Corned Beef - Baked, Simmered, Smoked, Served

I'm getting in the mood for some good corned beef. I'm kind of drawn to the kind you bake in the oven with a glaze. However, I'm open to all suggestions. Tell me how you like your corned beef, and how you cook it. Thanks!

I make my corned beef in a dutch oven, covered with water, 3T pickling spice, 6 garlic cloves, and three cinnamon sticks. Set the oven to 250 degrees, cook for 11 hours, then turn off the oven and let it sit in there for three more hours.

My mother has cooked her corned beef this way for 40 years, and I almost can't eat my corned beef any other way, now - this is such a taste of family.

Search is your friend.

Thanks Jenn for sharing the family recipe. I've got today off, and I'm sliding that chunk in now for the 11 hour payoff!

via Search...you might find this discussion tangentially useful esp. as regards Ruhlman's/Polcyn's Charcuterie(good corned beef recipe)

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... sc&start=0

I will usually take a 4-5 lb. Harrington's flat cut brisket and pop it into the pressure cooker. No fussing required---cover the thing with water, bring up to full pressure then reduce heat and simmer for 18-20 minutes per pound.

Corned beef brisket ( IMO ) does not require nursing nor ridiculously long cooking times. It does not get appreciably better by really-slow cooking.

I remember watching a "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" episode where Guy visited a diner where they cooked corned beef in the oven. It was a unique way to cook the brisket, and I wonder if anyone else remembers the episode and some of specifics. I think two middle aged women ran the diner. While I’m on the subject, which cut of the brisket makes the best corned beef?

OK...so far 34 of you looked at this and had no comment. It is pretty vague I'll admit. Still I thought someone might have some memory of this. Maybe I should just watch 3 D re-runs that are coming up towards St. Patrick's Day.

Are you sure they were cooking corned beef in the oven, and not corned beef hash, like this recipe from DDD?

I cook my corned beef in the oven all the time. In fact I prefer the oven baked results over the boiled method by a wide margin. I started using the oven strictly out of necessity when I discovered we didn't own a pot big enough to hold the 18 pound, whole corned beef I had purchased at Restaurant Depot.

I trimmed the excess fat, poured in a bottle of Guinness and, following my Barbecue instincts, cooked the mammoth hunk of meat at 225 degrees for a very long time. The result was a super tender, deeply flavored corned beef that raised my eyebrows. We have never gone back to the boiling method, even when preparing smaller cuts of beef. Over the years I have added large chunks of onion, carrots, potatoes, and even mushrooms to the pan, giving us a full meal.

Never saw them do it on D,D-I, D, but I still recommend this method.

Buddy

Buddy,

People who make pastrami from commercial corned beef begin by soaking a few days to reduce the salt. Are you doing this? If not, how is your corned beef for saltiness?

Regards,

I prefer the flat brisket vs the point brisket for corned beef - the flat has less fat, and is easier to slice in my experience.

Never tried it in the oven, I do my corned beef the way my mom and my S. Side Irish grandmother did it, simmered in water and beer. I do rub some additional pickling spice on the brisket & add some garlic cloves to the water to give it extra flavor.

Ill be making my corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes Saturday night since St. Patty's day falls on a Tuesday this year.

slainte

I make mine in a slow cooker with taters and carrots. Makes the whole place smell like beef.

Cathy,

I've never soaked my corned beef prior to cooking. I have not noticed any undue saltiness in the finished product.

Buddy

Buddy...I am in awe...an 18 lb corned beef! Anyway, thank you for confirming that corned beef can be cooked in the oven. In the past I've boiled it and also have used a crockpot. What I saw on 3D seemed to have more of an intensity of flavor, which your experience seems to confirm. I think I remember from the 3D episode that the cook sprinkled pickling spices and some brown sugar on the beef. What do you think about the brown sugar...does that sound wrong? I'm cooking it "your" way this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out! Thanks everyone!

razbry wrote:Buddy...I am in awe...an 18 lb corned beef! Anyway, thank you for confirming that corned beef can be cooked in the oven. In the past I've boiled it and also have used a crockpot. What I saw on 3D seemed to have more of an intensity of flavor, which your experience seems to confirm.

I apply the same rules to the corned beef that I use for cooking my 'Que: The only time I boil my ribs is if I'm trying to make rib soup. Do I want the flavor to end up in the meat or in the water I cooked it in? For me that's an easy answer.

razbry wrote:I think I remember from the 3D episode that the cook sprinkled pickling spices and some brown sugar on the beef. What do you think about the brown sugar...does that sound wrong?

It's all a matter of taste razzy. I think the brown sugar will add another another layer of flavor. Will it be an absolutely "traditional" corned beef? Some folks would argue, no. But if labels don't matter to you, I say go for it.

razbry wrote:I'm cooking it "your" way this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out! Thanks everyone!

