Corned Bottom Round Beef - Too Dry????
Hugh
comes out dry, if I use corned bottom round beef. Does anyone have a secret,
other than using brisket. We followed the recipe below, substituting corned
bottom round for brisket, and it came out dry as usual. Does anyone have any
secrets?
TIA,
Hugh
Corned Beef and Cabbage in Guinness Recipe
4 lbs flat cut corned beef brisket
1 (12 ounce) bottle Guinness stout, draught
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 head cabbage, cut into wedges, rinsed and drained
6 medium white potatoes, peeled and quartered
1-2 lb carrot, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
Rinse corned beef under cold water, and pat dry.
In a Dutch oven, or other large pot with a cover, brown corned beef well on
all sides over high heat.
Pour Guinness over the meat, and add enough water to just cover the brisket.
Add the onion, garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and pepper to
the pot.
Bring pot to a boil and skim off any foam.
Reduce heat to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer for 3 hours.
Add carrots, then potatoes and then the cabbage wedges to the pot.
Cover pot, and continue cooking until meat and vegetables are tender (about
20-30 minutes).
Janet Wilder
> The big Irish day is coming up. We love corned beef. Every time I make it it
> comes out dry, if I use corned bottom round beef. Does anyone have a secret,
> other than using brisket. We followed the recipe below, substituting corned
> bottom round for brisket, and it came out dry as usual. Does anyone have any
> secrets?
<snipped recipe>
I have never made a corned beef round and can't understand why anyone
would. The meat braises a long time and it requires fat to keep it
moist. IMHO, round doesn't have the required fat.
I guess there are still people who believe that the Irish in Ireland eat
corned beef on St. Patrick's day, but they don't and adding some
Guinness to corned beef round is, to me, kind of extra-pseudo Irish.
I am guessing that the cloves, cinnamon and allspice come from the spice
package, but there is more to pickling spice than that, so if your
corned beef doesn't come with a little packet of spices, just by some
McCormick pickling spice and add about a tablespoon or so of that.
I cook a corned beef brisket (flat cut) in the crock pot overnight. All
I add is water, the packet of spices that usually comes with it, 3 or 4
(depending on the size) bay leaves, a few extra pepper corns a quartered
onion and about 4 cloves of garlic, cut in half. It cooks on low
overnight. In the morning I remove the corned beef from the liquid and
wrap it in aluminum foil and as soon as it's cool enough, pop it into
the fridge. I pour all the liquid from the pot into a container and pop
that into the fridge, too.
About an hour or so before dinner time, I heat the water and add
quartered potatoes, usually red ones with the skin still on. I let that
cook for a little then I add a head of cabbage cut into wedges.
Sometimes I add baby carrots, too.
While all of that is cooking, I slice up the cold meat, which slices
much better when cold.
When the potatoes and cabbage (and carrots) are done, I remove them to a
platter then put the sliced meat into the hot liquid and bring it up to
temperature. Lift the meat out with a slotted spoon or slotted spatula.
Corned beef and cabbage (a/k/a New England boiled dinner)is a simple,
peasant dish and benefits mostly, IMHO, by not complicating it with
extraneous ingredients.
JMTCW
Ed Pawlowski
"Hugh" <jar...@rocketmail.com> wrote in message
news:gougn3$rb8$1...@news.motzarella.org...
> The big Irish day is coming up. We love corned beef. Every time I make it
> it comes out dry, if I use corned bottom round beef. Does anyone have a
> secret, other than using brisket. We followed the recipe below,
> substituting corned bottom round for brisket, and it came out dry as
> usual. Does anyone have any secrets?
> TIA,
> Hugh
Only idea I have is to use the brisket. It is a much better cut when
properly cooked. Round, IMO, is just too dry to use for anything as there
leis just not enough fat in it.
Damsel in dis Dress
wrote:
>Corned Beef and Cabbage in Guinness Recipe
This sounds fantastic! Thanks for posting it.
Carol
--
Change "invalid" to JamesBond's agent number to reply.
Hugh
"Damsel in dis Dress" <carol-5...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:t8o5r4tbv8434rtot...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 11:08:16 -0800, "Hugh" <jar...@rocketmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Corned Beef and Cabbage in Guinness Recipe
>
> This sounds fantastic! Thanks for posting it.
>
> Carol
>
a lot. Browning the meat first does a lot. Brown in the roasting pan, pour
the fat off, and deglaze with water. Then add beer and water to cover. Both
browning and beer add a lot to the dish. A dark beer adds a nice taste
addition; You want a beer/water ratio of about 3-4 parts water to 1 part
beer. When using a larger 7-8 quart pan we use two dark beers with the water
and seasonings. Browning makes quite a difference. Brown fairly thoroughly,
after trimming as much surface fat beforehand as you can. Much less fat
comes to the surface of the braising liquid with browning. I usually use
rendered bacon fat for a dish like this to brown instead of cooking oil. All
of this keeps the meat moist, yet still in one piece, and more flavorful. As
the recipe states, we clean up the braising liquid and reduce it to serve,
and to use for the next corned beef. After last nights somewhat dry bottom
round we going to revert to the traditional beef brisket next time.
Hugh
"Janet Wilder" <kelly...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:00404488$0$28491$c3e...@news.astraweb.com...
> Hugh wrote:
>> The big Irish day is coming up. We love corned beef. Every time I make it
>> it comes out dry, if I use corned bottom round beef. Does anyone have a
>> secret, other than using brisket. We followed the recipe below,
>> substituting corned bottom round for brisket, and it came out dry as
>> usual. Does anyone have any secrets?
