Sous Vide Corned Beef

All my sons are in town for a family wedding, so I did a sous vide corned beef over the weekend and it was fantastic! The 9+ lb. brisket was made by Ford Wholesale Meats of West Valley, NY (Paddy's brand) and I bought it at Pellicano's Market Place, around the corner from me. It was vacuum packed and the seasonings were mixed in with the brine, not in a separate envelope, so the only prep work was to remove the labels. I placed the brisket in my 20-qt. Rival electric roaster with about 8 qts. of water and set the temp to 160 degF. at about 4AM Saturday. This setting maintained a temp of 150 in the bath water. I turned the brisket over once after about 12 hours. At 2PM Sunday, I removed the brisket and dumped most of the water bath, but kept about 3 qts. in the roaster, so 34 hours. Then, I opened the vacuum pack and emptied the entire contents into the roaster. I rubbed the seasonings off the brisket and then set it on a cookie sheet and placed it in the oven at 200 degF until I sliced it for dinner at 4:30. In the meantime, the cabbage, carrots and potatoes were put in the roaster and the temp raised to 350 until dinner was served. I do a corned beef & cabbage dinner every year for St. Patty's Day, and this is the best I've ever made. The slices were firm, but very tender.

[Jenise]

Howie, I'm sorry to have not replied earlier, I only saw this post just now. But wow, what a brilliant idea--cooking it direct in the sealed package. Want to make sure I understand--your crock pot actually has a temp setting, or did you install one somehow? Mine just has Low and High, as I think most do.

I did it in my Rival 20-qt roaster. It has dial which can be set from 150 to 400 degrees. You can set it lower than 150 - I did some pork a while ago and maintained 140 for about 12 hours. The wrapped 9 lb. brisket fit nicely into it.

I really have to get myself a sous vide rig. Sounds like fun, and the results sound delicious.

Problem with using the sealed bag directly from the market is that if it has been frozen it will taste much more salty. If you have your own bagger I would remove it from the bag, rinse and soak it for an hour and then seal it and start the process.

I don't think there is a market left in the Twin Cities that makes their own. They are all brought in frozen in the bag from elsewhere and then placed in the refrigerated section to thaw. I usually purchase a number of corned beef briskets around St Pat's Day. They are on sale and there are a large number from which to make my selection. I take them home and besides one will refreeze them to use during the year. I like to smoke them so I want to have some marbling and yet not a huge fat cap.

If you can actually get the fresh ones you are really lucky and have a great product to work from without the fuss.

[Jenise]

I did it in my Rival 20-qt roaster. It has dial which can be set from 150 to 400 degrees. You can set it lower than 150 - I did some pork a while ago and maintained 140 for about 12 hours. The wrapped 9 lb. brisket fit nicely into it.

A question, Howie. How did you calculate how long it would have to stay in the water bath to get to your desired doneness/tenderness?

Jenise - I based the cooking time and temp on two things. The first was past experience when I did a sirloin tip roast a while ago: http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=46115&p=377560. Secondly, I researched it on this website, where they actually recommended a higher temp for a shorter time.

I copied this post from last year to answer a question on FB and thought I'd bump it up for this year.