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So after all this does anybody have a way to cook corned beef so that it is tender and juicy, slicable and delicious?

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"Good stuff, Maynard." Dobie Gillis

Every method discussed over the last 5 pages of posts will yield a tender and sliceable corned beef brisket--- Best advice is to buy a cheap-ass electric knife and slice to desired thickness making sure that you slice it ACROSS the grain.

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"Goldie, how many times have I told you guys that I don't want no horsin' around on the airplane?" Maj. Kong

I have a brisket brining for Saturday. The question that remains, what's the best way to cook it. I was thinking about grinding some of the pickling spices and blending them with some brown sugar and doing a dry rub and then oven roast. Is that crazy?

not crazy at all, I have heard of a simialr method with some some dry mustard mixed into that blend.

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

one week + in the cure.



Point is coming out tomorrow morning before work and into some water to soak while I am at work. Ill hit it wih my pastrami rub and then toss into the fridge to be smoked on Saturday for pastrami on Sunday.

Flat will stay in the cure till Saturday & corned beef and cabbage.

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

I did a couple corned beef briskets on the WSM and they came out great.
I bought a small point (2.5lb) and what was marked as a flat (4lb), both supermarket cryos that are typical this time of year. When I opened the flat, it had the normal flat portion with a second chunk of meat above it separated by a thick band of fat. I'm not sure what this cut is called.
Anyway, I covered them in water on Thursday night, changed the water on Friday morning and changed the water a second time after work at about 5:30. At about 7:30, I took them out of the water and set them to dry on a cooling rack. I got the WSM-18" going with a full load. Once up to temp, I applied a thin layer of yellow mustard to the briskets and rubbed them liberally with coarse black pepper and dusted them with some ground coriander. At 9:15pm, they went on the smoker. I checked the temps a couple more times that night, the last at almost 2am. It was 250 +/-10 degrees each time, right where I wanted it.
I've had some bad experiences with overnight cooks so when I woke up and checked the meat at 8am, I was a little worried. Luckily, the rack temp was about 150 and fallings, so I got to them just in time. For some reason, a lot of the larger pieces of charcoal never caught and the fire went out quicker than expected.
These are about the best things to come off my smoker yet. The bark is incredible and the meat is just-right tender without falling apart. I probably could have skipped the second and third water soaks since I think they could have been saltier. All in all, really, really good brisket/pastrami and I'm thinking of doing it again soon.

Smoked a bunch of corned beef this week, both at Barn & Company for Rubens and at home for Saint Paddy's day. Here is a pic of what I smoked at home.

Smoked Corned Beef off Big Green Egg

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

G Wiv

My big green egg was smashed when an oak tree over my patio lost a major branch in a (not verified tornado) several months ago.
I was sorta debating the Steel made in china version as a replacement. Any thoughts?

nicely done gwiv.


here is my 10+ day, home cured brisket flat:



simmered for 3 hours & sliced:





game changing corned beef for me. Brilliant popping flavors, melt in your mouth texture.

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

Tried something a little different this year. Bought a packer cut brisket from Ex-Cel, cured it using Rhulman's Charcuterie recipe, then rubbed it with coriander and pepper, and simmered it in a shallow roasting pan with an inch of water and pickling spice. Sealed the pan and cooked it for four hours at 275. I poured the water from the pan into a pot with the cabbage, carrots and potatoes and cooked for 30 minutes while the meat rested. Fantastic flavor.

leftovers might be the better than the first run imho.

sliced after a night in the fridge:



reuben(polish rye, Franks Kraut, swiss, homemade Russina dressing):

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

I made a really good corned beef last week. I bought a Boars Head corned beef. Put it in the crock pot with one can of frozen orange juice, one sweet onion cut in chunks, and a bottle of Guinness, the pickling spices and a bit of water. Let cook for most of the day. A little more than an hour before it was time to eat (like an hour and fifteen min.) I turned up the pot to simmer (this crock pot can be turned up and made hotter) and I put in the carrots, some halved baby bliss red potatoes and then the cabbage in quarters and cooked the whole thing for an hour more so the vegetables would be done. Very delicious and tender, perfectly cooked vegetables.

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Toria

"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare

About to try out making corned beef for the first time. I planned to use this recipe:
http://ruhlman.com/2010/03/corned-beef- ... -your-own/

Is there a store in the city where I can pick up "pink salt"/sodium nitrite? Is that something the Spice House may have?
I think I'll get my pickling spices there.

"The City" is a big place. I live in Wicker Park - 2-3 mile radius from me is where I can easily travel.

Appreciate it any guidance from the community!

Answered my own question with a bit more Googling - they have it at the Spice House. In the alphabetical listing on their site, I was looking for it under "s" for salt, not "c" for "curing salt."

Updated: I made the run to Spice House and they have their own corned beef spice mix and curing salt in stock. Picked some up. The woman on staff who helped me commented that saltpeter is hard to come by since 9/11, given that it can be used in making gunpowder. No idea if that is true or not, but if people are going with a recipe that calls for saltpeter, if could be something to think about.

Alrighty - ready to brine!

Tis now the time to think and plan to make corned beef. I will probably make the same kind I made last year it was very successful. I do wish I could do the smoked it looks delicious but I do not have a smoker.

I just want to remind everyone if they do use a crock pot it does turn out amazing but there is no need to put the carrots, cabbage and potatoes in and cook them to death for hours. You can put them in actually in the last hour or so if you turn it up to high at least on my newer crock pot which runs hot at a low simmer.

