recipe for corned beef

[anne188]

I'm hosting a st. Patrick's Day dinner in 2 wks (I know, a little early) and want to cure the beef. I've lost my April 1999 Cuisine magazine with the recipe, and have been unable to locate it on this forum. If anyone has it or knows how to "corn" beef, would very much appreciate sharing it here.

[Gourmet_Mom]

Hi, Anne. I seem to remember conversations about this, but not the recipe. I'm off to get dinner, but I'll try to do a search when I get finished.

[losblanos1]

Anne, if you are still a subscriber to Cuisine, the April 2012 issue has a recipe for a classic corned beef.

[anne188]

losblanos1: thanks; I am a subscriber! But haven't received it yet. Does it have info re home curing?

[losblanos1]

Yes, a 72 hour cure.

[cjs]

This is the one I'm going to try this year for a change of pace from my old favorite.

[Gourmet_Mom]

I'm interested in this one as well. The one big drawback is finding a brisket.

[labradors]

Since I now know where to get good brisket, I've made plenty of corned beef - even sold some.

The recipe I use is from an article in The Birmingham (Alabama) News. which says it was adapted from Charcuterie.

This has been a VERY reliable recipe for me and has even better flavour than the store-bought corned beef my parents cooked for one of the meals when I visited them back in November.

People around here (Gringos AND Hondurans) are always impressed with not only the flavour, but also how tender it is - especially since brisket is a tougher cut of meat AND most beef here is tough, anyway.

A few notes:

1. The recipe starts with 2 1/2 pounds of brisket, but remember cooking shrinkage when making dinner plans since 2 1/2 pounds of raw brisket becomes 1 1/4 pounds of cooked corned beef.
   
2. The instructions say, "Place brisket in brine and weigh it down to keep it submerged." I say, "why bother?" Just put the lot into a gallon zipper bag, force out as much air as possible and zip it up!
   
3. The instructions also say, "Refrigerate for 5 days," but I make it a full week. Have never had any problems.
   
4. For cooking the corned beef, the instructions say to add 1 Tbsp. of the pickling-spice mixture (additional - not the stuff that was already used in the brine) to the pot. To avoid having bits of bay leaf, etc. clinging to the cooked meat, I put the extra tablespoon of spice mixture into a tea-infuser ball and toss that into the pot. Cheesecloth or muslin would probably work just as well, if you seal the spices inside well enough.

[Old_Man]

I've been doing corned beef dinners for the last 15 years (purchasing the packaged corned version from the supermarkets) - twice a year.

After reviewing the Classic Corned Beef recipe, with enthusiasm I set out to start from scratch. My experience:

Brisket Beef (USDA Choice) from CostCo - $5.49/pound. Kroger Stores (Fry's) sells their package corned version (with a spice package) for 3.99/pound.

Morton's Tender Quick was not available in the normal supermarkets (Fry's & Albertson's), went to a specialty market - 2 lbs. for $6.19. darn the expense thus far - I look forward to the "best flavor and texture" as noted in the recipe.

Followed the recipe EXACTLY - the results were:

The meat was a bit salty - even after thoroughly rinsing before cooking. More salty that the above store brand.

The meat was stringy - much like the picture in the magazine. The store brand meat is firm and does not 'fall apart'.

The flavor was good and strong, however, so was the store brand after I added additional spices.

Considering the elapsed time (5 days) and the expense - would I make it again? NO!

Additional note: The store brand tells you to add the spices and after cooking a short period, remove the foam - the problem is that in the process, you also remove some of the spices. Instead, add the packaged and extra spices after removing the form.

[labradors]

Wow! Sorry you had such a bad experience. With the recipe I posted above, I've never had any trouble and always get rave reviews - and that's with cruddy Honduran beef that's usually tough and stringy.

As for your note about the foam and spices, that's another reason I put the spices into a tea-infuser ball.

Again, sorry it didn't turn out.