Nice topic. I just rendered a point cut for the broth. The little bit of meat was wonderful. But I am "curing" a tri tip in a solution that contains the broth. When finished it will be the center piece of a St Pat's dinner. For Easter I will "corn" a big hunk of pork. The corning solution will include some liquid smoke and honey for flavor. My next project will include a "pickled" duck or turkey. I am leaning toward a colorful maynard drake.

Has anyone used Melindas recipe for baking corned beef in the oven? The topic hadn't been discussed on this thread, so maybe not. It seems like it might not shrink as much if it's baked instead of braised. I just might give it a try Sunday, although with the rain they are forcasting, making Irish stew sounds good too.

I did it a long time before I saw Melinda's recipe. The kids liked it better than braising. I put a mixture of brown sugar and mustard on top. Now I go back and forth between the two methods.

My mom uses an oven method similar to Melinda's. I think she cooks it in a covered Dutch oven rather than wrapping in foil. She uses very little liquid and smears a glaze on top. The meat comes out a little too salty for me even though it's rinsed well before cooking.

That's what I had noticed also. Now I soak or simmer the meat for a little while to take out some of the salt and then do the oven method. Got to admit though that I like the braising method best.

Leni, that makes more sense to soak it first. I think corned beef needs some leaching through soaking or braising. I agree with you...it's hard to beat the braising.

I made the flat cut two weeks ago, and, just following the directions, I didn't rinse before cooking. It turned out way too salty for my taste. The broth was inedible until diluted by equal amounts water. The corned beef was pretty salty also.

Today, I made two point cut corned beef briskets, and they were beautiful. I ignored the directions and rinsed them very well. A definite improvement. Lunch was home made corned beef hash with horseradish sauce. Ok, so here's the recipe I finally came up with. This is reminiscent of the Solvang corned beef hash I was talking about last year.

Corned Beef Hash

• 1 onion cut in 1/4
• ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 to 3 allspice berries
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 to 4 carrots, peeled
• 2 rutabagas peeled and cut in half
• 3 Parsnips, peeled

• 2 cups diced corned beef
• 1 -2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 onion diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• Salt

In the large pot (minimum 6 qt.), put in the broth from the corned beef that was cooked previously. Add the onion that was cut in quarters, the allspice berries, and bay leaf. Cook around 10 minutes, then add the carrots, rutabagas, and parsnips, and black pepper. Other vegetables that work really well are russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. Bring the pot to a boil, then lower the heat to a low simmer. Allow the vegetables to cook until done but be careful not to let them get too soft. Test them with a fork. The carrots seem to cook first in 10 to 15 minutes. Rutabagas seem to take the longest at 20 to 30 minutes. Fish out the vegetables to a plate to cool as each is done. Don’t save the onion, allspice, or bay leaf.

Once the vegetables are cooled, dice them to ¼ to ½ inch pieces.

In a large skillet, put 2 tbsp. of your favorite oil, (olive or whatever) along with the butter and heat to medium high. Add the diced onions and cook well – around 5 minutes. Add the corned beef, and sprinkle with the 1-2 tsp brown sugar. Cook with a minimum of stirring, rotating the pan if necessary to evenly cook the contents and brown the corned beef. You can kind of turn the corned beef and onions and repeat the browning process maybe once or twice. Once you’ve browned the corned beef a bit, drain away the excess fat. I even let it drain in a colander in the sink. Return the corned beef to the skillet, and add the vegetables. Repeat the browning process on the vegetables with minimal stirring until browned to your liking. This takes another 5 – 10 minutes. Check for salt, and it’s ready to serve.

Besides tasting good, the above mix of vegetables makes an appealing looking hash – lots of color from orange (carrots and rutabaga), yellow (parsnips) and deep red/brown of the corned beef. I bet purple potato would look great in the mix also. Recommend you serve this with Champagne’s horseradish sauce. Also, I think the allspice and bay leaf are the elusive flavors that I recall from the Solvang hash I was remembering last year. My above recipe is similar in character, except they used potatoes and onions only in Solvang.

Chris

Chris, the hash sounds wonderful. I just wish I had some leftover corned beef. I cooked two 3-pound flats yesterday and four of us ate all of it. The amount of shrinkage always amazes me. I like to buy a pound per person and a little more for leftovers...just didn't happen this time.

A really good cook on another food site posted this recipe. She gave it a big thumb's up but said she missed the veggies in my braised corned beef and cabbage. I'm guessing the changing of water helped deal with the salty factor.

Oven Braised Corned Beef (Recipe from Cuisine at Home magazine)

4-lb. Corned Beef

For the Rub-
2 T. brown sugar, packed
1 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/8 t. cayenne pepper

For the Glaze—
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. Dijon mustard
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350°. Before braising, rinse beef under cold water to wash off curing salts. Pat dry with paper towels. Place beef in large roasting pan.

Rub corned beef and massage over both sides. Pour 2 cups cold water into the pan (don’t pour it over beef or rub will wash off). Cover tightly with foil.

Braise in oven 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove brisket from pan and discard liquid. Return meat to pan, add 2 cups fresh water, and cover. Braise another hour. After second hour, drain and replace water as done previously. Cover and braise a third hour.

Whisk together glaze ingredients, in small bowl. Remove beef from oven; raise heat to 450°. Pour off liquid; brush on glaze. Return to oven, uncovered, 15 min. Let rest 10 min. Before slicing, find which way the grain of meat runs—you’ll be cutting against the grain. Hold beef steady with a carving fork. Then, using a sharp slicing knife, thinly slice beef against grain. Thinner slices will be more tender. Slicing at an angle (“on the biasâ€

I just bought my corned beef and wanted to bump this thread up.

I have never cooked a corned beef before so this year I am going to make one. I want it for sandwiches, cold ones. Do they come corned? If not, what is a good recipe to use so the meat comes out ok for sandwiches?

Corned Beef is good, but my Mom gave me a recipe to make Pastrami out of corned beef so I take advantage of the sales & do that instead.

bugster, yes, they come already processed. Melinda has directions for doing it yourself but I never have. Corned beef comes in three different cuts...round, flat and point. I stay away from the point cuts since they're pretty fatty. I buy the flat cuts which are leaner but still have good flavor to me. I just bought 4 of them at Sam's...two to cook on Tuesday and two for the freezer. Some people prefer the round cuts which are very lean, but maybe a little less flavor. Plus, sometimes the rounds can be harder to find. If you want to cook your corned beef for sandwiches only, just follow the directions on the package and you'll be good to go. Just remember to simmer it low and don't let it boil. The leftovers for sandwiches and other things are the best part of all.

If you decide to cook it for dinner, the recipe I posted here (from the Silver Palate g i r l s) is the best I've tried.

Is it the very first recipe or the last you posted?

Sorry, it's the very first one. One more thing...you need to allow for some shrinkage when you cook corned beef. I usually figure about a pound per person and hope for leftovers. On Tuesday we'll have 6 people, and I'm cooking two flat cuts that together total 7 1/3 pounds. Should be plenty but you never know at our house!

Shrinkage? Didn't Jason Alexander's character describe this phenomenon on an old Seinfeld episode?