EvA wrote:I recommend the Sy Ginsburg brand cb being sold at Costco currently. We've had two of them and I just bought a third one yesterday. Really, really excellent corned beef.

Absolutely! I've been buying them ever since Costco started carrying them. Too bad they're only available for a limited amount of time around St Patrick's day.

Thanks for the suggestions, but I just bought the first one I saw. I find myself powerless in the face of the corned beef imperative. I will now boil it with nothing but revenge for winter in mind. I will boil it until either it, or I, am warm again.

Also powerless, I simmered a flat last weekend and have two on the smoker (black pepper & coriander) now.

You've got it bad.

Many of the corned beefs are pre brined and can be cooked immediately. I am gearing up for this St. Patricks Day. I'll make a corned beef and cabbage and also add red potatoes, and baby carrots. I am thinking of Irish soda bread and/or guiness stout cake too.

All the LTHers raving on about Sy Ginsberg's corned beef, but I figured it must be a Chicagoland deal. Nonetheless, I went by my local here in KC and Lo! and Behold! there was a whole end-cap cooler full of them. I got three in the 3+ lb size. Hope yinz are right!!

Geo

Geo wrote:All the LTHers raving on about Sy Ginsberg's corned beef, but I figured it must be a Chicagoland deal. Nonetheless, I went by my local here in KC and Lo! and Behold! there was a whole end-cap cooler full of them. I got three in the 3+ lb size. Hope yinz are right!!

Geo

Sy Ginsburg is out of Detroit, so it's not local to here, either...but it is good. When I can't get an Ex-Cel corned beef, Sy Ginsburg is a mighty fine choice.

'preciate your endorsement, Mr. Z!

Wonder if anyone in KC might sell an Ex-Cel?? We've only got one full service meat market left in town now, Bichelmeyers. Couple of boutique places, tho'--hmmm, wonder if they might be a source?

Our local producer, Boyle's Corned Beef is fine, but I find it too lean.

Tnx again!

Geo

If you find Ex-Cel, pay attention to the spelling. There's another company using the name Excel that isn't the same. THis one is produced in Chicago.

Hi,

I don't know if your experience mirrors mine: packaged corned beef advises X minutes per pound to cook. I find this information understates how long it really takes to simmer a corned beef.

I recently bought a Sy Ginsburg corned beef from Costco. I found the roughly three hour simmer suggested by the package instructions was really five hours. I discussed this with a friend who reported having the same experience making corned beef.

Has anyone had success with the suggested cooking times? Or at the very least consider them advisory allowing a few more hours. It will save you the grief of hungry people watching a pot simmer.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I don't know if your experience mirrors mine: packaged corned beef advises X minutes per pound to cook. I find this information understates how long it really takes to simmer a corned beef.

I recently bought a Sy Ginsburg corned beef from Costco. I found the roughly three hour simmer suggested by the package instructions was really five hours. I discussed this with a friend who reported having the same experience making corned beef.

Cathy--How many pounds was the corned beef you purchased?

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I don't know if your experience mirrors mine: packaged corned beef advises X minutes per pound to cook. I find this information understates how long it really takes to simmer a corned beef.

I recently bought a Sy Ginsburg corned beef from Costco. I found the roughly three hour simmer suggested by the package instructions was really five hours. I discussed this with a friend who reported having the same experience making corned beef.

Has anyone had success with the suggested cooking times? Or at the very least consider them advisory allowing a few more hours. It will save you the grief of hungry people watching a pot simmer.

Regards,

I have not found that to be true. I usually end up closer to the lower end of the range given on the Sy Ginsburg package and have been happy with the tenderness of the meat. The last one I cooked was about 4 1/3 lbs., and it was done at about 2 1/2 hours. I don't add vegetables to the pot but rather cook them separately--I don't know if that is affecting your cooking time.

Hi,

I cook the vegetables after the corned beef is done.

This last corned beef may have been 3.75 pounds, though I have cooked many corned beefs over the years. I simply found they took longer to simmer than what the package suggested no matter who was the processor (including myself).

Regards,

I would like to make corned beef hash and would like to skip cooking the corned beef. Any opinions on prepared corned beef from grocers, like Mariano's, Whole Foods, Jewel, Tony's, Big Apple, Havestime? Or maybe a butcher on the northside like Gene's, or Paulina Meat Market, Gepperth's?

Try Harringtons

5685 N. Milwaukee
Chicago, IL 60646
Phone:
(773)283-8388

Anyone tried the Ex-cel corned beef retail sandwich shop recently opened on Lake -- the "Corned Beef Factory"? It looks like they put some real $$ and effort into it, and GWiv's been singing Ex-cel's product for longer than I can recall. The kids on Yelp seem to dig it. Might be a good call for your CB hash project.

JeffB wrote:Anyone tried the Ex-cel corned beef retail sandwich shop recently opened on Lake -- the "Corned Beef Factory"? It looks like they put some real $$ and effort into it, and GWiv's been singing Ex-cel's product for longer than I can recall. The kids on Yelp seem to dig it. Might be a good call for your CB hash project.

How did I miss this?? Thank you.

