RED FLANNEL HASH

Leftover corned beef is on the skillet today. A combination of corned beef, potatoes and roasted beets will make our ''Red Flannel Hash' yummylicious. Do you follow recipes to the letter? A friend of ours from Marin who sometime is “I’m Mad and I Eat” likes to list ingredients and offer vague instructions: ( for example: A Liberal sprinkling of this and a Conservative splash of that with a touch of Green will not harm the Peace & Freedom of your dish.) I like to think of recipes as an outline that you can add or subtract with your own personnel twist. Today’s recipe will be vague but fun.

Red Flannel Hash

Think of your 10 inch cast iron skillet as a measuring cup. We are going to fill it up with ingredients. You then can add your own variety of spices and flavors.

Cubed bacon
Carrots cubed
Onions sliced
Cubed corned beef
Roasted beets cubed
Potato cubed (skin on optional)
Salt & pepper
Optional: salsa, Worcestershire hot sauce, oregano, cumin, garlic parsley asparagus, eggs and anything else you can imagine.

Render your bacon for fat and flavor; fill up pan with rest of ingredients and simmer on low heat. Turn several times until potatoes and carrots become tender. Turn up heat slightly to form crust on bottom. Turn one more time and add optional eggs. Cover until eggs are cooked.


I know these instructions are vague. Give it a try. Cooking is fun. Go out and create some Red Flannel Hash. You won/t be sorry!

CORNED BEEF SMOKED

Technically speaking what we are cooking today is pastrami. We prefer to call it smoked corned beef. No matter how you slice it, it will be smoky delicious. A brisket has been soaking in a tub of brine for the last five days. The sixth day we replaced the brine with clear cold water. The water was changed several times during the day to purge the excess salt from our slab of meat. This step was optional but we like a less salty finish. The cured brisket was put in the refrigerator over night to form a pellicle. This is a necessary step for the meat to accept the smoke in the cooker. The meat was smoked for 8 hours at 250 degrees. We pulled it out of the smoker when the internal temperature was 180 degrees. It was wrapped in foil and left to rest for two hours in an insulated cooler. Is it dinner time yet?

All that was left to do is slice and serve. Cole slaw, asparagus, and artichokes would accompany this beautiful pastrami/smoked corned beef. Tender with a kiss of smoke was the verdict for this St. Patrick’s Day. This seven day process was worth the effort. One of the best parts will be the sandwiches for the following week. Have a great pastrami day!

Corned Beef

It is that time of year to break out your shillelaghs and have a green beer. My green beer swilling days are over (Beer is just not green) but I do love corned beef. Today we are soaking a brisket with water, salt, sugar and spices. Five days in this marinade and we will have a raw corned beef just in time for St Patrick’s Day. This beautiful hunk of choice grade beef was acquired at a restaurant supply store. Its initial weight was 16 pounds but after trimming and removing the point end, a good nine pounds remained. The point end will become burnt ends later this evening. Here is the brine that I am using.

Corned Beef

6 quarts water
1 ½ cups kosher salt
2/3 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons pink salt
1 ½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons pickling spice
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
8 garlic cloves crushed

In a large pot bring water to a boil and add ingredients. Stir until dissolved and turn off heat. Cool brine. Place brine and brisket into food grade bucket or large pot. Weigh down brisket so it is entirely submerged. Turn brisket daily for five days. We will return later this week and cook our home cured corned beef.

Untrimmed Brisket

SMOKED CORNED BEEF

Did you have your fill of green beer? Everybody has a little Irish in them on St. Patrick’s Day. My green beer swilling days are long past. That is to say the beer is just not green now. It is the day after and it is pouring rain. The wind is so strong the rain is coming down sideways. It is not the most ideal day to fire up the smoker. I am on a mission to bring the Mad Meat Genius readers some smoked corned beef. We are going to smoke some ‘On Sale’ corned beef, point cut that we picked up at the ‘Local Wally Mart. This is too good a deal to pass up. Put on your raincoat and grab a green beer and let’s smoke some corned beef.

The corned beef is very salty coming out of its package. I soaked it for 24 hours in cold water. It was put it in a pot that went into the refrigerator. The water was changed several times. When smoking meats it is a good idea to let them form a pellicle. This will prepare the meat to accept more smoke. This is achieved by putting the meat on a cooling rack and placing in the refrigerator, uncovered, overnight. The smoker was lit and that was no easy task in this rain storm. It was smoked with several chunks of hickory wood. The meat was cooked at 230 degrees for approx 6 hours until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees. Once our target temperature was reached they were pulled and wrapped in aluminum foil. They were held and rested for several hours in an insulated ice chest until dinner time.

