St. Patrick's Day addictions

Talk about anything here as long as it is not against the rules.
Lorenzoid
User
User
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2020 18:09
Location: Atlanta

Re: St. Patrick's Day addictions

Post by Lorenzoid » Sun Mar 21, 2021 19:56

I'm not much of a picture-taker, so my follow-up will not be as interesting as Scogar's. The corned beef was great, but for me, it was the Irish fry-up for breakfast, with black and white puddings and bacon, that made it St. Patrick's Day. As I mentioned, I don't do the boil-up with cabbage, etc., anymore, but rather go straight for the Reubens.

Maybe it's my unrefined or aging palate, but I can't really detect a difference no matter how I spice the corned beef. This year, I used about twice as much pickling spice--crushed coriander seed, mustard seed, black peppercorns, and bay leaf--as I have in previous years, and I added about 10 cloves of garlic, which I had never used in a corned beef brine before. Although a side-by-side comparison would be more fair, I can't say it tasted any differently than my memory of previous years, or of New York delis for that matter.

I used a prime brisket from Costco, separated the flat and point, and wet-brined both together for a few days. I cooked it all in water at 180F for 10 hours, which is a recommendation from Kenji of the Serious Eats blog. My oven set on "slow cook" gave reasonably accurate results. There are as many recommendations out there for time/temperature combinations as there are people cooking corned beef. Kenji said he found 175F for 15 hours to be moister but actually preferred the texture achieved by 180F for 10 hours. The Kosher Dosher blog that Scogar mentioned advocates 131F for 72 hours for the flat, and 142F for 44 hours for the point. Seriously? At the other end of the obsessiveness spectrum, Alton Brown says "simmer 2-3 hours until tender."

I refrigerated the cooked beef in preparation for Reubens the next day. Cold slices were put into a foil pouch with a sprinkling of water, sealed, and allowed to steam 10 minutes in the oven. Russian dressing recipe and assembly procedure were per Serious Eats.

For the sandwiches, I used the point and froze the cooked flat. I'll probably use it for Reubens again in a few months, and I probably won't be able to tell the difference from the point based on my memory alone. Oh well. Maybe having an unrefined palate is actually an advantage in food-related hobbies. :D
Post Reply