RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Ruth Heiges Corned Beef - meat
My late, great e-mail pal, Pat Gold, submitted this to a food list, once, in response to my request. Pat had a great eye for cookbooks, and the two Jewish ones from which she used to post are among my favorites. (I'm proof of the argument that quoting from cookbooks promotes sales. This is the reason I have Joan Nathan's "Jewish Cooking in America;" Gil Marks's "The World of Jewish Cooking;" and why Claudia Rodan's newest is on the way.) From "Jewish Cooking in America," by Joan Nathan Note: As printed in the book, the recipe is for corned beef or tongue. 1 4-pound brisket of beef 1/4 cup large-grained kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 2 bay leaves, crumbled 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon paprika 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon saltpeter (optional); can be found in pharmacies 1/2 cup warm water [See my notes, below!] 1. Wash and remove most of the fat from the brisket. Mix together all the spices and the garlic and rub well into the brisket. 2. Dissolve the saltpeter in the warm water and pour over the meat. Place in a large, non-metal container. Weight the meat down with a stone or brick and cover it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. (You can also place the ingredients in a plastic bag and weight it down.) Refrigerate for 10 days to 2 weeks. Turn the meat every 2 to 3 days. 3. Place the meat in a large pot of cold water. Bring to a boil and throw away the water. Repeat 3 times. 4. Cover with cold again, bring to a boil, and cook over low heat, covered, for about 2 hours or until tender. Cool, slice thin, and place on a platter. Serve with mustard or horseradish. My experience: I finally made this recently, using a commercial mixture of pickling spices equivalent to the total quantity noted in the recipe. Then I tossed in some extra allspice and mustard seeds, plus a few bay leaves. My guess is that Joan Nathan never tested this recipe herself, because there is one important ingredient missing: *water*. Even if you use saltpeter, which I didn't, that isn't enough water! You must add enough water for the meat to be covered; enough for it to need weighing down. (This doesn't diminish my love of the book, which is rich in research and worth buying if only for that.) The other adjustment I think is needed is the use of more garlic than noted. Next time, I plan to use 6 to 8 cloves. I loved the process of preparing this, enjoying the wonderful aroma left on my hands from the pickling solution when I faithfully turned the meat every few days. (I kept it in a Tupperware container.) The product, except for not having enough garlic, was very enjoyable and tasty. It certainly did not suffer for not having been made with saltpeter (a nitrate which simply serves to make the meat pink).
