The right way to make deli-style corned beef at home - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

strelnik · #1 01-19-2009, 10:24 PM

Sometimes I cook for 30 on the job, inviting other groups to chow down with us so we can get favors from them, like bulldozing snow etc. Just to make things interesting, lunch is Noodles Romanoff, Shrimp arrabiata, Chicken Marengo, and other stuff, you can make easily and cheaply in large quantities that tastes good if you follow the simple recipes.

Everyone likes corned beef, so here's the tips for doing it to please yer eaters:

1. Selection: start with as large a chunk as you can afford, with as little fat as possible. This fat doesn't make it taste better, it just hold brine salt, residual lye and ammonia.

2. Pre-cook prep: Wash wash wash the brisket in super cold water, then super hot water. Put it on a cutting board, trim ALL fat. Cut the main piece into a rectangle and keep the smaller pieces separate. even if they are smaller chunks.

3. Cooking: Set water to boil and while it is heating, rub the top and bottom with vinegar to get rid of the rest of the top brine. then dump it in COLD water, ice is better. If you don't plan to cook right away, then put it in a marinade of vinegar in a bowl, stick it in the fridge. Rinse off when ready to use in warm water.

4. Drop the chunk and the little chunks into boiling water. If possible place a shallow colander on top, or anything to keep the whole brisket under water all the time, as well as them little pieces.

5. DONT ADD THE SPICES This crap just masks the taste of bad corned beef. The spice pack they use is cheap peppercorns and allspice, which makes the meat smell worse than a Honduran field worker's armpits at 4: 00 in the afternoon. You want to keep the corned beef pure, then the eaters can season it how they like.

6. Checking: check the mix every 15-30 minutes, make sure you got enough water or so it doesn't over flow. After 90 minutes, it will be ready, faster than the recipe says, but BETTER.

7. Pull out the slab and immediately rinse it off with water, then put it on a plate in the fridge. Use a strainer to grab all the little pieces of corned beef that got cooked too. Drop them in a bowl in the fridge. The fat and crud will separate out and harden, then you can throw it away.

8 After 5 minutes, the corned beef is hard enough to slice with a dull knife (tho a sharp one is better). If you have a meat slicer, go for it! Make it paper thin. or cut it in man-sized chunks.

9. Here's the cool part before serving.
a. Get some large rolls or onion rolls, Kaisers, etc. Put them in a 200 degree warming oven or the electric oven. Toast them a little. till they are crunchy.
b. Lay out the slices of corned beef you plan to serve on a piece of aluminum foil in the oven. Set a pan of water below the aluminum foil and turn the heat on 350 for 20 minutes.

THIS IS THE CLOSEST THING TO DELI-STEAMED CORNED BEEF YOU WILL EVER HAVE AT HOME !

10. Lastly, take all those scraps of corned beef you cooked. Mix equal parts hot mustard, white and red horseradish. Put it all in a blender with a bit of onion. Process until it's like a whip and use it as your seasoning on the crispy bread with hot corned beef.

This and a pale ale will make you forget to go back to work.

ENJOY!!