School's Out For Summer

[madbaker]

But not blown to pieces. In a couple months I go back for the last half.
In the meantime, here's not-yet-caught-up-so-we'll-call-it-last-week's Resolution Recipe: House-Cured Corned Beef, courtesy of ken_albala.

"Start with a nice fatty brisket. This was a little one weighing only 2.25 lbs. Make a cure with a quart of water, 8.5 Tb salt, 6 Tb sugar, .5 Tb instacure #1 and add spices you like. I used pepper, coriander, cloves and juniper. Dump everything into a sturdy ziplock bag and toss in the fridge for a week, turning it over every now and then.

To cook, put in a big pot of water. I threw away the cure, but it wasn't quite salty enough for me, so either throw in the curing mix or add a few tablespoons salt to the water. Add chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrots, bay leaves, thyme, and more spices. Simmer very gently for about 3 hours. Don't let it come to a full boil!

About half the price of supermarket bought corned beef, which has all sorts of other junk added to it. If you don't mind a brownish color rather than deep lustrous red, you can leave out the nitrates entirely. But I think it does give you proper corned beef." (the original)

What worked: This was incredibly good. It tasted like corned beef (but better).

What didn't: I didn't have time to overhaul the beef in its plastic bag very thoroughly during the week. This meant that the center 1/4" of the thickest part was gray where the cure didn't penetrate. Not unsafe, just esthetically displeasing.

Will I make it again? Certainly.

Corned Beef. It's what's for dinner.

Comments

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

are you going to be a hermit for me?

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

"Don't let it come to a full boil!"

Years ago when first living away from home, I asked my mother how to make corned beef. I wasn't home when she called with instructions, and the person who took the message jotted down (among other instructions): "You can't boil it too long."

I've never gotten a straight answer as to what that means.

Does "You can't boil it too long" mean:


1) It's a hardy piece of meat; boiling it forever won't harm it, or

2) It's going to cause problems if the boiling goes on longer than it needs to, or

3) I, personally, should not boil it too long.


My new 'meat book' I got last weekend has a recipe for corned beef (sounds similar to yours) I'm going to try in a bit. I'll let you know how it goes.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I would vote for #2. I boiled mine for 2 1/2 hours and it was just about right.
Which book?

[aastg.livejournal.com]

No more pencils
No more books
No more teachers' dirty looks....

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

I suspect #2 is right as well. Over the years, she has continued to think it's very funny that such a straightforward spoken sentence is completely ambiguous when written down, and refuses to give me a clarification... simply because it's apparently funny to beat this dead humor-horse. My 'official' stance is it's #3, because that cracks her up even more.

The book is Ruhlman and Polcyn, Charcuterie, W.W. Norton & Co., 2005. One of the nice things about being a dad is that there's an extra opportunity to get nice gifts (and the occasional tie) every mid-June. This was one such thing.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

That's a very good book. I've made a number of yummy salted piggy parts from their recipes.

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

And I'm lucky there's an excellent shop in Los Gatos (less than 10 minutes' drive) for all kinds of meat. They even do game in-season.

http://www.losgatosmeats.com/