourselves.

For what looks like a major market we don't have much. Took me years to find a decent gyro place.

T

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

In my post, it was supposed tor read - Gordon's Food Service sells coned beef made from eye of round.

This corned beef is fully cooked, yummy. and perfect for slicing thin.

Another really good dish to use corned beef in is New England Boiled Dinner. And of course home made corned beef hash is a knock it out of the park favorite.

I wonder, if one was to take an uncooked corned beef, with fat, and run it through a meat grinder, with added black pepper, stuff it into natural casings, the smoke the sausages, I think that would be delicious.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Bitser]

Since the price of brisket went sky-high, I've made pastrami from eye round, which is a bit leaner. The cure is the same as for corned beef, but when the meat is cured, you coat it with cracked, toasted coriander seed and black pepper, then smoke it. Montreal smoked meat is another variation.

I've got some in the freezer. Next time, I'll slice it thin and then put in a sous-vide bath to tenderize it.