I am curing a brisket for St. Patty’s day. Used Ruhlman’s recipe for the 5% brine. Going to slow cook it instead of boiling. Will post pics when in come out of the cure and when it comes out of the oven. Reviews of this recipe have been good. I’ll let you know. Going to do a pastrami after that.
That one might be a candidate for a roasting bag to braise it in. Ruhlman’s recipes rock. Good luck we want some food pron.
I’ve used Homebrew Chef’s recipe for corned beef and as step 1 for pastrami. This year I’m curing a chuck roast, mostly because I didn’t want to deal with 10lbs of brisket.
I’m also going to try celery juice as a ‘natural’ source of nitrates. More to see how it works than out of a fear of nitrates.
Yeah, I think that would work well. Ruhlman says wrap it in foil, but I think the roasting bag would be even better.
Not nitrates! Nitrites, nitrites, nitrites…
Right, nitrites.
Anyone ever smoke their corned beef? Oh, my, my, my! A friend has a Traeger and the first time they prepared corned beef for our brew club the whole group went into silent ecstasy. I’ve managed to duplicate it in my cheap smoker. I start it in a 200F smoker for a couple hours or so, naked, (not me, the corned beef) toward the last, paint it with a fruity BBQ sauce, (raspberry chipotle mango orange habanero mash up) then wrap in foil and finish in a slow oven until it’s as tender as you want. Seriously doubt I’ll ever go back to traditional way of cooking it.
BTW, if you don’t know it…while your corned beef is still a bit warm, wrap it VERY tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate. When you take it out, it’s a nice solid block of meat that you can slice paper thin deli style for sandwiches.
I’ve coated corned beef in a layer of pepper/coriander and smoked it. I call it pastrami. :D It’s time consuming but not difficult. I’m sure other smoke preparations would be good too.
I smoked corned beef too, great stuff. I might have to try the Ruhlman recipe, I haven’t done that one yet. Man, I’m getting hungry just thinking about this stuff.
I sliced some cold last night for dinner. Nice and thin. It was delicious with stone ground mustard, cabbage, parsnips, carrots and potatoes.
I did not corn it myself, so I can’t take much credit, but it was good and the kids love it, too.
Me too - feeling hungry. It’s kind of a one-two punch with the homemade mustard thread ! Now if somebody has a good rye bread recipe we can have the trifecta.
Now you’re talking! My rye always comes out too dense, I can’t get a good rise out of it. I even tried adding gluten. So I’m going to say my rye recipe is not a good one, at least in my hands.
shreik!
That’s pastrami alright! I don’t care if it isn’t from the navel. Have to restrain myself from gobbling it up before chilling during my quality check! Just like a lot of what we do, it’s a process; the chilling makes a huge difference in the finished product.
If you try to slice corned beef or pastrami warm it will just crumble. I always make it ahead of time.
Herschel’s slices theirs warm. Best damn pastrami I ever had. (Reading Terminal Market) It seems to hold its shape just fine. I wonder if it’s the quality of the brisket maybe?
I’ve sliced warm corned beef without it falling apart. I think the quality of the brisket definitely matters.
Regardless, you can slice it much thinner though when it’s cold, IME.
For home made Italian beef, I’ve tossed them in the freezer for a bit before slicing.
Man, why are you taunting me with that. Now I want one of their reubens…
Yep thin slices. I bet you had to slice much thicker when warm or hot even.
Not sure if it is really a meat quality issue as much as a technique concern. I think it needs to rest at some point to firm up a bit prior to slicing. Also, a sharp knife without sawing away at the meat- one pass per slice will keep each brisket slice more intact. Depends on doneness too I suppose. At some point the meat loses its cohesiveness beyond the point of unctuously tender and is mushy and crumbly no matter what.
Sorry Marc, I’ll be sure eat one in your honor the next time I’m up there! 
I’m trying this Pastrami recipe for St. Patty’s this year. It’s corned and rubbed so far and ready to be smoked tomorrow and finally steamed.
http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/close_to_katzs_home_made_pastrami.html
Didn’t brine one myself this year but I’ll be cooking it in the morn with beer and then wrapping it in foil and keeping it warm in the smoker for a couple hours while I mess with the veggies before the folks come over.
I bought two this year, second one is destined for pastrami later on.