The Safeway corned beef package I'm about to cook says to steam it, rather
than braise it. Have any tried it? I've never tried it. I know Pete, above,
does it routinely. If you're using a heavily salted corned beef I'd think
you'd end up with something too salty. If you have done this, do you brown
the brisket first? I've been browning the brisket when I braise and it makes
quite a difference. You could also use beer in your steaming liquid, though
I doubt that it would make any difference.
TIA,

Ed

Theron wrote:
>
> The Safeway corned beef package I'm about to cook says to steam it, rather
> than braise it. Have any tried it? I've never tried it. I know Pete, above,
> does it routinely. If you're using a heavily salted corned beef I'd think
> you'd end up with something too salty. If you have done this, do you brown
> the brisket first? I've been browning the brisket when I braise and it makes
> quite a difference. You could also use beer in your steaming liquid, though
> I doubt that it would make any difference.
> TIA,
>
> Ed

Baking it is not steaming it. The water in the pan is mostly to keep the
drippings from burning, not for steam.

Theron > wrote:

> The Safeway corned beef package I'm about to cook says to steam it, rather
> than braise it. Have any tried it? I've never tried it. I know Pete, above,
> does it routinely. If you're using a heavily salted corned beef I'd think
> you'd end up with something too salty. If you have done this, do you brown
> the brisket first? I've been browning the brisket when I braise and it makes
> quite a difference. You could also use beer in your steaming liquid, though
> I doubt that it would make any difference.
> TIA,

I haven't tried the steaming (sound legit - better than simmering),
but just know that different brands of corned beef have differing
amounts of salt. One may have 3x as much salt as another. The only
way to know is to always buy the same brand, or test fry a little
price first. Some do not need any desalting. Some are still too
salty after several soaks.

Or corn your own, which is what I did this year.

-sw

"Sqwertz" > wrote in message
...
> Theron > wrote:
>
>> The Safeway corned beef package I'm about to cook says to steam it,
>> rather
>> than braise it. Have any tried it? I've never tried it. I know Pete,
>> above,
>> does it routinely. If you're using a heavily salted corned beef I'd think
>> you'd end up with something too salty. If you have done this, do you
>> brown
>> the brisket first? I've been browning the brisket when I braise and it
>> makes
>> quite a difference. You could also use beer in your steaming liquid,
>> though
>> I doubt that it would make any difference.
>> TIA,
>
> I haven't tried the steaming (sound legit - better than simmering),
> but just know that different brands of corned beef have differing
> amounts of salt. One may have 3x as much salt as another. The only
> way to know is to always buy the same brand, or test fry a little
> price first. Some do not need any desalting. Some are still too
> salty after several soaks.
>
> Or corn your own, which is what I did this year.
>
> -sw

The safeway product above suggested steaming. We'll see what it ends up
like. Hopefully not
too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you use
nitrite? Did you inject?

Ed

Theron > wrote:

> The safeway product above suggested steaming. We'll see what it ends up
> like. Hopefully not
> too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you use
> nitrite? Did you inject?

I heated water and simmered a bunch of fresh bay leaf, mustard
seends, cloves, coriander, garlic and peppercorns. I then watered
that down with a 3 quarts of cold water and added kosher salt until
I had the right amount (I do all my brines by taste - so don't ask
how much salt I used).

Then I trimmed the point off the flat and cut the flat into 2. Each
half of the flat went into a gallon ziplock with half the brine and
a tablespoon of Instacure #1. Brined for 3 days and came out
perfect.

Longer brining for a 2-2.5" thick flat is unnecessary - some recipes
tell you 7-10 days, which is BS, even if the point was still
attached)

-sw

"Sqwertz" > wrote in message
...
> Theron > wrote:
>
>> The safeway product above suggested steaming. We'll see what it ends up
>> like. Hopefully not
>> too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you
>> use
>> nitrite? Did you inject?
>
> I heated water and simmered a bunch of fresh bay leaf, mustard
> seends, cloves, coriander, garlic and peppercorns. I then watered
> that down with a 3 quarts of cold water and added kosher salt until
> I had the right amount (I do all my brines by taste - so don't ask
> how much salt I used).
>
> Then I trimmed the point off the flat and cut the flat into 2. Each
> half of the flat went into a gallon ziplock with half the brine and
> a tablespoon of Instacure #1. Brined for 3 days and came out
> perfect.
>
> Longer brining for a 2-2.5" thick flat is unnecessary - some recipes
> tell you 7-10 days, which is BS, even if the point was still
> attached)
>
> -sw

Sorry, dwarf, but brining ain't corning... brining meat must be some kinda
moron redneck thang... you brine cucumbers and cabbage, not meat.

