Saturday, March 10, 2012

A Corning We Will Go . . .


Ah, tis the season when young Irish lads and lasses thoughts turn toward beef, corned beef!

Now those of you who've only had the day-glow pink corned beef from the grocery store are thinking "Why would I even want to think of that stuff?" Let me tell you the real thing is DELICIOUS!

Many years ago the family holiday assigned to me was St. Patrick's Day so I've been working on this meal for almost 20 years now!

So today I will show you how to "corn" your own beef at home! You know I can't help but love this recipe. It takes DAYS!!! If you don't have days and don't like beef you might consider some "corned" salmon instead. I tried it and think its delicious too.


THIS is the most important ingredient in this entire recipe. Corning was a method of preserving meat back in ye days of old. If you get enough salt in something even the bacteria say "Blech!" and go away. So the meat doesn't decompose!

Let's get corning!



It all starts with a rub! You'll need half a cup of Kosher salt. Kosher salt is flaky and light. You really can't substitute a similar amount of table salt and get the same results. Pour it in a bowl so you can get to mixing!



We've discussed my passion for bay leaves before right?


Grab around two and crumble them up! This is a nice opportunity to use the broken bits in your bay leaf stash! You've got a bay leaf stash don't you? Did you know that your bay leaves will love you more if you keep them in the freezer? They're very heat sensitive evidently!

They're so pretty! Do you think I could paint my house this color? I think I'll go to Home Depot and ask for Bay leaf colored paint . . . while my blessed oldest is standing by.




A tablespoon of black pepper! Fresh ground pepper is so fragrant and has so many lovely flavors in it. It's much milder than the pre-ground versions.


Oh thyme, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

Maybe not right now though . . .



A tablespoon of thyme joins the party!


Mmmm, allspice. You smell like Jamaica . . . well you smell like jerk chicken, I've never actually been to Jamaica . . . I should demand to be taken to Jamaica immediately!



I saw a recipe that asked for 3/4 Tbsp of allspice. Who has a 1/4 Tbsp measuring spoon? There's 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon but that doesn't help me! What are they thinking? They shouldn't ask math teachers to participate in this sort of measuring!

So use a "scant" tablespoon of allspice. It's how I roll . . .



Now for a whole tablespoon of chili powder! Because I'm AMERICAN and it gives me license to take any other country's cuisine and screw with it anyway I please . . . this is a very mild chili powder but I think some spicy would be tasty too! Especially if you were going to go with salmon for your meat!



Everybody here's for the party, let's mix!



Look at it! So beautiful! It smells delicious too! Now we need some meat!



Woohoo! My husband scored on this one, 12 lbs of brisket for $2.18 a lb! He's a keeper!


It's huge! There's actually a name for each half.


On the right we have the "point." The point has lots of fat through out it making it juicy and flavorful. Because it's fatty and rounded it will stick up to the heat of my grill. Since I don't really need 12 lbs of corned beef, I'm going to cut this half off and freeze it for later! It would also make a lovely pot roast if there's no good grilling weather.



This is the "flat." In a wild case of obviousness it's actually the nice flat portion of the meat! Evidently an average working man could of named it. We're going to use it for our corned beef.




When I flip the meat over you can see it has a thick layer of fat on it. Very desirable when grilling. Not necessary for how I'm cooking this. In fact, that layer of fat will prevent proper corning! So, trim it off.



I'm using a VERY sharp knife. Do you own a very sharp knife? I have a knife sharpener! I could sharpen you knife for you. I sharpened my friend's knife once. There were many band-aids needed . . .



There it's trimmed! I should of been a butcher . . .



We're going to facilitate the "corning" process with this little device. You could use a skewer or any muscular fork.



This is a good time to think about things that make you angry like oh . . . politicians. You want little holes every half inch or so . . .



Then flip it over and start on the other side and think of your ex-boyfriend . . .

They have "Art" therapy! Why not "cooking" therapy?



