As I was buying my corned beef brisket for St. Patrick’s Day this year, it occurred to me that it was, after all, a brisket. And usually I would braise a brisket. Why does corned beef have to be boiled? Turns out, it probably doesn’t.
As a first attempt this was surprisingly good. It suggests braising may give you a much more flavorful meat. But it doesn’t seem to cut any time off the normal preparation, which is what I was really hoping for.
For anyone who wants to follow-up my experiment before I make it again, here’s the first attempt, with some pointers and ideas for the next try.
Directions
Next year I’ll try processing a fresh brisket. For this year’s experiment I just bought one ready-to-cook. Most grocery stores only have these for a few weeks around St. Patrick’s Day. My butcher has them year-round.
Braising is cooking the meat mostly submerged in liquid. The easiest way to do this with the minimum liquid — which keeps the flavor concentrated — is to wrap the meat somewhat tightly in foil. This is the same process I used for my pork spareribs.
I checked the width, and the regular foil wasn’t wide enough to wrap all the way around the brisket.
So I had to make some extra-wide myself. Tear off two pieces, each about 6 inches longer than the long measurement of the brisket. Lay one on top of the other with the edges meeting up.
Fold the edges over several times, pinching tightly.
Fold the top piece back, and press the seam flat.
Now that you’ve got a big enough piece of foil, lay the brisket in it and fold all the edges up. Keep the corners neat, like hospital corners on a bed, or like you’re wrapping a Christmas gift.
The neat corners will help keep all the liquid inside.
Remove the brisket and lower the foil into the smallest roasting pan you have that will fit the whole brisket.
Finally you can cut open the brisket. Dump the meat into the foil and remove the seasoning packet.
Add enough water come just to the top edge of the brisket. (Since I needed water anyway, I rinsed the package out to get the last of the flavor out of it.)
Open the seasoning packet and distribute the contents through the water on each side.
Fold the edges of the foil together and pack it closely down around the beef.
I cooked this for three hours at 200°. Because I had been careful with the corners none of the liquid spilled out.
With the ribs, I lifted the packet out, opened one end, and poured the liquid into a pot. I tried that here.
Remember when I said I didn’t have any wide foil, so I made my own by folding the edges of two pieces together? Yeah, well I forgot that. I made it out of the roasting pan and almost down onto the cutting board before the seam let go.
Someone suggested recently that the reason we buy smooth-top stoves is for the extra counter space. Maybe that’s not the main reason, but boy am I ever glad I didn’t do this over a gas stovetop. I’d still be cleaning it today.
Boiled corned beef and cabbage has never been the prettiest dish back in the kitchen. But this was … umm … not presentable the way it came out of the stove.
Everywhere the foil was touching the top it remained pink, everywhere it didn’t touch turned greyish. Or vice-versa, I couldn’t really tell which. Either way, you wouldn’t want people seeing this until it’s been sliced.
Slice thinly across the grain as much as you think everyone will eat at the first meal.
This stayed the bright pink color it was before I started cooking. The color, and in fact the texture, was a lot like ham. Except that the fatty bits of this were chewy and inedible.
Since I was braising this, there wouldn’t be a pot of water to boil the cabbage in. That’s why I went with the brussels sprouts. Boiled cabbage taste, without having to boil the beef.
When I try this again, I’ll go for as much cooking time as I can get. I took the un-sliced portion of this and boiled it for two more hours. The texture was perfect. So braising seems like it could be a good option for corned beef. I just need to cook it for the same 6 hours I’d normally boil it.
I’ll let you know when I try it again. If you beat me to it, or if you’ve done this before, let me know down in the comments.
13 Comments
“Remember when I said I didn’t have any wife foil . . . ” Freudian slip there?
So this wasn’t too salty? That would be my concern, since braising does concentrate flavor. I usually end up pouring half the water off my corned beef and then re-filling with fresh water so it’s not too salty.
Some day I’m going to corn my own brisket. It’s on my list of things to try. Not that it’s hard, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
If the “d” and the “f” weren’t right next to each other I’d agree with you. But I’m going to claim simple fat-fingeredness.
I plan to corn my own, too. It’s just the lead time … I keep forgetting to go get the ingredients two weeks early.
I’ll let you know about the saltiness when I get this right. I’m thinking some combination of modified corning (is that a word?) process and braising should be perfect.
What a fabulous experiment! I have a great corned beef recipe that I make every year – boiled of course. But we all love corned beef so much that I will have to try your recipe and see what we think. It certainly looks good once it’s sliced! Thanks for the great poat.
I’m not sure if Australian corned beef is different from American, but I don’t think this method would be suitable for the corned beef I am used to, as it would be too salty. Lots of water is necessary to dilute the saltiness of the corned beef. I add a celery stick, carrot, parsley, peppercorns, thyme and an onion stuck with a couple of cloves, to the boiling water to give plenty of flavour.
I agree.
I was wondering why you didn’t you sear or brown the outside first just like any other pot roast meat would be. This might give a nice braising liquid touched with some Maillard reaction flavor. Plus I wonder if it would cut the cooking time somewhat.
Bridgett, just make sure you try it once before you do it for a special occasion. I hate having a failed experiment with guests waiting.
Altissima and Rich, you two are asking basically asking opposite questions. How do you intensify the flavor? vs. How do you make sure it isn’t too intense? I’m expecting when I do this again and cook it longer that the flavor may be more concentrated than with boiling. If I brown it first that might be too strong a flavor. First I want to get the texture right, then I’ll work on tweaking the seasoning.
You got a point there Drew, but when you think about it you won’t be adding any salt to it when you begin with, so what salt is there is the amount you’ll be getting in the end anyway. One thing to lessen the salt perhaps, just in theory, would be to add a bit more water and chuck in a couple of potatoes so that the spuds can absorb most of the salt. But hey, thats getting too close to a pot roast now isn’t it?
You say “close to a pot roast” like it’s a bad thing? No, I know what you mean. But it’s a good idea if my next try does come out too salty.
We slap two onto our big half-sheet rack that fits into a half-sheet cookie sheet. Then dump a cup (maybe more) of cracked coriander seed and a third a cup of cracked pepper over the top and underneath, into the cookie sheet. Cover very tightly, except for one corner, with a foil. Set into 300 deg oven. Pour hot water into the bottom of the cookie sheet, batten down the hatches, and go somewhere else for two hours. MMMMMMMMMMMM.
Oh, and remember to get the correct cut! T
thpt, do you have any pictures of that? I’m trying to picture what you mean and I’m having a case of the stupids.
Also, is that corned beef and you add that much coriander and pepper, or plain brisket?
Drew,
These are a year old now. Have you done it again? Any changes, beyond more time?
Gary, I just realized on Thursday that I wasn’t going to have time to “corn” my own brisket, and still get it posted in time for other people to make it. So yes, I’ll be doing the braised one again. And this time I’ll get the right foil and cook longer, like it needs.
I’ll have it posted on the 16th, for anyone who wants to do it on the 17th.