This turned into my favorite way to cook corned beef when I first tried it!!
Thanks Attie -
I've worked in an Irish place for a while and we developed a pretty tasty and easy method for doing a kick-*** corned beef. Lay your brisket in a deep hotel pan. If the meat is too big, cut it into more managable pieces. Then, discard the seasoning mix, if one's included. Next, throw in a couple chopped onions, a couple handfuls of garlic cloves, some whole peppercorns and a couple bay leaves. Next, in a mixing bowl, mix about half a gallon of dark beer (a good brown or stout works well) with a cup of molasses and half cup brown sugar, and pour over the meat till about 2/3 covered (supplement with water if needed). Cover tightly with foil and throw into a 350-400 degree oven. For 12lb of beef, it could take upwards of 6-7 hours to cook, but start checking after about 4 hours. You want the beef at an internal temperature of 200 degrees. I know that may sound overcooked, but the brisket is full of tough connective tissue that won't break down until it gets to around 200 degrees. At that point, it'll be fork tender. When it's done, remove the meat to a rack of some sort and allow to rest and cool for a little while. The cooking liquid can then be strained, defatted and used to cook the remainder of the boied dinner, thickened as a gravy or sauce, or just used as a jus.
Here are the notes I made after cooking the above -
I cooked mine four hours and it was perfect (mine was ~2 1/2 lbs.)
Amounts I used:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, smashed up
10-12 black peppercorns
1 Bay leaf
2 bottles (11 oz. each, more than needed, but more beer can't hurt
) Guinness Draught
~ 1/3 c molasses
2 T. brown sugar
Note #1 - I set my Mickey Mouse oven for 375F - so it was in the neighborhood of this, +/-
Note #2 - After four hours, the beef had reached 210F, and was very tender, so I removed from oven then.
Oh my, it tasted as good as it smelled all afternoon. I can hardly wait for the Corned beef and Muenster sandwiches!!
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You can't go wrong with this one!