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Monday, March 16, 2015

Smoked Corned Beef with an Orange Balsamic Glaze

Corned beef is a beautiful thing.  I love it in all of its forms.  Deli style, thinly sliced with mustard and Swiss on rye.  Boiled in a pot with cabbage on the side.  Transformed into pastrami.  Even the mystery meat in a can is pretty good.  From time to time I like to smoke a corned beef without the pastrami spices.  So, since it is that time of year when corned beef is semi reasonably priced, I picked up an extra package at the store this weekend and threw this treasure on the smoker.

Back when I was a kid, my mom would bake a corned beef in the oven from time to time (four hours at 250F).  She would make this glaze, that if memory serves me right, was ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar.  I had a glaze in mind, but I was looking for something a little different.  So, off to the kitchen we go.

First, I removed the corned beef flat from the package, then rinsed well with cold water.  Then, I placed the meat in a tub with a five pound bag of ice and some water and let it sit overnight to remove   as much pickling brine as possible.  In the morning, I drained the tub and soaked again in cold water for about two more hours.  Then, I thoroughly rinsed the flat with one last time with cold water, then patted dry.

Next, I lit my smoker and brought it to 250 F.  Once at temperature, I placed some pecan wood in the ash pan and placed the brisket on the top shelf of my smoker.


Then, I walked away until the internal temperature of the meat was 160 F, about four hours.  Here it was the corned beef looked like after four hours.


While the corned beef was getting happy in the smoker, I whipped up my glaze:

1/4 cup OJ
1/4 cup Heinz Balsamic Ketchup (don't laugh, it has a nice balsamic flavor)
1/4 cup of honey
1/8 cup of plain yellow mustard

I applied the glaze to the brisket twice.  Once to start, then a second time after 30 minutes.  After the second application, I let the brisket cook for 30 more minutes to set the glaze.



After letting the corned beef rest for 30 minutes, I sliced across the grain.


There you have it, something a little different than your usual St. Patrick's Day corned beef.  Good stuff.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

4 comments:

  1. Drooling I'm a big fan of corned brisket too this sounds and looks so good!

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  2. Smoking a corned beef has become a tradition around these parts of St. Pattys day. We did not have as good of results. I had to leave the house for several hours and the internal temperature shot to 200 degrees. It was edible but had a rubbery texture. We are off to a huge contest this weekend in Santa Anita right in the middle of the race track. 100 plus teams.

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    1. Chilebrown, after the smoked corned beef, I do not think Hope will boil another one to be made ever in our house. Have fun in Santa Anita. Three weeks and counting here. Can't wait.

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