You may have noticed that no seasoning was added to the meat at anytime. That is because even though we soaked our meat it still had plenty of flavors from the brine. The beautiful smoke seasoned this cut of brined brisket to perfection. It was smoky and very tender. We served it with our favorite spears of spring and some home made Rice-a-Roni. Today, I will take our slicer and cut some thin slices for some tasty sandwiches. This procedure of soaking the salt out and forming a pellicle is a time commitment but is so worth it. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone, let’s raise our glass and toast. “Everyone is wise until he speaks”

Barbequed Corned Beef

Corned Beef is on the menu for St. Patricks Day. It will have a little Chilebrown twist. This brined brisket that is traditionally boiled and served with cabbage will be charred and slow cooked on a mesquite fire. It must be served with something green to keep up the festivities. The green will be Asparagus in a quiche.

"Real Leprechaun's do Eat Quiche".

There is not much of a recipe for grilling Corned Beef. Some Corned Beef that was on sale at the local Mega-market was picked up. The brisket was rinsed thoroughly of its brine. It was dried and a little a very little salt and pepper was added. A mesquite fire was built in the Weber. All the vents were opened. When the fire was nice and hot, the meat was seared on all sides. The vents were then closed by two thirds. The beef was placed directly over the fire and the lid was secured. For the next two hours, every 20 minutes the chow was turned. After this time period the Barbequed Corned Beef was removed and loosely covered with foil. After 20 minutes it was thinly sliced.

This Barbequed Corned Beef was so tender. There was a smokey exterior that surrounded the salty inner goodness. It was sliced very thin. The juices, even though it had rested, poured on to the cutting board. This barbequed brisket is a tradition at the Chilebrown house. The best part is, We will have sandwiches tomorrow.

There is something about cheese, eggs, asparagus, ham and pie crust that floats my boat. When done right quiche is very comforting and satisfying. This recipe was from a Betty Crocker cookbook from the 60's. This was served with some home made salsa and sour cream.

Whoops, I forgot the Green Beer!

STUFFED CORNED BEEF

Are you wearin the Green? I have a we bit of Irish in my background. I always claim a little more around this time of year. I no longer drink Green Beer, but, I do have to have my Corned Beef. This year I am going to prepare the brisket with a little twist. I have received my inspiration from Larry Gaian. This Corned Beef will be ground, stuffed, tied and smoked.
The Corned Beef I am using is called the Point Cut (also know as the Deckel). It has more fat and is usually less expensive than the Flat Cut. I am going to trim away as much fat as possible and replace it with Bacon. This will be ground to a coarse mixture The stuffing will be a Mushroom, Shallots, Garlic and Cheddar Cheese mixture. The meat and filling will be shaped into a log and wrapped with Caul Fat. What is Caul Fat? It is a lacy fatty membrane that encases the internal organs of an animal. It is not as gross as it sounds. It will hold everything together. By the time everything is cooked the Caul Fat will have melted away.

INGREDIENTS
5 pounds of Corned Beef (Point Cut)
¾ pounds of Bacon
¾ pounds of Cheddar Cheese (grated)
1 clove garlic (diced)
2 medium Shallots (diced)
1 pound Caul Fat
salt and pepper
¾ pound mushrooms (sliced)

Make sure your Corned Beef is chilled. Trim away as much fat as you can. Slice into strips so it will fit into your Meat Grinder. I am using a Kitchen Aide Mixer with a meat grinder attachment. Use the coarse grind die and grind the beef and the bacon together. Mix together and chill.

Take some oil and heat in a skillet pan. When the oil is hot add the garlic and shallots. Cook for several minutes and add mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have given off their liquid. Chill this mixture.
Now that the mushrooms are nice and cold, mix with cheese. Use a large piece of parchment paper and spread your meat mixture into a rectangular shape. Lay cheese right down the center. Lift the edge of the parchment paper and roll mixture into a log shape. Seal all the edges by patting meat together. You do not want any cheese to escape.

Lay your Caul fat on a cutting board. Place meat log in center. Wrap the Caul Fat around the mixture. You then need to secure it with some string. It is a good thing that I was a Boy Scout a long, long time ago. Put Meat Log back into refrigerator.
I will be smoking the Log with Applewood in the Rocky Mountain Smoker. The ideal cooking temperature will be 225-250 degrees. It will take aprox 3 hours or until the internal temperature of the meat is 165. When you are measuring the temperature make sure the probe is in the meat and not the cheese center. I cannot stress the importance of this next step. When you have removed your meat from the smoker let it rest. Let it rest for at least 40 minutes. If you do not let it rest, the cheese mixture will just ooze all over your cutting board. Just like I did. It was delicous!

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