Corned beef is a beloved dish in South Africa often found at festive gatherings and family meals. While the prep work may seem intimidating, cooking corned beef is actually quite straightforward. With the right techniques, you can achieve fork-tender meat bursting with flavor. In this guide we’ll walk through the step-by-step process for making perfect corned beef every time.
Selecting the Meat
Corned beef begins with a brisket a cut taken from the cow’s breast that offers an ideal balance of tenderness and rich flavor. When purchasing your brisket, look for a size between 3-5 pounds with firm texture and good marbling. The marbling provides moisture and flavor as the meat cooks down.
Creating the Curing Brine
To give the corned beef its signature salty-yet-savory flavor, you’ll need to make a curing brine. This brine not only infuses the meat with flavor but also acts as a preservative.
The brine consists of:
- Water
- Salt
- Curing salts (like pink salt)
- Spices and aromatics
For the spices, a good brine will contain a blend of pickling spices like mustard seeds, peppercorns, allspice berries, and coriander seeds. These spices give the brine a wonderful aromatic quality. You can buy premixed pickling spice blends, or make your own custom blend.
When combining the brine, use around 1 cup of salt for every 2 quarts of water. Bring it to a boil so the salt fully dissolves. Let the brine cool completely before submerging the meat.
Brining the Corned Beef
With your brine prepared, it’s time to cure the meat. Place the brisket in a non-reactive container and pour the brine over top until the meat is fully submerged. Cover and refrigerate for 5-7 days, flipping the brisket daily. This extended brining time allows the salt, spices, and flavor to thoroughly penetrate the meat.
Rinsing and Pre-Cooking
Once cured, remove the brisket from the brine and rinse it under cold water. This removes any excess surface salt.
Next, place the brisket in a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, drain, and repeat with fresh water. This pre-cooking helps draw out excess salt from the curing process, ensuring your finished dish won’t be overly salty.
Cooking the Corned Beef
Now comes the fun part – cooking the corned beef until melt-in-your-mouth tender! South Africans have several go-to cooking methods:
Stovetop Simmering
After pre-cooking, place the brisket back in the pot, cover with fresh water, and add any seasoning like garlic, bay leaves, or peppers. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook covered for 2-3 hours until fork-tender. The low, slow simmer maximizes moisture.
Oven Roasting
For an extra layer of flavor, roast the brisket in the oven after pre-cooking. Coat with spices like black pepper, mustard, or brown sugar and roast uncovered at 325F for 2-3 hours until tender.
Slow Cooker
Simply place the rinsed brisket and seasonings in a slow cooker, cover with water, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The slow cooker does all the work!
Serving Suggestions
No corned beef is complete without the classic side dishes:
- Braaibroodjies – Grilled garlic bread for soaking up the delicious juices
- Chakalaka – Spicy vegetable relish
- Pap – Thick maize porridge
- Cabbage – Slow simmered or roasted cabbage wedges
Once cooked, slice the brisket across the grain for maximum tenderness. Pile high on a plate and serve alongside generous helpings of the sides. Dig in and enjoy this South African specialty!
With the proper prep and cooking technique, you’ll achieve authentic South African-style corned beef with impressive ease. Though it takes some time and patience, the payoff of perfectly seasoned, melt-in-your-mouth meat is well worth it. So gather your ingredients and get ready to make corned beef the flavorful South African way. Your family and friends will be asking for seconds!
Boil
Boiling is the traditional way of preparing corned beef. This approach accomplishes three things simultaneously: It cooks the meat, tenderizes the tough cut of brisket, and draws out the excess salt. While the salt used in brining is responsible for corned beefs delicious flavor and texture, the meat can be too salty if some of it isnt removed.
To boil corned beef, put the meat in a large pot and cover it with plenty of water. Add a tablespoon or two of pickling spice as well as a few garlic cloves, a quartered onion, a carrot, and a few stalks of celery if you like. Bring everything to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer. Cook (dont disturb it much) until the corned beef is completely tender when pierced with a fork, about 3 to 4 hours. Remove the corned beef from the pot and slice across the grain to serve.
You can also add potatoes and/or cabbage about 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Alternatively, wait until the corned beef is done, pull it out of the pot and cover it to keep warm, or set it in a 200 F oven. Cook whole small red potatoes and cabbage cut into wedges in the liquid until they are done.
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FAQ
What is the best way to cook corned beef?
The USDA recommends simmering corned beef on the stovetop for 1 hour per pound of meat. If you’re cooking yours in the oven, plan for 3 to 3 1/2 hours for a 2 1/2- to 3-pound cut.
What do I add to the water when cooking corned beef?
Add about 3 tablespoons of the spice mix (reserve the rest for cooking the corned beef after it has cured), plus the half stick of cinnamon, to a gallon of …
Does canned corned beef need to be cooked?
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Quorahttps://www.quora.comIs canned corned beef ready to eat? – QuoraMay 15, 2020 — You can buy Corned Beef raw or already cooked: make sure you know which you have bought! Tinned Corned Beef is already cooked and ready to eat. …
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YouTube · Mashedhttps://www.youtube.comThe Best And Worst Ways To Eat Canned Corned Beef – YouTubeOct 20, 2022 — and it’s really not needed canned corn beef already contains fat that will cook down and help with the cooking. … hey there perhaps one of the rea…
How long is corned beef supposed to be cooked?
For a two to three-pound corned beef brisket, cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. For a three to five-pound corned beef brisket, cook for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. STOVE: Place brisket fat-side up in a large pot and cover it with water. Bring the water to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer, allowing about 1 hour per pound.
How do you cook corned beef?
Add carrots, onions, celery, spices and thyme to the water in the saucepan and bring to a rapid boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to low and skim off the scum or foam, that forms on top of the water, with a large spoon or ladle and discard. Simmer the corned beef, covered with a lid, for approximately 2,5 hours till the meat is fork tender.
What is corned beef?
Corned beef is a cured meat product. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called “corns” of salt. Typically a cut of brisket, but sometimes cut from the round or silverside, it is salt cured or pickled in a seasoned salt solution or brine and can be purchased from the butchery and meat sections in store.
How to cook corned meat in a frying pan?
· Heat the oil, in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. · Season with salt and pepper. · Add the corned meat, breaking it up with a spoon. · Stir in the barbeque spice and cook for one minute. · Add chopped vegetables and peas, stirring until cooked through. · Check seasoning. Vetkoek: · Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, oil, salt and warm water.
How do you make corned beef hash?
Discard the parchment paper. Add the garlic, ginger, chilies, and spices, then the stock, tomatoes, and raisins. Cook for about 20 minutes, then add the corned beef and finish by stirring in the pineapple chunks, sour cream and cilantro. Serve with cooked rice. This recipe was found on cookstr.com Corned beef hash. Picture: iStock
How do you tenderize corned beef?
Always, low and slow yields the best results. Fill that pot with enough water. A tried-and-true method for obtaining a tender, juicy piece of meat is to simmer corned beef on the stovetop with enough liquid to cover the meat. Don’t forget the beer, which contains tannins and acids that tenderize the meat.
How do you cook corned beef brisket?
There are three ways to prepare corned beef: boil, slow cook, and bake. The most common and easy way is boiling it. Simply place the brisket in a covered pot with water inside. Let it boil for at least 2 hours. In addition to tenderizing the meat, it also eliminates too much salt. It becomes more flavorful due to the lengthy cooking time.