What is the best way to cook tender corned beef?

Question

My lovely irish mom used to make corned beef and cabbage every St. Patricks day. The way she prepared it seemed effortless and the meat was so tender - melted in your mouth!! She said there was a trick to it. She passed away and the recipe was lost with her. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Corned beef is slow cooked, so a crock pot is a great way to prepare it. More importantly, choose the right corned beef! Real corned beef is made from beef brisket. Great corned beef is from high quality beef. Most people look for the leanest cut they can find and then complain when it comes out tough. The higher the grade of beef the more fat is marbled into the meat. If you don't see streaks of fat in the meat it's not going to come out tender. Another thing to watch out for is "pumped beef". Our meat packers have learned ways to pump saline and meat tenderizer into beef and have it absorb without leaking out again. If your corned beef says 35% water added it's going to taste a little weird and you are paying 2-4 dollars a pound for that water. It extends shelf life for them too, so they can prepackage meats using cheap illegal labor while eliminating middle class jobs like mine.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Almost everyone here gave you good answers. But really, in today's world, unless you have more time than sense, a crock pot IS the ONLY answer. The flavors have time to just all meld together and it is fool proof.

Put the hard veggies on the bottom of the crock pot (potatoes, carrots, onions) then the brisket, then about an hour before done place the cabbage on top. (with all the requisite seasonings; and don't use water for heaven's sake. Watery corned beef! What is that.)

Actually, corned beef is not an irish invention, the best is from Kosher Delis ... and the best in the world from Meyerberg's deli in San Jose California (used to be in the Town & Country Shopping Center) second best at Cantor's Deli in Los Angeles

Have a great dinner

Answer 4

Buy a corned beef brisket. They have a little seasoning packet in them. Put the brisket in a heavy pot with the seasonings and put just enough water to cover. Simmer..do not boil until it is tender. It can take a few hours. Don't let it get dry. When it is done, take it out and cut it up. Cook your cabbage and you can use some of the corned beef broth (not the seasoning balls that are in it) added to the water that you are cooking the cabbage. When the cabbage is almost done, add the cooked corned beef. I hope this helps because I love good corned beef and cabbage too.

Answer 5

I cover the corned beef with water and add a bay leaf, an onion, I tabs brown sugar and about 1/4 cup white vinegar. Bring it to the boil then simmer it til it is tender depending on the size of the meat.Generally about 1 1/2 hours.

Answer 6

I don't have any secret recipes, but mine is always tender because I continue to boil it until the fork I stick in it falls out easily. Put your fork in it when you put it in the pot. Then try again in about 45 minutes. If it seems very easy to slip off the fork, cut a small piece off and see how it tastes. If it's not done yet, cook it for, say, 20 more minutes. The timing here is approximate, so just keep checking it until you like it.
If you have a pressure cooker you know how to use, the book that came with it should give you some good ideas about how long to cook it. Pressure cookers are a lot faster than just boiling!

Answer 7

Irish Boiled Dinner (Corned Beef)
SUBMITTED BY: Ann Hester

"Mouth watering tender corned beef with corned beef flavored potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. This is my great grandmothers recipe from Ireland. This was served with both Irish soda bread and corn bread at our house."

INGREDIENTS
1 (5 1/2 pound) corned beef brisket
2 large onions
15 small white (Irish) potatoes
10 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 heads cabbage, cored and cut into wedges
DIRECTIONS
Rinse the beef brisket under cold water, and place in a large pot. Add enough water to cover the roast by 6 inches. Peel the onions, and place them in the pot with the roast. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 30 minutes at a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-low so that the water is at a gentle boil, cover, and cook for 3 1/2 hours.
Remove the lid from the brisket. Remove onions, and cut into wedges. Return them to the pot. Add carrots to the pot, then place the cabbage over the roast. Place the potatoes on top of the cabbage. Place the lid back on the pot, and cook for another 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. The potatoes should be immersed in the water by now, but if not, keep the lid on so they can steam.
Remove the vegetables from the pot, and place in a separate serving bowl. Keep the corned beef in the pot until ready to slice and serve because it dries out quickly.
Tip

With the leftovers you can reduce the broth and dice up leftover beef and vegetables and have corned beef soup another day in the week.

Answer 8

You need:

(1) Minimum 2 and 1/2 lb beef brisket up to 4 lbs. (2) Two medium onions chopped. (3) Small packet of corned pepper, or 1 tablespoon of corned pepper (4) 2 cloves of garlic (5) 2 Bay leaves (6) 1 Head of Cabbage. (7) Water and (8) Crock Pot.

1. Place Corned beef brisket, mostly trimmed of fat into crock pot. Make sure it has just a very little bit of fat so you can add some flavor to it. 2 1/2 - 4 lbs recommended.

2. Add water, just enough to barely cover the top of the brisket.

3. Add Pepper corns by sprinkling them evenly in the water around the meat.

4. Add the chopped onion, evenly sprinkled around the meat.

5. Put in the bay leaves and the garlic cloves.

6. Cook on low heat for 9 to 10 hours. Best thing to do is set it before you go to bed the night before and have a time ready in the morning.

7. At the end of 9 to 10 hours of slow cooking, remove the beef from the broth, break up the cabbage wedges, and put the cabbage into the remaining broth. Turn the crock pot to HIGH and cook for 15 - 20 minutes or however long it takes to make the cabbage soft.

8. As an added bonus, if you think the meat's still too tough, put it back in the broth in the crockpot for a short period of time and keep checking it for tenderness.

Answer 9

You could boil it in a crock pot, but the only way to do that is to boil all the fixings with it- that can be hard due to how many people you have, and you have to check the number of pounds on your corn beef, it's an hr for every pound. OR if you have a huge family like mine and a huge corned beef, you could get a dutch oven and you have to make it with all the fixings,, and it will be delicious!!! I add chopped onions, celery and salt to it, it comes out much better, sometimes I substitute for celery salt instead, just as good!!!! I hope you have a good day that tommorrow and good luck!

Answer 10

Corned beef used to be the only canned food available till globalization starts spreading around in this part of the World, India. I used to relish it very much and have had the opportunity to learn how my Mom cooks it. Warm up the can in boiling water to avoid tin poisoning. Stir fry some onions with pepper, open the can and pour the contents of the corned beef into it, mix it and you have a good meal to go with bread or bun. Probably your mom used to stir fry cabbages instead of onions. Try you might like it.