Best Corned Beef?

Starting to think about St Patty’s day and I need time to get a mail order in and delivered if that is what I have to do. I love corned beef and cabbage etc. but for some reason only think to eat it once a year. I know, silly. Does anyone have a favorite that is available for mail order? I grew up on Shenson and have tried both Whole Foods’ version and Costco’s version. I have to believe that there is WAY better out there.

I’ve never been a fan of supermarket/pre-fabricated corned beef. Making corned beef at home is not a major project and the results are far superior. Just need a nice flat-cut brisket, water, some pink #1 curing salt, spices, a little room in the fridge, a covered plastic container and six or seven days lead time.

Some really good conversations in this thread (and sub-threads) Corned beef...how do I make a good one? - Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes - WineBerserkers

With the new addition to the family last a couple years ago we have been using the pressure cooker for st patties day, time is short. Last year we started the soak then left for vacation (5 day soak) and when we got back with only an hour until dinner I put it in with potatoes and carrots. 45 minutes later (I was skeptical of the recommendations on the net) it was done and tender and juicy. I took out the meat and put in the cabbage and brought it up to temp for a few more minutes and had a tasty meal done in a hour.

The store bought ones I have had over the years are more salty than flavorful. We add 2-4x the spices that would come in the included packet.

My friend and neighbor in Bolinas Bill Niman (BN Ranch) has beautiful brined corned beef for sale online. It is very clean and quite delicious tasting. He was the mastermind behind Niman Ranch products up until a few years ago. Bill has since moved on and his new project is called BN Ranch. So in short, Niman Ranch in its current incarnation operates without anything to do with Bill Niman,they just retain the name and brand.

The Times has an interesting take: "You can do it easily, said Michael Ruhlman, a passionate advocate of the process and the author, with Brian Polcyn, of “Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing.” You need only start by corning your own beef. “You can achieve tastes that aren’t available in the mass-produced versions,” he said. “Also, it’s a genuine thrill to transform plain old beef into something so tangy and piquant and red and delicious.”
Corned beef takes its name from the salt that was originally used to brine it, the crystals so large they resembled kernels of corn. Curing and packing plants in Ireland used that salt in the 19th century to cure slabs of beef that went into barrels, later cans, and onto ships to feed, among others, British colonists, troops, slaves and laborers across the globe. Eventually someone in Boston or the Bahamas fished out a cut of beef neck or a brisket and boiled it into submission with a head of cabbage, and that was dinner.
We live in different times. The curing process may now lead you down long alleys of taste experimentation as you consider what pickling spices to use in your brine: coriander, mustard seed and black peppercorns, for sure, along with maybe allspice, ground ginger, bay leaves and cinnamon — or just a few tablespoons of a blend from a spice market or grocery you trust.
But it does require, Mr. Ruhlman suggested, that you go out of your way to find the curing salt that turns the meat pink: sodium nitrite. The substance was used originally to forestall the growth of bacteria. That may not be an issue for the refrigerated, modern age, he said, but it still delivers big, complicated flavor to home-corned beef.
It won’t harm you, he added, for the benefit of those who fear nitrates and nitrites. He was vigorous on this point. Mr. Ruhlman’s view: We already ingest a lot of nitrates in the form of vegetables that draw nitrogen from the soil. A few tablespoons of sodium nitrite added to a gallon of brine once or twice a year isn’t going to cause anyone problems. “It’s not a chemical additive,” he said. “It’s not red dye 40.”

Recipe: Homemade Corned Beef Recipe - NYT Cooking

I’ve used the Ruhlman recipe, and will do so again this year. We did a taste test between that and commercial and it wasn’t even close. I say “taste” but the real difference was in texture. The house-brined meat had a vastly superior texture, holding together better and much juicier. I’ll start mine this weekend for cooking next Friday.

I’m simmering a Costco American Kobe-styled corned beef. Has anybody tried one? Do most of you finish the corned beef in the oven? Mustard glaze?

I’ve never tried one of those, but typically it isn’t necessary to finish a corned beef in the oven. Understandably the concept of an entirely boiled piece of beef is a bit odd.

The last couple of times I’ve made it I’ve sous vide on the brisket with great results:

That is intriguing, but (1) I don’t have a sous vide option at home; and (2) I just don’t know that I can see committing 12 hours to this cooking process. That said, I may try a cooler temperature for longer based on these results.

I made a corned beef from a package (the type you normally boil for 3 hours) in a slow cooker last night. Dumped in 16oz of an IPA and threw in the seasoning packet + some additional whole black peppercorns. Ridiculously tender, delicious and zero fuss.

have done the same but with a can of Guinness and sliced onion - similar results, some of the most tended corned beef I’ve had.

I made a sous vide version this year. Very nice, although I’m not sure it’s significantly better than the traditional version.

Bruce

I am trying that now!

I’m planning on 165 for 24 hours. What did you do?

I’m planning on trying 10 hours at 180 from the Kenji/Serious Eats recipe that Phil links to above.

This will be fun to compare!

Same for us, but used 24oz. of amber ale. I cannot eat cabbage family veggies anymore due to allergies, but the rest was good cooked separately.

Well, the sous vide was the unanimous victor in the beef off.

The regular has corned beef specificity, and flaked readily…basically, a classic crock pot corned beef.

The sous vide had a very consistent feel to it, and was easily “fork cuttable.”

Great mouth feel and lingering finish.

We had 6 eaters and it was 6-0 in favor of the sous vide.

The next night, we made Ruben sammiches and sliced very thinly, the differences were not as evident, I could tell which was which, but not a big difference.

Last night, it all went together to make corned beef hash and the mix was fine.

Bottom line, I will sous vide corned beef again.

10 hours at 180 sous vide worked really well, great results, will do again.

Anton, did you cut off all the fat cap?