Make Your Own Corned Beef Part 2

Whoo! Corned beef!!  Just in time for St. Patty's!  Here is the continuation of the corned beef recipe.  The rest of the procedure is very simple:

Cooking Corned Beef

1. Drain meat and discard brine and spices. Rise meat well under cold water.
2.  Put meat into a large pot and cover with 1" cold water (or more if you want it slightly less salty).  Add in 1TB new pickling spices if you desire.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.  Cook for 2-4 hours or until fork tender.
3. Take meat out of cooking water, and let cool for 15-20 minutes.  Once it is cool, slice thin.  If you are not going to eat it immediately, make sure to lay the slices out in thin layers to cool quickly, then store in the refrigerator for about 5 days.

My corned beef is "grey" (though that sounds unappetizing!) compared to the  popular red color of corned beef made with nitrates.  However, it is no less delicious!

I found that my meat was a little on the salty side because I wasn't able to cover it with more than 1" of water.  I would recommend adding in more water at the beginning of the cooking process, or as it evaportates during cooking.
My corned beef took 3 hours to cook, and it probably could have gone about 30 minutes more if I wanted to....I was just hungry, haha!  But it turned out really nice and tender, but still firm enough to slice.


Corned Beef and Cabbage:

1.  Taste cooking liquid for salt content.  If it is too salty (mine was), pour out about half of it, and add in more cold water.  Add shredded green cabbage plus other veggies of your liking (potatoes, carrots, etc) to cooking liquid, bring to a boil and simmer until just tender*.
2. Enjoy with sliced beef.

*I only added cabbage to my dish, so it only took about 5 minutes to cook.  If you are going to simmer carrots and potatoes as well, add them first, then put in the cabbage later.  This way, your cabbage will stay not overcook.

I added some bite-sized beef chucks into my cabbage to make it a soup!

My next project tonight is....Guiness Stout Chocolate Cake!  Stay tuned!