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Toria

"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare

Perfect! This thread reappeared just as I needed it. I have this vague memory of having made corned beef from scratch many, many years ago. So long ago that I recall nothing about that event. My question is this: after poking around in various places, I decided to try Alton Brown's recipe which can be found here. He uses two tablespoons of saltpeter (in addition to lots of other things, of course and leaves it to brine in the bag for ten days in the fridge). What will my (flavor) result be like if I just skip the saltpeter? I know about the color, I know how the nitrate breaks down into nitrite. But what I don't know is what will the flavor be like.

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Gypsy Boy

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” (Julia Child)

Here is a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that doesn't use saltpeter / nitrates:
http://www.spilledmilkpodcast.com/2010/ ... episode-7/

You can also get it directly from CI, but it's a paid site (worth it, in my opinion).
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes ... docid=5738

Hi,

Long ago, I made the non-saltpeter CI recipe for corned beef. From the article related to it, they indicated the red hued corned beef we expect is not the standard issue in the northeast.

I have since made corned beef with saltpeter several times, which is what my family expects.

There was never any disappointment with the brown corned beef's flavor.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

Maybe brown corned beef is a Vermont thing?

I grew up in Upstate NY and Corned Beef was a tradition around St. Patrick's Day. It was always pink/red hued.
Here is a sandwich from Second Avenue Deli in NY:http://www.tastyretreat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Corned-beef-sandwich.jpg

Wait; I'm confused. If it was brown, you made it withOUT saltpeter, right?

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Gypsy Boy

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” (Julia Child)

Hi,

Made without saltpeter, the resulting corned beef was brown.

october271986 - Since Cook's Illustrated is produced in the Boston area, it may be Boston and/or Vermont. I'm just repeating from memory their explanation for their preference for brown non-saltpeter corned beef.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

I thought they were in Vermont but you are correct they are in Boston. It's just that Chris Kimball lives in and often writes about Vermont. Maybe it's a New England thing. One of many they are wrong about .

Just to clarify for anyone beginning with corned beef, the commercially available stuff that is in a bag and already brined does not have to have saltpeter added as it will get red. The one I bought was from Boars Head and it was prebrinned but not cooked. It turned very red.

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Toria

"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - As You Like It,
W. Shakespeare

Hi,

Almost all (wiggle room in case there is an outlier) the commercial corned beef sold around here has pink salt or other substitute for the red color. Saltpeter is not allowed for commercial processing. The corned beef is not red from the brine of sugar, salt and spices (which gives the flavor), it is red because of a pink salt type addition.

It takes a while for pink salt to penetrate and sometimes you will find a brown spot in the middle of (homemade) corned beef where it did not penetrate. When I made pastrami in December, there was a tiny brown spot in the center of the deckle. At Three Floyds last year, their home cured corned beef also was brown in the center. I was quietly pleased the pros sometimes have this issue, too.

Here is an old thread on saltpeter and pink salt.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

As I mentioned last year, I have been using a Bruce Aidelles recipe to make corned beef but I think this year I am going with this:

http://www.homebrewchef.com/StoutCuredC ... bbage.html

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Visit my new website at http://www.splatteredpages.com or my old one at www.eatwisconsin.com

So I followed the recipe for brining the corned beef on The Spice House website.
http://www.thespicehouse.com/recipes/co ... ine-recipe

The recipe calls for bringing the brisket for "two weeks." I put the brisket in the brine on Friday, March 1. However, I may now need to take an unplanned trip out of state from tomorrow until Sunday, March 17. Should I 1) pull the brisket and cook it tonight, leaving leftovers from my roommates? 2) Pull the brisket on Sunday or, potentially, later?


Here are some pictures of the brine prep. I got a 6lb brisket from Costco.

Hi,
This is my first post so please be gentle. I have a similar question about possibly overbrining a brisket. I am using Ruhlman's recipe which calls for five days of brining, but it will be twelve days before I will be able to cook. Will the corned beef be overly salty? Should I soak in fresh water the night before I cook? Or should I quit worrying and proceed as usual?

So I ended up calling the Spice House. They say it will be fine and won't get over brined at the 18 days that I'll be brining if i can't get back to my beef until Monday. If you are boiling it, that will get rid of some of the salt as well.

I was thinking about the store bought corned beefs and those have been sitting in a lighter brine for god knows how long.

Got this great recipe from the Clam Digger Restaurant in the old Pike Place Market in Seattle in the late 1960's. It must not be there anymore. no response to Google query.
No quantities, just copied ingredients off the menu. We've made it ever since with great delight.

The Devil On Horseback sandwich-

Mix all:
Sliced, then roughly chopped corned beef
Chopped Jalapeno peppers (seeds/ribs up to you)
Chopped scallions, white, some green
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Russian dressing

Heap generously on large slice of good rye bread, schmear a little more dressing on top and more grated cheddar.
Slide under pre-heated broiler (second or third shelf) until hot through and beginning to brown on top.
Enjoy, probably with beer.

Mike
I have no idea how they got the name

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Suburban gourmand

Hi,

For a meeting in December, I bought a 17-pound brisket. I used Ruhlman's methods, though I did brine it a few days longer because of size. I also stabbed the brisket to allow the brine to penetrate. Despite all these efforts, there was a tiny circle of brown untreated area when I cut into the point. Nobody would notice except me.

Why not time your brisket to begin processing later? Or pull it out and freeze it until you are ready to cook.

A few years ago, my sister decided to make a turkey after Thanksgiving. I prepped a brine for her, then she then made other plans. She left the turkey in the brine for several days longer. It was the mushiest turkey I ever sampled. Of course, turkey meat structure is different from corned beef. However from this experience, I saw where over brined meat was not ideal.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast