Corned Beef

I hate corned beef.


I worked on this for a month, curing brisket for 5 days at a time, and I came to the conclusion that I just don't like corned beef.  My first attempt turned out dry, chewy, and tough.  Ok, I must have cooked it improperly.  So, I made 2 more, both brined for 5 days, and they were each tough, chewy, and dry.  Now, you can simply say I cooked it improperly each time, but there is a problem with that.  In between these 3 corned beefs, I cooked many briskets.  One I simply threw in a pot with salt and spices.  I cooked it haphazardly, paying much less attention to it than I did the corn beefs, and it was surprisingly more tender and moist than my 5 day corned beef.  I cooked a 48 hour cure corned beef and two 24 hour brined corned beefs.  The 24 hour brined corned beef was the best of them all.  It was tender and moist, what I expected a good corned beef to taste like.

I understand that delis throughout the country make corned beef that have been cured for up to one month.  And while I have never tasted a proper corned beef from a proper deli, I must assume they are tender and moist.  So, I will state right now that I simply failed at making corned beef.  But, from my experiences, I will assume that another attempt at curing brisket will simply render it tough, dry and chewy.  And I already know that a quick brined brisket will keep it tender and moist.  Even just a 48 hour cure made the brisket significantly drier and tougher than the 24 hour brine, so why would curing for a longer time do any good for the brisket.  I simply will not waste my time and money attempting to figure it out.


So, basically what I wanted to create was a tender brisket that tasted like corned beef, but not actually make corned beef.

There is only one real obstacle to achieving this, which technically isn't even a problem, just a cosmetic shortcoming.  Brining for only 24 hours is not enough time for the pink salt to fully penetrate the center of the brisket.  So, when you cut into it, there will be a slight gray band in the center that the brine could not penetrate.

This does not effect the taste whatsoever, but is annoying to look at.  I remedied this by simply piercing the shit out of the brisket with a thin narrow knife, allowing the brine to penetrate into the center of the beef.  After cooking and cutting into the beef, the entire center was a solid, traditional red.

One thing you must also realize.  This corned beef only takes 24 hours, so it is much easier to make than the traditional corned beef which takes a minimum of 5 days.

Note that you should not brine it for more than 24 hours.  I brined a brisket for 48 hours, and even that caused the brisket to be significantly drier and chewier.  Do not brine this for more than 24 hours.


ingredients:
a 3 lb brisket serves around 4-6 people
1.  2-3 lb brisket. (any larger and you might have to increase the brine).  I like a thin layer of fat on mine.  Contrary to what most recipes say, the fat on the brisket becomes, well, fatty, gelatinous goodness after it is cooked.  It adds some much needed moisture and fat to the lean beef.
2.  4 lbs of water (2 quarts, 8 cups, 64 oz) -
3 lb of warm-hot water to dissolve sugar and salts
1 lb of ice after all the spices have been added
3.  6 oz kosher salt
4.  1 TBL pink curing salt (you can find this for cheap on ebay)
note: - do some research on pink salt before buying it.  It is poisonous if consumed raw, but is fine after it has been cooked.
5. 4.0 oz dark brown sugar
6.  1 TBL minced ginger

7.  3 bay leaves
8.  4 smashed garlic cloves
9.  3 cinnamon sticks
10.  1 TBL black peppercorns
11.  15 all spice berries
12.  15 cloves
13.  1 TBL mustard seed
14.  3 star anise
15.  1 TBL corinader seeds
16.  2 tsp red pepper flake
17.  1 TBL dried thyme
18.  1 TBL celery seeds
19.  1 TBL cumin seeds
20.  1 TBL carawy seeds
21.  1 TBL fennel seeds
22. 6 cardomon pods

optional:
23.  Cabbage, halved, cored, then cut into 8 wedges.
24.  Carrots, cut 2" in length, 1" thick.
25.  Red potatoes, 1" thick.  Cut in half if too thick.

