Corned Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select a piece of beef with a fair amount of fat and wash it quickly in cold water.
If the beef is very salty, soak it in cold water; if slightly salted, use boiling water.
Cook
Cover the beef with boiling water and skim carefully when it begins to boil.
Cook slowly, simmering until the beef is tender enough to pick apart with a fork.
Let the water boil away toward the end and allow the beef to cool in the water.
Press and slice
Lift the beef out with a skimmer and pack it in a brick-loaf pan, mixing in the fat for marbling.
Place a thin board over the meat and press down with a heavy weight.
Once cold, cut the beef into thin slices.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Beef brisket or second cut
- Its fat marbles through the meat, adding moisture and flavour as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly until tender. Boiling hard toughens the muscle fibres and can leave the meat dry and stringy. A gentle simmer lets connective tissue slowly break down, so the beef becomes tender enough to pull apart with a fork.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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