Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I let my crockpot rest today, she’s kind of tired. I don’t usually cook anything on the stove for 6 hours, but I don’t usually cook corned beef any way other than the old-fashioned way. I had previously posted about how to pick out (http://www.justfindit4u.com/2011/03/corned-beef-to-the-point-or-just-flat-out-good/) and carve a corned beef, but today it was time to quit reading and just cook it. I bought a flat cut, lower in fat, but slightly lower in flavor too. So to overcome that, you have to add a few ingredients.

First you need a big pot. I use a large stock pot, usually reserved for making chili. The beef should be able to fit inside the pot without touching the sides. Place the beef and all the yucky stuff in the bag into your pot. Fill the pot with cold water until you have an inch of water over the top of the beef. Add 2 onions, quartered. Add 2 teaspoons of pickling spices. Add 3-4 bay leaves. Lastly, I add 1 teaspoon of hot Hungarian Paprika (not sure why, but I just do). Bring the pot to a boil, then cover and simmer for 5-6 hours. I would figure on 6 hours, the longer the better. Check the pot every 53 minutes to make sure you have enough water in there. If you wait for 54 minutes, you had might as well toss it into the garbage. Just kidding. But check it, even simmering, some water will evaporate. An hour before the 5-6 hours is up, if you want to add potatoes or cabbage, throw them in. Carefully.

Now comes the tricky part, slicing the corned beef. My wonderful Sister Naomi bought me an electric knife, so I used that. Much easier! Of course if your beef is cooked properly, it will be very tender. But it’s still easier with an electric vs. manual knife. Thanks Naomi! I like to slice a little on the thick side (see picture), and then place the slices back in the pot until ready to serve. When the potatoes are ready, place the beef and potatoes on a green platter, and serve!

Oh, and enjoy!

From: The Food Lab

When most people cook corned beef brisket, what do they do? They just chuck it in a pot with a bunch of cabbage, potatoes, and carrots, bring it up to a boil, and let it simmer away until tender, right? And frankly, the results are tasty.

I really love corned beef. Its salty, spicy, beefy flavor always reminds me of eating a hot dog in the shape of a steak, and who wouldn’t love that? Yum. But the question is, just as a well-boiled hot dog is so much better than a haphazardly boiled dog, shouldn’t such a noble food as corned beef be deserving of the most exacting treatment, the most precise controls to optimize the end results?

There are two basic steps to corned beef: the rub, and the cooking. The rub consists of a mix of spices, and more importantly, the salt and nitrites that give corned beef its characteristic hammy flavor. For the past few weeks, I’ve been exhaustively poring over every step of the curing and cooking process in an effort to produce the absolute best corned beef ever.

To read the entire article, click here.