Saint Ratprick's Day
 

In honor of Saint Patrick's day I want to corn a beef myself. I've no idea how to go about it. Anyone out there got any sugg's?

The beer, cabbage and spuds I am ACE at.

:cheers:

I found this recipe-not sure where to get the Mortons Tender Quick it calls for but maybe the Morton salt website would give a location http://www.leeners.com/meatcure.html

I think I have seen Tender Quick at both Quillins and Wal-Mart. Your local Lardge grocery store should have it, or a custom Butcher. When,s Dinner?

Betty Crocker has a recepie :yum:

I looked into it a while ago. It's a non-trivial task. Unless you're planning on making a lot (8 lbs or more), I don't think it's worth it.

I seem to remember coming across a recipe for it in an older edition of the Joy of Cooking. As I recall, it might be worth the while of an Irish mother of 14 or if you are having 20 or so members of the IRA dropping by to celebrate, otherwise, too much work for me! :headshake

I could help you out with a recipe for Italian spagetti sauce that my Welsh Corgi seems to enjoy, and I also have a recipe for Irish coffee that uses Kentucky bourbon.

I found a USDA website and something at wikipedia. it seems that it is just brine cured bef with a little bit of seasoning. The potassium nitrate (saltpeter) is just to keep it pink.

I'm debating the KNO3 (?) grey versus pink. "same great taste, new look"

Three weeks is the required time for curing, so this may need to wait till next year.

Recipe
 

Epicurious has a pretty detailed recipe. Make sure to read the comments, and you will find this.

I am going to a not-wedding for Genocidal Maniac Day this year.

I am hoping that the not-bride and not-groom do not insist on green beer and all that crap.

St. Patrick was genocidal?

He made all the good, happy pagans into misreable, guilt-ridden Christians.

He also chased the snake (a happy and useful creature) out of Ireland. :headshake

/hisses: bassssstard!

I offended my best friend by offering to buy the corned beef this year because I have given up eating conventionally farmed meat and food processed with nitrates, and now he is upset that his food's not good enough for me anymore. What? I said I'd buy it and I'll cook it too! Nobody complained when I cooked up all the side dishes for our Cajun Christmas using nitrate free bacon and organic veggies, in fact they were a big hit! I'm not sure why we celebrate this holiday anyway since no one in either of our families is Irish, but I guess it's just another excuse to drink.

I hear ya Koz, I did something similar at xmas.
We had friends over for dinner and I made a rib roast - only because I had one on the freezer. It was "my share" of one of the beef cows my uncle is experimenting with at the farm. Organic, grass fed, yadda yadda (pictured here, one of the red guys). I'd never made one before but it came out great.

We went to LJ's mom's the next night for dinner and I told her how awsome the roast was and how it was so nice to have beef without being all freaked out about conventional beef related nasties (she has graciously put up with me not eating beef or most anything else she cooks for many years). And btw, what's for dinner? Oh, a rib roast...:blush:

I pulled out a rump roast and a giant sirloin from the second cow to give to my brother in law in exchange for his plumbing services yesterday, and he just laughed. "Oh, is this your fancy snob-cow-better-than-my-mothers beef?"
Gah....

jinxie-pooh? That's the price one pays for wearing cashmere argyle socks! Seriously, though, I would think they would like to at least compare! i've found that organic veggies are waaaaay better than not. Kobe beef is heaven, too. Maybe they are jealous? :)

No, no jealousy... it was really just an unfortunate coincidence. If she had been serving anything else (and didn't use a broken meat thermometer) it would have been fine.
LJ's brother is a funny mofo though... we had a good laugh about it after he taunted me for a whle...

There were no snakes in Ireland.

The "snakes" are a metaphor, usually thought to refer to the Druidic Priesthood, who were killed because they wouldn't convert.

so just what the hell is corned beef?

a cow that's been force-fed corn -- like a goose for foie gras?

some special post-slaughter processing?

pepper-corns.

and ya'll need to reread your Irish history.

Enlighten me, Smoothmoniker. I only know back to the Tuatha de Danann. ;)

http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3A+corned+beef

The term 'corned' as in 'corned beef' is a reference to the coarse salt used in the curing process. In Britain 'corn' referred to any small grain or particle, especially those of cereal grains such as wheat. These days, corned meat is cured in a briney solution.

Dangit Pie - I thought I was going to *finally* get a chance to look like the smart one..... but noooo, you had to steal my thunder. ;)

Speaking of corned beef, I've got about 30lbs of it cooking on the stove downstairs, and I've got a beef brisket on the BBQ along with two slabs of baby back ribs. I am already hungry!!

Sounds like you're feeding an army.:mg:

I survived the not wedding, but only just. I did win the centerpiece, and there was an open bar.

It turned out that the venue for the wedding was no mere corporate presentation center, rather it was the same building where they hold the gun shows. The formal name of the center was on the invitations; for some reason I thought they meant another place a mile down the road from where it really was. So at least I was familiar with the exits, and have a prearranged deal with the gods of parking and automotive safety. Most of the wedding guests had to walk all the way to the end of the parking lot (3/4 mile, uphill) to reclaim their cars. I managed to be in sight of the door.

We shared the evening with the "Artistic Pool" competition, which is a three day event that has most of the hotel and the convention center booked. There are some shady looking dudes, and hard ass, used up looking chicks there for that event.

I suppose that the guys were saving their best for the real competition, because the guys up near the bar that kept setting up trick shots all night weren't making a single damn one of them. Of course, it could have all been in the name of faking out the competition, too.

Straight out of the plastic package with the reddened brine and the little packet of pickling spices to spread on top. Corned beef does look a lot better if you elevate it on a rack in the roasting pan, above the juices it exudes. Maybe someday I'll find a corned-beef brisket that's better/more complex in flavor. Likely it'll be a long search.

Roasting pan?? I was always told boiling is the only way to prepare corned beef...

I'm moved to wonder what a little time under the broiler would do for corned beef.

I like corned beef made like I believe others make ham, with a sweet glaze. Apricot sauce or sweet and sour sauce. There is a great kosher duck sauce we use, but I don't remember the brand name.

A good corned beef is one where you can cut through 3/4 inch slices with a fork. And I like them broiled.

As much as we disagree on politics, Rich, we've a lot in common when it comes to food.

Are you crazy about omelettes?

Anyone going to try again this year?

:::ahem::: *freedom eggs*

Yea, verily. I picked up a bag of meat cure. salt, sugar, and the various nites; trate and trite of sodium. I have to find the recipe and thaw a piece of beefy goodness.

I'm doing a StP day party as usual. Lots of corned beef & cabbage and whatnot. Corned beef is usually on sale this time of year, so I pick up a few extras to make pastrami on the smoker. :)

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/pastrami.jpg

:)

I've always just thought about potatoes when I've thought about Ireland and st paddys day. My father's birthday is on the same day, so we're usually doing stuff to do with that rather than some irish saint who has pretty much no bearing on our lives.

I usually roast corned beef though. It's very nice that way. I usually crust it with seeded mustard and then make a mustard sauce from the juices at the end.

:drools:

Personally, I like the corned beef in a can. I don't know why, I just do.

Grant, you're worse than my dog. lol

meli...do you mean the corned beef that comes out in a block or the shredded corned beef. The brand of that one is Pacific. My ex used to love that one and it's actually really yummy fried up with tomatoes, onion and soy sauce.

It comes out in a block - it's usually next to the SPAM.