writes:
>tert in seattle wrote:
>> let's say someone got the instructions wrong and added about 20 cloves
>> instead of 1 or 2 to a corned beef recipe and let it simmer that way
>> for about two hours ... is there an antidote?
>
>Without knowing how huch corned beef (and especially how much water)
>you're talking it's difficult to say if you're actually using too many
>cloves.
>
>Cloves are a normal part of pickling spice. Typical stupidmarket
>pickling spice uses very few cloves, because cloves are expensive,
>mostly they use mustard seed, the cheapest spice. Were I cooking
>corned beef 20 cloves would be too few in my pickling spice, but I
>cook like 20lbs of corned beef in like 20 quarts of water. I like
>Penzeys pickling spice, it is potent with the "good stuff", contains
>lots of cloves.
>
>Penzeys:
>"We use less mustard seed than most pickling spice mixes, as mustard
>is the least expensive spice around. Hand-mixed from: yellow and brown
>Canadian mustard seeds, Jamaican allspice, cracked China cassia,
>cracked Turkish bay leaves, dill seed, Zanzibar cloves, cracked China
>ginger, Tellicherry peppercorns, star anise, Moroccan coriander,
>juniper berries, West Indies mace, cardamom and medium hot crushed red
>peppers."
>
>How do you know that your corned beef will have too strong a clove
>flavor, did you taste it? If it's still cooking add lots more hot
>water (adding cold water will cause the meat to seize, so it can't
>readily release the clove flavor. If it's finished cooking you can
>still simmer it awhile in plain water. A good neutralizer for cloves
>is hot pepper (as in jerk sauce), if you don't mind the heat, and
>citrus with it's sweet tart flavor will also counteract clove flavor,
>add the peel of an orange. I often add an orange rind and a lemon
>rind to my corned beef boil as a matter of course.
>
>But you haven't actually said that your corned beef has too much clove
>flavor, only that you think you added too many cloves. Why don't you
>try tasting some and report back.

someone posted this link: http://www.recipezaar.com/86868

I had about 3 lb of corned beef which came with its own packet of
spices (stupidmarket post-St Pats sale ... no cloves included)

I emailed the recipe to my wife from work and asked her to start
it so we'd eat some time before midnight

I said "add one clove" and somehow she heard "add two dozen cloves."
I came home to a house that smelled like potpourri and a started
fishing for cloves immediately.

In hindsight the idea to discard the broth and simmer in plain water
(with apple juice -- thanks Dmitri, I like that idea -- or some lemon
juice might have helped) was probably the right thing to do but I
foolishly attempted to salvage the full-strength broth and reduce
it like the recipe says and I didn't want to waste that bottle of
Guinness ... but it was a lost cause already

the corned beef was all right -- a little heavy on the clove and
not too bitter -- but the sauce was inedible and possibly toxic
in large enough quantities