How to Sous Vide Corned Beef?

A food lover’s dream, corned beef has a powerful flavour and scent that will leave them salivating. It has a unique flavor that is distinct from ordinary beef.

To make your corned beef a bit easier to handle, you may want to slice it into thin slices first. It is recommended to salt corned beef just before cooking.

Its flavour is sweet and sour and spicy all of it simultaneously.  

In addition to having a strong meaty flavour, it also has a soft and extremely delicate texture. And it is one of the reasons why people love it.

When it comes to sous vide, it is certain to enhance the flavours and texture of any dish, making it fingerlicking good. And the same goes with corned beef.

Cooking corned beef using the sous vide method results in a luscious, succulent corned beef, unlike anything you’ve ever tasted before.

So go ahead and say bye to that dry and chewy corned beef for the rest of your life.

There are a plethora of various ways to prepare corned beef. However, I believe that the sous vide approach is the most straightforward and provides the perfect results every time it is used.

But before we go into the recipe, let’s start with some interesting facts, shall we?

What is corned beef?

Corned beef isn’t really meat combined with corn!

Corned beef, in fact, is the outcome of the process of curing a brisket of beef with salt. You simply cure and brine your sous vide brisket, which may be in either flat or point shapes, for 5 to 7 days before cooking it.

It becomes a beautiful pink hue, and it has a delicious texture and flavor that is quite different from what you’d expect from a typical brisket cooked the traditional way. 

Some interesting facts

It has been a ritual to eat corned beef with cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate the occasion.

The practice developed due to the reason that some food items were more affordable for immigrants who arrived in the United States from other countries.

In place of pork, they used beef and cabbage instead of potatoes.

Sous Vide Corned Beef: What’s the Point?

Sous vide is a French word that means under vacuum, which is literally translated as under pressure.

It is a method of cooking in which food is submerged in water and cooked at exact temperatures over a long period of time.

This provides a constant degree of doneness resulting in precisely prepared food every time we cook.

It is particularly well suited for harder meats such as corned beef because the procedure breaks down the muscular structure of the flesh.

As a result, the flesh becomes very soft and flavorful, and it can compete with the most costly cuts of beef. 

Enough with the facts. Now let’s come directly to cooking!

Get your corned beef first

First and foremost, you must get the corned beef.

Now, if you’re preparing homemade corned beef, you’ll have to go through the full curing process, which includes producing the brine and letting it sit for a week or so to cure.

After that, it’s time to dry everything off and make it ready to cook.

If you purchase it from the market, you can typically just remove the packaging and it will most likely be ready to use immediately.

If it has some connective tissues on the outside, you should just remove it.

It’s also important to remember however that most corned beef is brined together with enough salt, which means that it can be rather salty.

One thing you can do is to place the brisket in some type of large container filled with water for a few hours before cooking. This may help in drawing out some salt.

See Also: How Does Sous Vide Not Overcook?

Now let’s start cooking:

1. Prepare your water bath

You may use any type of water bath or container for this purpose.

Fill the container halfway with ordinary water and attach your sous vide device to the edge of the container with a rubber band.

The immersion circulator should then be adjusted to the desired temperature.

2. Seal your beef and add spices

It’s time to thoroughly vacuum seal your meat in the bag that you use.

While sealing, adding some of those traditional corned beef seasonings to it is a great way to boost the taste even further. 

A typical corned beef seasoning may comprise black peppercorns, dill seeds, bay leaves,  mustard seeds, etc.

You may also add additional flavorings such as coriander seeds, star anise, red pepper flakes to make it even better. 

So take your seasoning mix package and place it in the sous vide bag along with your corned beef.

3. Place the bag in the water bath

Now immerse your sous vide bag in the bath. Here are a few tips:

• At this time, it is critical to ensure that all of the flesh is under the water surface. If anything remains on the surface, it will encourage bacterial development, perhaps resulting in a dangerous condition.

• Corned beef has a tendency to float on the surface. Whenever this occurs, I place a large heavy dish or anything on top of the bag to help weigh it down.

4. Tips on time and temperature

We’ve done a lot of testing and discovered that while you sous vide the corned beef, the best time and temperature is to do it at 180 degrees for 10 hours is the best combination.

After 10 hours of cooking, the connective tissues in the beef begin to break down, resulting in exceptionally soft flesh.

In addition, heating the corned beef at 180F is perfect for achieving the right, sliceable texture of the meat.

Final words

The Corned Beef prepared with the sous vide method is absolutely succulent and full of flavor. It is a versatile beef that may be utilized in a number of different dishes.

The pickling spice is rubbed into the salt-cured corned beef brisket, which is then cooked quietly and slow in a water bath for hours.

This traditional Irish dish will undoubtedly be the highlight of your St. Patrick’s Day celebration! Serve it with cabbages or make it a hot, cheesy Reuben sandwich for lunch or dinner.