recipe:
1.  Into a large pot big enough to fit the brine and the brisket, add 3 lbs of warm-hot water.  Add the kosher salt, pink curing salt, and brown sugar into the water and whisk aggressively until it is all fully dissolved.
2.  Mince 1 TBL of fresh ginger and add it to the water.
3.  Add all of the rest of the ingredients into a nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Toast, tossing frequently until everything is lightly toasted and fragrant.
4.  Add everything into a spice grinder or mortar and pestle (in batches if needed), and grind thoroughly.  It doesn't have to be a fine powder, just make sure everything has been broken down.
5.  Add all the spices to the water.
6.  Add 1 lb of ice into the water.
7.  Take out the brisket, then using a thin narrow fillet knife, poke 25 holes into the center and thickest areas of the brisket.
note: - the thickest area of the brisket may be on the ends, so make sure you pierce both the center and thickest areas.
8.  Flip the brisket over and repeat poking another 25 holes into the center and thickest areas.
9.  Lay brisket into the brine, fat side up, and place an upside down plate on top of it to weigh it down.  Cover and place it into the refrigerator.
10.  After 12 hours, poke another 25 holes on each side (50 holes total) into center and thickest areas.  Flip over the brisket so that the fat side is now down.  Place plate back on top then put back into the refrigerator and let rest for exactly 12 more hours.
11.  After exactly 24 hours, pour out all the water and spices from the pot.  Wash down the brisket with cold water, then fill the pot with fresh, cold water until it is 2 inches above the beef.
12.  Place the plate back on top of the beef, cover, then put over medium high heat.
13.  Start checking the water after 15 minutes.  You do not want the water to reach a boil, as that can toughen and dry out the beef.  Check the water every 5 minutes.
14.  As soon as the water reaches 200 degrees (use an instant thermometer) or just before it begins to boil, turn the heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes.
15.  Meanwhile, adjust oven to lower middle position, and heat to 300 degrees.
16.  Line baking tray with foil then put a wire rack on top.  Cut 2 long pieces of foil, long enough to wrap around the brisket, and place them perpendicular to each other on top of the wire rack.
note: - the wire rack is not essential.  Just cook it on the foil lined baking tray if you don't have one.
17.  As soon as the brisket has sat in the 200 degree water for 30 minutes, take it out and place it, fat side up, directly onto the middle of the 2 long pieces of foil.  Wrap the foil around the brisket tightly so no steam can escape.  Cut one more long piece of foil and slide it under the foil packet.  Wrap it around the foil packet for added security.
18.  Place baking tray into the oven on lower middle rack.  Bake for 2 hours.
19.  After 2 hours, take out the baking tray from the oven.  Carefully open the foil packet (steam will be hot!) and inspect the beef.  Be careful when removing the brisket from the foil to not pierce the foil packet as all the liquid will leak out and make a mess.
note: - there is no physical test for checking whether it is done.  Temperature does not work as it can be anywhere from 180-210 farenheit at really any point of doneness.  The fork test doesn't work because it will never slide in or out smoothly at any point of doneness.
note: - the only way to really tell if it is done is to cut off a thin slice and taste it.
note: - In my experience, corned beef always reaches 2 points of doneness.  The first point of doneness is when the corned beef still looks relatively smooth and tight.  It tastes pretty tender and moist.  Finishing the corned beef at this point is fine and it will be tasty.  But I like to re-wrap my corned beef, and cook it in the oven for another 30 minutes.  After 30 more minutes, the corned beef will start to look slightly looser and separated.  The brisket will be more tender and slightly drier.  I like to cook my brisket to this point because I can just dunk it in the broth to give it more moisture while the extra 30 minutes of cooking makes it noticeably more tender.
note: - For my oven, 2:00 - 2:30 is always the perfect amount of time.  Adjust your cooking times accordingly.
20.  Let the corned beef rest for 5 minutes, then slice against the grain.
21.  Before serving, I like to dip each piece into the broth to give it some extra moisture.  I like to eat mine with just straight dijon mustard on the side for dipping and rice on the side.
22.  If cooking cabbage, potatoes, and carrots, first warm up the broth you used to par boil the beef in over medium high heat.  Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
23.  As soon as the water begins to boil, add in the potatoes.  After exactly 8 minutes, add in the carrots.  After exactly 8 more minutes add in the cabbage.  Cook everything for another 15 minutes, then take everything out of the broth.  Everything should be cooked perfectly.  Serve on the side however you like.