I don't particularly endorse these recipes but the corning method is
correct... it's best to pack like six-ten briskets together.

http://www.alliedkenco.com/catalog/p.../recipes/key/8

brooklyn1 > wrote:

> "Sqwertz" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Theron > wrote:
>>
>>> The safeway product above suggested steaming. We'll see what it ends up
>>> like. Hopefully not
>>> too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you
>>> use
>>> nitrite? Did you inject?
>>
>> I heated water and simmered a bunch of fresh bay leaf, mustard
>> seends, cloves, coriander, garlic and peppercorns. I then watered
>> that down with a 3 quarts of cold water and added kosher salt until
>> I had the right amount (I do all my brines by taste - so don't ask
>> how much salt I used).
>>
>> Then I trimmed the point off the flat and cut the flat into 2. Each
>> half of the flat went into a gallon ziplock with half the brine and
>> a tablespoon of Instacure #1. Brined for 3 days and came out
>> perfect.
>>
>> Longer brining for a 2-2.5" thick flat is unnecessary - some recipes
>> tell you 7-10 days, which is BS, even if the point was still
>> attached)
>
> Sorry, dwarf, but brining ain't corning... brining meat must be some kinda
> moron redneck thang... you brine cucumbers and cabbage, not meat.

Your anal, outdated terminology means nothing to the rest of us.
Brining (VIA injection, tumbling, and soaking) is the method by
which *all* manufacturers make corned beef. What you do in your own
little, ignorant world is meaningless to everyone but yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corned_beef

-sw

In my opinion corned beef is often heated or kept warm
on steam tables in hofbrau-style restaurants. But this
is not the same as steaming it. In my experience steaming
something like corned beef actually makes it tougher.
You actually want to just warm it. Partly covering with
foil works.

Steve

Theron > wrote:

> too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you use
> nitrite? Did you inject?

BTW, I would only inject meat if it was over 3.5-4" thick at any
given point.

-sw

Theron wrote:

> The safeway product above suggested steaming. We'll see what it ends up
> like. Hopefully not
> too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you use
> nitrite? Did you inject?

I have roasted corned beef. Way too salty. My suggestion is to simmer
the meat as you would normally and finish it off in the oven. Dump some
barbecue sauce over it if you like. That's tasty!

I've never heard of steaming corned beef - or any beef. I you'd like to
try it, use a steamer, not the oven.

>
> Ed
>

"dsi1" wrote:
> Theron wrote:
>
>> The safeway product above suggested steaming. We'll see what it ends up
>> like. Hopefully not
>> too salty. I'm interested in your brine recipe for corning beef Did you
>> use nitrite? Did you inject?
>
> I have roasted corned beef. Way too salty. My suggestion is to simmer the
> meat as you would normally and finish it off in the oven. Dump some
> barbecue sauce over it if you like. That's tasty!
>
> I've never heard of steaming corned beef - or any beef. I you'd like to
> try it, use a steamer, not the oven.
>
>>
>> Ed
>>
Restaurants use a steam cabinet to to keep corned beef hot all day without
it drying out, but it's not cooked with steam. Corned beef is cooked in
copious quantities of water to extract as much salt as possible, otherwise
it will be inedible to all but the TIADers. Everyone who's cooking corned
beef with a crockpot or a pressure processor is a TIADer. Anyone who's
brining and calling it corning is a kitchen imbecile, because what they're
doing is preparing fercocktah sauer braten.

brooklyn1 wrote:

> Restaurants use a steam cabinet to to keep corned beef hot all day without
> it drying out, but it's not cooked with steam. Corned beef is cooked in
> copious quantities of water to extract as much salt as possible, otherwise
> it will be inedible to all but the TIADers. Everyone who's cooking corned
> beef with a crockpot or a pressure processor is a TIADer. Anyone who's
> brining and calling it corning is a kitchen imbecile, because what they're
> doing is preparing fercocktah sauer braten.
>

Don't look at me, I ain't calling it brining! I would do this corning
stuff but we don't see brisket much over here anyway. My guess is that
nobody know how to prepare a uncured brisket. Not that it matters much -
there no Morton Cure on this island either.