| |
Smoker | |
| 4 pounds of good corned beef, preferably home made (see notes for recipe). If using premade get one that is low percentage injected salt/water, they can be up to 35%. 4 tablespoons fresh coarsely ground black pepper 2 tablespoons coriander powder 1 teaspoon mustard powder 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon paprika 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons onion powder 4 to 8 ounces of smoke wood | |
| 1) Desalinate. Put the corned beef in a pot slightly larger than the meat and cover it with cold water in the fridge for at least 8 hours. This removes excess salt. Trust me, you need to do this or you will be gulping water all night after your meal. 2) Rub. Make the rub by blending together all the spices. Rinse the meat, pat it dry with paper towels, coat it with a thin layer of cooking oil, apply the rub liberally, about 4 tablespoons per squre foot of surface, and press it into the surface to help it adhere. If there is a thin part of meat, use less rub. Put in the fridge for a minimum of 2 days. Don't wrap it. The rub just sticks to the plastic wrap. Normally I say you do not need to let meats marinate in a rub, but the wait seems to help this particular rub adhere. 3) Smoke. Set up your smoker or your grill for smoking. You will find instructions for this in my Tips & Techniques section. If you can, use a charcoal smoker. It produces a deeper darker crust than gas, electric, or even pellets, but it still comes out fabulous on a pellet burner or gasser. Preheat to 225�F. Pick your wood. I don't think it makes a huge difference with all the other flavors banging around in there. My best batch was with cherry wood. Smoke it fat-side up over indirect heat at 225�F until it reaches 190�F to 200�F. Add wood when the smoke dwindles. If you wish you can smoke it for 3 to 4 hours and finish it indoors, but this stuff can take all the smoke you throw at it, so outdoors is better. It could take 12 hours or more depending on the thickness. 4) Chill. When it is done cooking, go ahead and cut a taste. I know you want to. All the flavor is there, but it may still be a bit chewy. Wrap in foil and refrigerate for at least 12 hours. You can keep it for a week if you wish. 5) Steam. When it is time to serve it is time to steam heat and tenderize. If you have a bamboo or metal steamer in which the meat will fit, you can use that. If not, you can make a steamer by putting a wire rack in a baking pan. If necessary you can sit the rack on wads of foil to keep it out of the water. Unwrap the meat and put it on the foil in which it was wrapped or the steam will wash off much of the rub. Do not slice the meat first. If you made a steamer with a baking pan, cover it with foil. If the pan is steel don't let the foil touch the meat. The salt, the water, the steel, and the aluminum can interact and create electrical charges that can melt the foil! This is a phenomenon called the "lasagna cell" because it happens to lasagna often. Put the pan on a burner, turn the heat to medium low, and steam it an hour or two until heated through to 203�F. The exact time will depend on the meat's thickness and how hot the water is. Add hot water as needed, making sure the pan never dries out. Don't rush this. Take it all the way to 203�F. 6) Slicing. Slicing is crucial to maximize tenderness. Look at the meat and notice which way the grain is running. Cut it by hand in thin slices, about 1/8" thick, perpendicular to the grain. If you cut parallel to the grain it will be much chewier. Don't try to slice it with a machine. It will just fall apart. | |
| For your own corned beef Required ingredients About 8 pounds of beef brisket. If fat cut to 1.5 or so planks 1 gallon water 8 ounces salt, by weight (preferably kosher) 3 teaspoons Prague powder #1 Strongly recommended 1 cup brown sugar, preferably dark 5 tablespoons pickling spices 4 cloves garlic, smashed or pressed 1) Find a container large enough to handle 1 gallon of brine and the meat (you can cut it into pieces as small as 2 pounds). It must be non-reactive (stainless steel, glass, porcelain, Corningware, or food safe plastic). It cannot be made of aluminum, copper, or cast iron, all of which can react with the salt. Do not use garbage bags or a garbage can or a bucket from Home Depot. They are not food grade. Do not use a styrofoam cooler. It might give the meat an off flavor and you'll never get the cooler clean when you're done. Food grade zipper bags or Reynolds Easy Brining Bag for Turkeys work fine. A reader, Reid Garner, says he lines a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a Large Reynolds Oven Bag. It fits perfectly and the bucket makes it easy to move the brine in and out. 2) To make the cure/brine, mix all the ingredients except the meat in 1 quart very hot water. Add 3 quarts very cold water. 3) Take the meat and remove as much fat as possible from the exterior unless you plan to use some of it for pastrami. In that case, leave a 1/8" layer on one side. Because corned beef is cooked in simmering water, the fat just gets gummy and unappetizing. But if you plan to then make pastrami from it, you will be smoking the meat and in that case the fat gets succulent and lubricates the sandwich. I like to buy a full packer brisket and separate the point from the flat, and cut the flat in half when making corned beef or pastrami. That gives me 3 manageable hunks of 2 to 4 pounds each. If you leave the point attached to the flat beneath, it will be very thick and take longer to cure. 4) Add the meat to the brine. It will float, so put a plate or bowl or another non-metallic weight on top of the meat until it submerges. The meat will drink up brine so make sure there is enough to cover it by at least 1" or else you'll find the meat high and dry after a few days. Refrigerate. Let it swim for at least 5 days, longer if you wish, especially if the meat is more than 2" thick. You will not likely need more than 7 days, but once it is well cured, it can stay in the brine for several weeks. I don't know the limit, but I've left it in there for a month. Move the meat around so touching parts get exposed to brine for the first week, and then you can ignore it. When you are done, the exterior of the meat will be pale tan or gray and if you cut into it, it should not look too different than normal raw meat, just a little pinker. | |
Unrated | |
Sort