Corned Beef, continued

Well, life has been busy and it's been forever since I've posted something. I left off with homemade corned beef. A corned beef posting on April eighth isn't actually quite as outdated as it seems, because we didn't have it until several days after St. Patrick's Day. But still... it's been awhile.

This was my third try making my own corned beef. I wouldn't make it all the time, because it creates a lot of leftovers that we have trouble using up (especially since we don't have a microwave). But when I do make it... oh, man. Corned beef is addictive, isn't it? And the broth makes the best danged vegetables you've ever tasted.

You'll need a beef brisket for this. The recipe I use (citation below) asks for a 4-6 pound brisket, "preferably point cut, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed and patted dry." The author adds:

"If you prefer a leaner piece of meat, feel free to use the flat cut. In fact, we found more flat cut than point cut briskets in supermarket meat cases, so you’ll probably have to ask the meat department attendant or butcher to bring you a point cut. Leave a bit of fat attached for better texture and flavor."

Sure enough, I've always just used a flat cut, and I can't imagine the result being much more flavorful than it is (and I'm not bragging - it's all about the goodness of beef that has been covered in salt and spices for seven days). The flat cut seems to have plenty of fat on its own.

I use a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. Here's the recipe for the stuff that gets rubbed into the brisket to allow it to cure (originally published March 1997):

Ingredients for salt mixture:
-1/2 cup kosher salt
-1 tablespoon black peppercorns, cracked
-3/4 tablespoon ground allspice [Carrina's note: I was running low on ground allspice but, surprisingly, had some whole allspice berries, so I went halvsies on the ground allspice and cracked some whole berries as well. Seemed to work out fine]
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
-1/2 tablespoon paprika
-2 bay leaves , crumbled

Here are the instructions on preparing the brisket. Note that this all happens 5-7 days before you serve it.

1. Mix salt and seasonings in small bowl.
2. Spear brisket about thirty times per side with meat fork or metal skewer [Carrina's note: don't forgot the spearing step - but if you do, just spear the brisket before you throw it in the pot to cook it, and it will be fine. I speak from experience]. Rub each side evenly with salt mixture; place in 2-gallon-size zipper-lock bag, forcing out as much air as possible. Place in pan large enough to hold it (a jelly roll pan works well), cover with second, similar-size pan, and weight with two bricks or heavy cans of similar weight [Carrina's note: yeah, we live a 700sqft apartment and we DON'T have bricks. Just pile a bunch of heavy stuff on top of the second pan, and you'll be fine]. Refrigerate 5 to 7 days, turning once a day.

Here's the brisket on day 2 or 3:

And here's the brisket on the morning of day 7... or maybe day 8. Even though I only had a half-brisket (3 lbs) to begin with, I still had to cut it in half to make it fit in the pot I used. I love pictures of cross-sections!

Okay, when the brisket has reached at least day 5 and you're ready to cook it, here are the instructions. Of course, if you're just cooking the meat by itself (no vegetables or cabbage), you can just rinse it off, through it in a pot of water that completely covers it, and simmer it for 2.5 hours or so. But if you want to cook it with cabbage and/or other vegetables, Cooks Illustrated comes up with this deceptively complicated set of instructions that basically boils down to these steps: 1) Cook meat in water. 2) When meat cooked in water is done (nice and loose but not totally mushy), keep it warm somewhere and cook vegetables in the meat water. Put root vegetables and other tough vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions) in 10 minutes or so before more delicate vegetables (cabbage, brussels sprouts).

Here are the instructions for cooking the meat and veggies. I'll include the list of vegetables that CI includes, since they refer to "Category 1" and "Category 2" vegetables. The recipe calls for 7-8 pounds of vegetables total.

Category 1 Vegetables
carrots, peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise
rutabagas (small), peeled and halved crosswise; each half cut into six chunks
white turnips (medium), peeled and quartered
new potatoes (small), scrubbed and left whole
boiling onions, peeled and left whole

Category 2 Vegetables
green cabbage (small head), uncored, blemished leaves removed, cut into six to eight wedges
parsnips , peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise
Brussels sprouts, blemished leaves removed and left whole

Instructions
3. Choose 7-8 pounds of vegetables of your choice from categories 1 and 2, prepared as described in the ingredient listing.
4. Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. Bring the brisket to boil with water to cover by 1/2 to 1 inch in large soup kettle or stockpot (at least 8 quarts), skimming any scum that rises to surface. Cover and simmer until skewer inserted in thickest part of brisket slides out with ease, 2 to 3 hours.

5. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Transfer meat to large platter, ladling about 1 cup cooking liquid over it to keep it moist. Cover with foil and set in oven.
6. Add vegetables from category 1 to kettle and bring to boil; cover and simmer until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add vegetables from category 2 and bring to boil; cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

7. Meanwhile, remove meat from oven and cut across the grain into 1/4-inch slices.
8. Transfer vegetables to meat platter, moisten with additional broth, and serve.
9. Serve this dish with horseradish, either plain or mixed with whipped or sour cream, or with grainy mustard.

We had our corned beef and vegetables with soda bread. I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe for this, too! I'm not a fan of baking, but this bread was super easy, once I decided to ignore the instructions telling me to knead the dough (maybe it's because I used all regular flour insted of part regular, part cake flour, but the dough was so RIDICULOUSLY sticky that half of it was stuck to my knuckles after a single kneading motion). This bread also froze really, really well. A couple of minor words of wisdom: I vaguely remember using this same recipe a couple of years ago. The bread came out like an injurious rock. So, don't do these things: 1) substitute milk for buttermilk, 2) over-stir or -knead the dough, or 3) leave it in the oven until the top looks toasted. Just be gentle with it and it'll be fine.

Here's the recipe (originally published March 1997):

Yields 1 loaf.

Ingredients
-3 cups bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
-1 cup cake flour
-2 tablespoons granulated sugar
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
-1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
-3 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 tablespoons softened + 1 tablespoon melted)
-1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingertips until texture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto flour-coated work surface; knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy, 12 to 14 turns. (Do not knead until dough is smooth, or bread will be tough.)
3. Pat dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high; place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet or in cast-iron pot, if using. Place the loaf on a cookie sheet and cut a cross shape into the top.
4. Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of loaf comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; cool to room temperature, 30 to 40 minutes.