How To Cook Corned Beef - Food.com (2024)

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How To Cook Corned Beef - Food.com (1)

A long, slow simmer is the key to this Irish favorite.

How To Cook Corned Beef - Food.com (2)

By Kitchen Is My Playground

Corned beef is a salt-cured cut of beef brisket, which is atougher cut of beef requiring long, slow cooking in liquid to tenderize. Astaple for St. Patrick’s Day, this easy-to-follow guide will make corned beefso tender you’ll want to make it year-round.

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1 Soak the Corned Beef

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Place the beef in your pot, cover with cold water and let soak at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes. Soaking helps draw out some of the salt from the curing process.

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Choose your cut of corned beef wisely. A point cut has more fat marbling and produces juicier slices, while a flat cut is leaner and easier to cut into nice slices.

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2 Add Cooking Liquid

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Pour out the water used to soak the beef. Sprinkle spices from the spice packet that comes with the corned beef into the pot. If you don’t have a packet or you simply want to amp up the spice, toss in a bit of pickling spice.

Add just enough water to fully cover the meat.

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Add a 12-ounce can of beer or 1 1/2 cups of apple juice to the cooking liquid for added flavor. Pour over the meat before adding the water. However, avoid stout beers; they are too bitter.

3 Skim Foam

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Bring the pot to a boil. Use a slotted spoon to skim off any foam that forms on the top.

4 Simmer the Beef

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Cover, reduce the heat and gently simmer for 3 hours until the corned beef is fork-tender.

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5 Prepare the Vegetables

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Corned beef’s classic veggie partner is cabbage. When the 3-hour slow-simmer time is almost up, cut one small to medium-sized head of cabbage into large wedges.

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You can use other veggies too — halved red potatoes, whole small onions, carrots cut in large chunks and cubed rutabagas or turnips work great in this one-pot preparation. Add one or a little of each to the pot.

6 Add Vegetables

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Place prepared vegetables in the pot with the corned beef. Increase heat to return the pot to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover and continue to simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

7 Slice and Serve

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Remove corned beef to a cutting board and trim off the fat. Cut the meat into slices, placing slices on a serving platter. To make the meat more tender, slice corned beef across the grain (with the knife running perpendicular to the lines of the meat).Use a slotted spoon to remove vegetables from the pot, letting excess water drain. Place vegetables on the serving platter alongside the meat.

Find more St. Patrick’s Day favorites here »


Plus: Get the full recipe for this corned beef »


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About Kitchen Is My Playground

How To Cook Corned Beef - Food.com (10)


Tracey is the creator of the popular blogThe Kitchen Is My Playground, which she founded in 2011. Her goal is to share recipes with other home cooks looking to create flavorful (and somewhat adventurous) food for their families and friends. Connect with her onPinterest,Facebook,TwitterorGoogle+.

How To Cook Corned Beef - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What is the best method to cook corned beef? ›

The most common method for cooking corned beef and cabbage is boiling. Put the meat in a large pot, cover it with water or beef broth, add a seasoning packet and boil before lowering the heat to a simmer. Cook for 2 to 3 hours or until the meat is tender and cooked to your liking.

Is it better to cook corned beef in the oven or boil it? ›

We like this method because the water envelopes the meat with moisture to keep it from drying out. However, it's also easy to boil too vigorously, creating tough pockets in the meat. Baked corned beef, on the other hand, is more of a hands-off process.

Do I need to soak my corned beef before cooking? ›

Place the beef in your pot, cover with cold water and let soak at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes. Soaking helps draw out some of the salt from the curing process.

How is corned beef usually cooked? ›

Traditional method for cooking corned beef: boil it hard

The traditional means of preparing corned beef is to put it in a pot and boil it all day, adding cabbage, carrots, and potatoes in the last 40 minutes or so.

What is the secret to tender corned beef? ›

When you're done cooking the corned beef, make sure you slice against the grain of the meat. This will produce a more tender result; if you slice with the grain, you'll find a more tough and stringy texture when you chew.

Does corned beef get more tender the longer it is cooked? ›

Information. Corned beef is made from one of several less tender cuts of beef like the brisket, rump, or round. Therefore, it requires long, moist cooking. Corned beef is safe once the internal temperature has reached at least 145 °F, with a three minute rest time, but cooking it longer will make it fork-tender.

Do you use the liquid in the corned beef package? ›

Place the brined corned beef in a large pot or Dutch oven along with the liquid and spices that accompanied it in the package. Pour in enough water to cover the beef, then bring the water to a boil on the stovetop. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover the pot.

Do I cook corned beef fat side up or down? ›

Remove Corned Beef from package and place fat-side up in oven-proof pan. Add 1″ of water and mix in seasoning from spice packet. Tightly seal pan with lid or foil. Remove meat from oven and let rest 10 mins.

How long to boil 3 lb corned beef? ›

Simmer 45-50 minutes per pound (until meat is fork tender). Approximately 2 ½ -3 ½ hours. Once tender, remove meat from the pot and cover (reserve the cooking liquid, this will flavor your vegetables). Place corned beef in a 250°F oven to keep warm.

What happens if you don't rinse corned beef? ›

1. Not Rinsing the Meat Before Cooking. If you cook the meat straight from the plastic packaging or pulled the meat right away from the brine solution in the fridge without rinsing, you just might be in for a saltier meal than you bargained for.

Should you cover corned beef with water when cooking? ›

Place your corned beef brisket in a large pot or Dutch oven with a lid along with some aromatics like carrot chunks, celery stalks and a quartered onion. These vegetables will infuse the cooking liquid with flavor as the corned beef simmers away. Cover the corned beef with water.

Does corned beef need to be in liquid in a slow cooker? ›

You can add seasonings other than salt, like black peppercorns and bay leaves. Keep the brisket submerged at all times as well since it's the water actually transferring heat into the meat and cooking it. Letting the top become exposed will dry out the meat and slow down the cooking process, leading to uneven doneness.

What is the most popular way to cook corned beef? ›

Boiling is the traditional way of preparing corned beef.

Why isn't my corned beef falling apart? ›

Not filling the pot with enough water.

One of the keys to getting there is the amount of water in the pot. From start to finish, when there's not ample liquid to cover the meat, your dreams of tender corned beef might be crushed with a tough, chewy result.

How can you tell if corned beef is done? ›

If it is fork-tender it is most likely done. Drain the meat and vegetables. Insert a meat thermometer into the center of the brisket. If the thermometer reads 145 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degrees Celsius), it is cooked.

Is it better to cook corned beef in water or beef broth? ›

The corned beef seasoning adds so much flavor to this traditional recipe, and a low, slow cook in beef broth makes this corned beef brisket juicy, tender and melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

How do you cook corned beef without drying it out? ›

Instead: Start by filling a large pot with enough water so the corned beef is completely submerged. Remove the lid to check the level of liquid throughout the cooking process and add more water, if necessary. This small step will ensure a super-tender corned beef is the end result.

Should corned beef be covered in liquid? ›

Remove Corned Beef from package and place in crock pot and completely cover with water. Cover and cook for approximately 11 hours on low or 5 hours on high, or until firmly fork tender. Please note that crock pot cooking times may vary greatly depending upon brand and style.

Do you rinse corned beef before slow cooking? ›

Yes, corned beef should be rinsed because it is cured in a salt brine; there is probably excess salt on the meat. The uncooked corned beef should be rinsed under cool running water before it is cooked.

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