Good luck with your corned beef, and have a great St. Pat's!

Buddy

Our family recipe corned beef is cooked in the oven submerged in water with 2T pickling spice, a few cloves of garlic, 1 tsp ground cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks. Slow cook in the oven @ 200 degrees for 12 hours, then turn off the oven and let sit for 2 more hours before serving. Makes the best corned beef...very tender and flavorful.

I use an oven, the broiler to be exact.

I follow the Ruhlman/Polcyn Charcuterie recipe, then a la Julia Child's country pate' cum meatloaf, I shellac the simmered brisket in a cognac and sugar glaze, throw the beast underheat; et voila. Not quite what the OP is asking, but tasty.

I’ve got some really great options here! Thank you one and all. Razzy….I like that!

HI,

A baked corned beef has an element my family would sorely miss: cooking the vegetables in the cooking water. There is something about boiled cabbage from corned beef cooking liquid that can't be beat.

Is there a good work around for that?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

A baked corned beef has an element my family would sorely miss: cooking the vegetables in the cooking water. There is something about boiled cabbage from corned beef cooking liquid that can't be beat.

I was just about to make that comment myself. I always cook at least a couple of heads of cabbage and some potatoes in the cooking liquid -- and the cabbage gets consumed even faster than the beef. Just boiling cabbage in water wouldn't be the same.

Simple-just use a roasting pan big enough to accommodate both the corned beef and the added veggies. Pour a pint of Guinness (or whatever beer you hold dear) over the contents of the pan, seal with foil if you like, and let it all slow roast together until fork tender.

Buddy

I also always do the corned beef in the oven- much less shrinkage, much more tender-
I don't soak it, but I do rinse it well, put in about an inch of water, spinkle it with the spice packet, aurround it with a sliced onion and maybe a couple of cloves of garlic-
cover tightly and leave er go for about 2 1/2 to 3 hr for your standard supermarket 5-6 lb package of whatever is on sale and cheapest (the better to feed the starving hordes of near-teenage boys) at about 300 and voila- tender (when sliced across the grain of course, tasty and juicy, and not shrunk up and tough, as it often is when boiled.

It is a bit on the salty side, but it's the nature of the beast-
that's why you do potato and cabbage etc.
Although I usually rough chop and saute my cabbage in butter and/or bacon fat, with a sprinkling of my own secret spice blend (kind of like essence of irisarbor )-much better than boiling....

Potatoes I keep on the plainer side...

irisarbor wrote:It is a bit on the salty side, but it's the nature of the beast-
that's why you do potato and cabbage etc.

Next time, try soaking it in water for a day or three before you cook it. Change the water often and you'll encounter less salt in the finished product.

irisarbor wrote:I also always do the corned beef in the oven- much less shrinkage, much more tender-
I don't soak it, but I do rinse it well, put in about an inch of water, spinkle it with the spice packet, aurround it with a sliced onion and maybe a couple of cloves of garlic-
cover tightly and leave er go for about 2 1/2 to 3 hr for your standard supermarket 5-6 lb package of whatever is on sale and cheapest (the better to feed the starving hordes of near-teenage boys) at about 300 and voila- tender (when sliced across the grain of course, tasty and juicy, and not shrunk up and tough, as it often is when boiled.

I baked mine for the first time - just followed the directions on the package which did not call for rinsing.
Put in a little bit of water and the spice packet. Baked at 325. My what an improvement over boiled corned beef. I did not find the meat too salty.

I would think veggies thrown in with the meat as it is baking, would actually taste better than the boiled version.

Jyoti

Hi Steve-
If it were the weekend I'd change the water,
but during the week SO many of my meals are prepped the night before,
put in the frig, and then I actually call home, and one of the 12 yr old sons starts them at 3PM,
when he gets home from school. Then it's ready to go when I get home from work at 5:30ish...
and he's not up to anything quite so dicey as the changing of boiling hot water...
but he does a GREAT job at turning on both dials (darn old stove) to get the oven turned on to the correct temp and putting the pan on the correct rack.
Gotta love him!

Or do you mean change the water when you're soaking it?
That's a possibility....

irisarbor wrote:he's not up to anything quite so dicey as the changing of boiling hot water...

That was the COLD soaking water I was talking aobut.

LTH,

I've tried the baked corned beef method and found it salty, I typically cook corned beef one of two ways, simmer in water or soak for two days with multiple changes of water apply pastrami centric dry rub and smoke.

Went both ways this year, bought a full packer cut corned beef, both flat and point, which I cut in half. I simmered the flat and have the point (deckle) soaking for the smoker later in the week.

Happy Saint Paddy's Day



Enjoy,
Gary

Looks wonderful, Gary but I think you owe it to yourself to start checking the expiration date on your bagels a little more closely...

Tell me about smoking corned beef. What do you end up with? Interesting