>
>
> <snipped recipe>
>
> I have never made a corned beef round and can't understand why anyone
> would. The meat braises a long time and it requires fat to keep it moist.
> IMHO, round doesn't have the required fat.
>
> I guess there are still people who believe that the Irish in Ireland eat
> corned beef on St. Patrick's day, but they don't and adding some Guinness
> to corned beef round is, to me, kind of extra-pseudo Irish.
>
> I am guessing that the cloves, cinnamon and allspice come from the spice
> package, but there is more to pickling spice than that, so if your corned
> beef doesn't come with a little packet of spices, just by some McCormick
> pickling spice and add about a tablespoon or so of that.
>
[snipped some of Janet's text]
Cooking corned bottom round on low in the crockpot might be interesting to
try,
sort of a "sous vide" in the home, keeping the temp. slightly lower than
simmer. I'm
going to try that next time.
The bottom round, sliced very thinly, makes for an excellent corned beef
sandwich
the day after. Also it's good for red flannel hash. The bottom round has
excellent flavor.
Happy St. Pat's Day,
Hugh
Damsel in dis Dress
wrote:
>Only idea I have is to use the brisket. It is a much better cut when
>properly cooked. Round, IMO, is just too dry to use for anything as there
>leis just not enough fat in it.
I use round for my Italian beef sandwiches. Cooked in the crockpot.
Very tender result.
Damsel in dis Dress
wrote:
>"Damsel in dis Dress" <carol-5...@charter.net> wrote in message
>news:t8o5r4tbv8434rtot...@4ax.com...
>> On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 11:08:16 -0800, "Hugh" <jar...@rocketmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Corned Beef and Cabbage in Guinness Recipe
>>
>> This sounds fantastic! Thanks for posting it.
>>
>We've used this recipe both for corned brisket and bottom round, and like it
>a lot. Browning the meat first does a lot. Brown in the roasting pan, pour
>the fat off, and deglaze with water. Then add beer and water to cover. Both
>browning and beer add a lot to the dish. A dark beer adds a nice taste
>addition; You want a beer/water ratio of about 3-4 parts water to 1 part
>beer. When using a larger 7-8 quart pan we use two dark beers with the water
>and seasonings. Browning makes quite a difference. Brown fairly thoroughly,
>after trimming as much surface fat beforehand as you can. Much less fat
>comes to the surface of the braising liquid with browning. I usually use
>rendered bacon fat for a dish like this to brown instead of cooking oil. All
>of this keeps the meat moist, yet still in one piece, and more flavorful. As
>the recipe states, we clean up the braising liquid and reduce it to serve,
>and to use for the next corned beef. After last nights somewhat dry bottom
>round we going to revert to the traditional beef brisket next time.
Thanks for the tips. I generally dry-roast the corned beef at around
225F for a few hours, until it's fall-apart tender. I'd really like
to try the boiled dinner form sometime. Maybe next week?
brooklyn1
"Ed Pawlowski" <e...@snet.net> wrote in message
news:vPAsl.21281$yr3....@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com...
suffice, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's not good for anything. I
usually choose top round, bottom round is kind of gristly but still good for
many recipes... trim away the silver skin and gristle and it's perfect for
chili and any meat sauce. I probably use more top round than all other beef
cuts combined; london broil, oven/pot roast, chili, burgers, meat loaf,
stews/soups, bracciole, pepper steak, stirfry, and on and on. My next most
often eaten beef cut is chuck, and I much prefer grilled chuck steak to the
more tender/costly steaks. I eat some of the less popular cuts too like
short ribs, flank, skirt, and others. I don't only eat porterhouse.
Hugh
> On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 15:30:58 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski" <e...@snet.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Only idea I have is to use the brisket. It is a much better cut when
>>properly cooked. Round, IMO, is just too dry to use for anything as
>>there
>>leis just not enough fat in it.
>
> I use round for my Italian beef sandwiches. Cooked in the crockpot.
> Very tender result.
>
> Carol
How do you cook your bottom round in the crockpot? It would be interesting
to try this with corned beef, browned, or not browned beforehand.
Damsel in dis Dress
wrote:
I brown the beef, then cook it in the crockpot with 1 1/2 cups of beef
broth and seasonings. Cook on High for 5 hours. If you do this,
please let me know what you use for liquid, and how it works out. :)
Mark A.Meggs
wrote:
>The big Irish day is coming up. We love corned beef. Every time I make it it
>comes out dry, if I use corned bottom round beef. Does anyone have a secret,
>other than using brisket. We followed the recipe below, substituting corned
>bottom round for brisket, and it came out dry as usual. Does anyone have any
>secrets?
>TIA,
>Hugh
I've only got questions, not answers -
If bottom round always turns out dry, why do you continue to use or
want to use it?
How do you corn the bottom round?
What's wrong with brisket?
- Mark
(I'll be hitting the Irish Rover for Leek & Potato soup and Fish &
Chips.)
hahabogus
if you cook bottom round in a crockpot, it stays moist...if the lid is
seated correctly. I've made corned beef by brining bottom round then
crockpotting it. Sten and I posted a thread on it aa couple or 3 yrs
ago...
--
The beet goes on -Alan
Bob Muncie
Thanks Janet..
I forgot you can make a good corned beef dinner (cabbage and all). My
wife gets nauseous if I cook cabbage, so the only times I've cooked
corned beef has been for Reuben sandwiches. Lately my wife has been out
of the house often enough for me to actually cook some cabbage. I
copy/pasted your sequence of cooking for your version of "New England
Boiled Dinner". Looking forward to making it.
Bob