Read through this whole thread again today, getting in the mood for St. Patrick's Day corned beef. I wasn't going to buy one because all I saw were big flats and I prefer the fattier, more flavorful points, but the other day I saw Vienna Beef points on sale at Mariano's. Not a great sale, $4.50 a pound, but it's just me here now, so I bought a small one. The sale included a free 2-lb package of VB sauerkraut for reubens. I'm going to soak the beef in water til Saturday (changing the water once a day) to reduce the saltiness. I plan to use beer for the braising liquid rather than water, and add garlic and pickling spices, but whether to cook it in the crock pot or the oven, I haven't decided. From what I've read so far, it doesn't seem to matter w/r/t moistness or shrinkage.

Based on many dreadful boiled corned-beef-and-cabbage dinner experiences in childhood (of course St. Patrick's Day falls during Lent, so you remember to offer up your suffering for the souls in purgatory), I despise boiled cabbage and don't much like boiled root vegetables, so I will be roasting my potatoes and carrots til they are browned and delicious and not even allowing cabbage into the house (unless you count the sauerkraut).

I've also got all I need to make champ, soda bread with raisins and caraway seeds, and---this will be new for me this year---Irish tea brack.

Hi,

Points are on sale at Jewel for $1.99 per pound, which is my preferred cut, too. I have a four-pound point simmering at 180 degrees presently. I have the spices in a tea egg to prevent them from getting into every nook and cranny.

I like the cabbage when it is not overcooked. My Irish grandfather preferred his mushy. For a while, I was doing al dente that caused my grandfather to roll his eyes and exclaim, "Americans!" as if it were a swear word.

My Irish soda bread is usually loaded with raisins. Something I rarely see in those produced by other hands.

Enjoy yourself, because you don't have to account to anyone how you do it!

Regards,
Cathy2

If I don’t corn my own, I purchase Vienna flats, $5.99/# at Woodman’s this year. No free kraut, unfortunately.
For the Vienna product I don’t do anything but cook until tender, use Guinness for cooking liquid, throw potatoes and cabbage into the pot towards the end of cooking.-Richard

I'm not brining my own at home, but I was just wondering, why isn't cross-hatching the beef with a knife on one or both sides part of the usual process? I mean, it's a slow process, about a quarter of an inch of salt penetration per day, and it's tough, fibrous meat, and it's not the prettiest cut anyway, and if we find cross-hatching on a ham attractive, and if Julia Child can recommend cross-hatching a flank steak, why not? Why not score it on the bottom, at least, and shave a few days off the process? Asking for a friend who might try this next year.

If you were to cross hatch, because the brisket becomes so tendar, you would get mush around the edges of your slice.
You must have a sharp, preferably serrated long blade for cutting a brisket, otherwise you get mush.-Richard

budrichard wrote:You must have a sharp, preferably serrated long blade for cutting a brisket, otherwise you get mush.-Richard

In my experience serrated knives tend to shred, in particular tender meat such as brisket. Long thin sharp blade, one continuous draw-cut yields intact presentable slices. Its also difficult to keep serrated knives properly sharpened.

YMMV

I decided to go old style with my corned beef this St Patrick's Day. I'm braising it in Old Style.

Katie wrote:I decided to go old style with my corned beef this St Patrick's Day. I'm braising it in Old Style.

I like it!

Braising in Guinness Extra today.
Top off with Leine’s.
Difficult for a UW Madison Grad to part with.
-Richard

G Wiv wrote:Long thin sharp blade, one continuous draw-cut yields intact presentable slices.

Practicing what I preach . . .

Hi,

Over the weekend, I heard an interview with an owner of County Fair Foods in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. They offer bulk corned beef directly from the barrel. I checked their online ads: $6.98 per pound or if you purchase in excess of 40 pounds, then it is priced at $6.48 per pound. They claim to sell more corned beef than any other retail store in area with volume measured in tons just before St. Patrick's Day.

This store closes for the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade, because you cannot reach it and their employees wish to celebrate.

Has anyone tried their product?

County Fair Foods
10800 S Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60643
(773) 238-5576
www.countyfairfoods.net

Its that time of year. Green Bagels for breakfast, corned beef and cabbage for dinner! #homecooking #countmeafan #lowslowbbq




Saint Paddy's Day, count me a Fan!

budrichard wrote:If I don’t corn my own, I purchase Vienna flats, $5.99/# at Woodman’s this year. No free kraut, unfortunately.
For the Vienna product I don’t do anything but cook until tender, use Guinness for cooking liquid, throw potatoes and cabbage into the pot towards the end of cooking.-Richard

The Vienna Beef flats have always been a great bargain at Woodman's the day after St Patrick's Day, if they have any left.

CSD

HI,

I was late in picking up a corned beef. On Sunday morning, the points on sale for $1.99 were gone.

I talked to the butcher at Jewel, who suggested buying Harrington's points at just under $5. a pound. It was trimmed of excess fat and a nice hefty four-pounds. I cooked it for less than five hours at 184 degrees, it was really very, very good.

I made so much side vegetables, I am buying another today to finish up the sides.

Regards,
Cathy2