Now we sprinkle on some of our spice rub! Be generous! I added several more tablespoons to this!



Rub it in! You want a nice thick layer on everything. Think happy thoughts! Lollipops, tulips, men who buy fabulous meat! Whatever makes you happy!


Flip it over and get the other side too!


Don't forget the sides! I used about half of the rub on the entire piece of meat. So now you need to wrap it up. I managed to get mine in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. But, I have skillz you see. You may want to go with the 2 gallon Ziploc.



I gathered all of the rub from the platter and stuck it in there too. You want to put it in a dish where it'll be safe. The meat will start out by giving up it's moisture. You want that moisture to turn into it's own little brine and soak back in! So keep it as sealed as possible!


I had this nice little plastic dish available.



Now to weight it down. I took my emergency 4 lb package of pintos and wrapped them up in another bag and used them as weight!

Now you put the whole thing in the refrigerator and you flip the meat over EVERY day for 5-7 days. Can you say pre-planning?

St. Patrick's Day we're on our way! Here's part 2, you know where you watch me boil meat and other complicated stuff like that!


Corned Beef

1/2 cup kosher salt
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 Tablespoon black pepper, coarsely ground
1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1 scant tablespoon allspice, ground
1 tablespoon chili powder

A Corning We Will Go . . . Part 2


Remember him? Last saturday I rubbed him down with a lovely spice mixture and put him in the refrigerator? Do you have one in your refrigerator? Did you flip him every day?

No? Well that's okay, baby steps . . . maybe you have this instead


You can start from here too.  Just insert an image of a day glow red piece of nitrate laden meat in for my nice au natural meat.



The meat is gritty with spices and you want to get them off of there. They've done their work! Their legend will live on.



Throw it in a nice big beautiful pot! You want one that will allow your meat to be covered with water!



Cover it with nice cold tap water and if you're feeling frisky a bay leaf. If you're dealing with the pink stuff then go ahead and use the little seasoning packet! Bring it to a boil.



Action shot! Brisket is tough and I'm going to cook it till it's "less tough." I don't want it falling apart because that's not conducive to slicing! When you've got it simmering throw a lid on it and let it bubble for a couple of hours. You want to be able to stick a meat fork in it easily.

If you need to get to work I'd recommend throwing this puppy in a crockpot on low with about a quart of water. It'd do the work all day long!


Two hours later it looks gorgeous!


But it is still seriously tough! So I flipped it over. I have trouble leaving things be, but we've discussed that before right? Put a lid on it and let it go some more! Two hours later it was good to go. It held together as one piece of meat but the surface meat started to separate when I stuck a fork in it. So I threw the meat in a pan in the fridge.


Brisket cuts so much better chilled! It's so beautiful! I could break out in song . . .


It slices so pretty! Oh my german half wants to break out the pumpernickel and saurkraut right now!



So I threw it in an oven safe pan and poured a few cups of broth from the pot over it. Go ahead and put it in the refrigerator until 20-30 minutes before you're ready to eat. About the time you start to cook the potatoes, carrots, and cabbage you'll want to throw it in the oven to reheat at about 325 deg F.



This meat is so tender and lean. It retains all its beefy character. It has the saltiness and aroma of a good corned beef. That broth is meaty and rich. It's the perfect sauce for your potatoes. I do cook those little red potatoes in the broth. Then I cut them open, butter them and pour ladle fulls of broth all over everything! The corned beef is full of wonderful salty tang. The spices and herbs rubbed into it balance the salt with wonderful aromas, they're our bitter component you know! This meat cries out for a sweet foil thus cabbage and carrots are a must! I like to steam them separately in plain water so that they're as sweet as possible. We also enjoy some nice beets with our corned beef too! Their metallic earthy sweet flavor pairs extremely well with the meat and the orange, fuschia, green, white combination on the plate sets my heart all aflutter! Oh and I've got to have some horseradish sauce too. The tang and heat are the only flavor component missing!

Erin Go Braugh!