Simple Corned Beef Recipe - Make Jewish Corned Beef at Home (2024)

FAQs

What is the best method to cook corned beef? ›

In our book, roasting is our preferred method to cooking a corned beef brisket. Roasting results in a super moist and tender brisket with an irresistible crust. We packed in the flavor with a unique and simple homemade spice blend—trust us, you won't find flavor like this in a little pre-made baggie.

Slow cooking with a crock pot or using an instant pot is a fantastic way to cook corned beef, resulting in melt-in-your-mouth, tender meat throughout. You can make a delicious, hearty meal with simple ingredients and a crock pot or instant pot.

The Jewish form of corned beef usually involves a preparation in which a cut of beef, traditionally the brisket, is cured in a brine solution along with various seasonings and then slowly simmered until the meat is tender and flavorful. Corned beef can also be made from the beef round primal cut.

Corned beef is essentially beef cured in a salt brine, with some pickling spices for added flavor. It gets its name "corn" from an old English word for grain, or small pieces of hard things the size of grain, such as salt.

There are two basic steps to corned beef: the spice rub, and the cook. The rub is a mix of spices; mustard, black pepper, coriander seed, allspice, clove, and most importantly, the salt that gives this dish it's characteristic hammy flavor.

You can bake, boil, or cook it in your slow cooker, but the key to a tender, flavorful meal requires at least a few hours. All of these methods are very easy, and you can add vegetables to the meat while it's cooking to create a one-dish meal.

Depending on the pickling solution used for the meat, you may be in for a saltier meal than you bargained for if you cook the meat without rinsing it. And don't worry: Rinsing won't make the beef taste bland! The flavor is infused deep into the beef during the curing process.

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.

The cut of beef was decided to be celebratory and important due to its location. Brisket is found in the cow's front breast, making it kosher for Jews to consume.

Why do Jews eat corned beef? ›

Back in Ireland, there was a traditional dish of bacon and cabbage, and while “corning beef” did exist, most people stuck with pork, not beef, due to its low cost. But when Irish immigrants saw the salty, cured corned beef their Jewish neighbors were enjoying, it reminded them of their own comfort food.

Brisket became popular among Ashkenazi Jews due to its low cost; farmers would sell the expensive cuts and keep the cheaper ones. Ashkenazi Jewish refugees brought shtetl cooking with them, and introduced brisket to the general American population.

The flavor profile often includes bay leaf, black peppercorn, mustard seed, dried red pepper and coriander. If that blend sounds familiar, it's because it's same list of spices that are packaged as pickling spice. Not surprising, since corned beef and pickles are commonly made in the same place: a deli.

Corned beef brine is made with water, kosher salt, brown sugar, pickling spices and pink curing salt. It's important to get the measurements accurate because too much curing salt can be harmful.

Corned beef is a brisket that has been brined. It is often sold precooked, but if you have purchased it raw, the best way to cook corned beef is slowly. You can bake, boil, or cook it in your slow cooker, but the key to a tender, flavorful meal requires at least a few hours.

Slow cooker: Corned beef cooks well in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. In a slow cooker, add the brisket, enough water to cover it and the spices from the spice packet or your own spices. Cook on low for 9 to 11 hours or high about 4½ hours. For cooking in an Instant Pot, follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Should You Boil or Bake Corned Beef? Really, it's up to you. Both methods create a juicy, tender corned beef when done properly. Traditional recipes, like our corned beef and cabbage or glazed corned beef, call for simmering corned beef in spiced water for about three hours.

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.