March 03 Review: Guiness-Braised Beef Brisket

[pammy]

I have never made a corned beef brisket before, and boy, I have set a dangerous precedent. This was very tasty, and DH raved. But, I gotta tell ya, there is a TON of fat in and on this cut of beef. I was kind of grossed out by it. Luckily, it is easy enough to trim the outside of the meat, but there was a thick vein of fat in the center of the brisket that I couldn't trim easily. It was also easy to remove after the beef was cooked, but yuck, again, it looked gross. DH was not as put off by the fat, and loved the taste, so I will probably make this again...next winter. The combination of the dill and the beer really made the flavor, and it was incredibly moist. We made Reubens last night with the leftovers. Yum.

[aggie94]

Yay, I was hoping to see a review of this recipe! I'm planning to make this next week. But I don't like corned beef, so I bought a regular beef brisket. I hope it still turns out as well as yours did.

[aggie94]

Yum, yum. :) I made half this recipe last night (my crockpot is small) with regular beef brisket, served over egg noodles, and it was delicious! I cooked it on high for about 2 hours, then turned it to low for another 5 hours or so while we were out seeing a movie and running errands. By the time I got home, it was falling-apart-tender. I think we'll definitely make this again.

[Sami]

Pammy, I make brisket quite often, and I try always to refrigerate it overnight so that I can cut the fat off easily.

Also if you buy what they call the first cut, it is not as fatty.

Glad that the recipe is good.

Sami

[Tiger]

I didn't like this. :( I was so excited when I got this issue but so far I'm 3 for 3. No keepers. I'll keep trying! ;)

[Terrytx]

I wasn't real thrilled with this either. I just don't go for meat that has been cooked in a slowcooker. It seems to have all the taste cooked out. I don't know why I keep trying-but I do and am always disapointed. We will eat the rest, but as Reuben sandwiches.

[Peggy]

:( :( Bummer... I am planning to make this recipe on St. Patrick's Day. I have only cooked corned beef once in a crock pot and it seemed to shrink ALOT! Does this happen with this recipe also? I may end up making it the old fashioned way...

Peggy

[Terrytx]

Yes, mine shrunk and it almost seemed dry. Now how can that be-it cooked in liquid all day?:(

[JanetB]

I loved this- and it got good reviews from my family. I did have a cut that was about 3.4lbs - and cooked it for 6 hours on high - and then an additional hour. I think next time I'll do it 8 hours on low. And, yep it does shrink

Does anyone have a crockpot with an 8 hour high setting? I've asked other folks -and no one I know has it!

[TeriK]

Wow, mixed reviews. I will probably still try this. Brisket is a standard in my dh's family. A new twist on it might be a nice change of pace.
Thanks for the interesting comments.

[shoyski]

Terrytx, I'm with you! I cooked mine on low for about 7-3/4 hours and it definitely was dry. I'm about to give up on cooking large cuts of meat in the slow cooker. They all turn out dry even though there's gobs of liquid left in the pan after cooking. Oh well, hopefully the Reuben sandwiches will taste good. :)

[Tiger]

Originally posted by Terrytx
I just don't go for meat that has been cooked in a slowcooker. It seems to have all the taste cooked out.

I know what you mean. I'm always in search of good crockpot recipes. Sometimes it's just the way to go. (busy lives/need dinner ready) But the only recipe my whole family loves is the sticky chicken. But I'll keep trying..........

[Terrytx]

Glad to see that others feel the same way. At least it makes me feel like I haven't totally lost my mind.;)

[jennanne]

Oops! I accidently bought a regular, plain beef brisket for this instead of a corned beef brisket. Those of you that have made this...do you think I will be okay with the plain beef? Can I spice it up somehow to make up the difference?

Thanks!

[RunnerKim]

I almost didn't make this since it had such mixed reviews but corned beef brisket is practically being given away this week, so I figured why not. We really thought it was great! It was not dry at all - very moist, falling apart as it came out of the crock pot, and had wonderful flavor. We did use beef brisket and not a center-point cut (not quite sure what the difference is, but our cut had a decent amount of fat on it, some of which was cut off prior to cooking). Our crock pot is small so we couldn't put all the liquid and veggies in that was called for. Cooked for about 8.5 hours.

I'm going to pick up a couple more briskets today before they go off sale and stick them in the freezer to make this a couple of more times. I don't normally get this interested in corned beef.

Kim

[cookie cookerson]

How large of a brisket should I get for 8 people? This is the main dish at our supper club tomorrow!

[Julia1Pin]

I made this on Saturday and it was ok. I make much better brisket than this! Maybe I just like my brisket sweet?

On Monday night I cut this up and put it in a skillet with some BBQ sauce and rice. The meat is EXTREMELY tender and the BBQ sauce imparted the flavor that it was lacking on Saturday.

Then yesterday it chopped up the rest and tossed it with pasta and tomato sauce, brocolli and spinach and again it was great.

So, it turns out to be very tender meat that's better the next days included with other things. About 5 out of 10.

[lxn1996]

I made this overnight in the crockpot. It was delicious! I've never made corned beef before and I've never cooked with Guiness before. Yum, yum. It was tender and juicy.

[Kuvy]

Hi Linda
Welcome to the board!
I made a St Patricks Day lunch for 12 on Saturday and unfortunately this brisket was the one disappointment of the meal, for me. I was up until after midnight the night prior to the lunch, cooking. By the time it came to cutting the HUGE amount of fat off the brisket, I was exhausted. I had to double the recipe, so I had two Corned Beef Brisket flats (from Costco - expensive too - $10 each!) to de-fat. One side (the hidden one, of course ) was a very thick layer of fat, then they each had a tough layer of fat in the middle too.
Argh. I was almost crying by the time I was done, and there was no way I could get all that fat off.
Even so, it was still REALLY fatty when we ate it - globules of fat drifting around in the crockpot - not attractive at all. Everyone else said they loved it so either they were being polite or I just have a fat-phobia...

[lxn1996]

Hi Kuvy!

My meat had a big slab of fat on one side that I couldn't cut off. I need new knives and I was up pretty late putting it together, too! I just left it on and made it that way. When it was done, I removed the brisket to a serving platter and threw away the juices. (That's what the recipe said to do) I figure a lot of the fat cooked off into the juice and what was left on the meat was pretty easy to cut off.

I just talked to DF (he's at home) and he's eating it. He loves it. Hope there's enough left for dinner.

I'm sorry you didn't like yours. :( Maybe it is just a fat phobia for you. Maybe you can tell someone to trim it for you before you look at it :) .

Have a great day and thanks for the welcome :D !

[Beth]

I made this today, but subbed on the Guiness. Guess we'll live. I was afraid DH would be disappointed it wasn't classic corned beef, but he loved it. If you want a classid corned beef, the tomato paste and brown sugar really tones it down, so you might not like it as well, but it is good for waht it is. Mine cooked about 7 hours then held on warm for a couple more due to unexpected developements -- falling apart tender and not dry at all.

I used what they call here a flat cut -- that is the leaner end of the brisket. It was very lean on one side, but I trimmed a bit off the other side. It wasn't bad, but the point end, which isn't as flat and comes to more of a point on the end, tends to not only have more fat around it, but also through it. When I have bought whole briskets, I have thrown large pieces of that end away a couple of times (didn't get too upset -- it had been on special for 57 cents a pound).

[Kismet]

DH and I had this for our dinner last night, and we both loved it! There was a bit of fat on the meat, but it wasn't too bad. It was very moist and falling apart. The spices and sugar combined so nicely to give it a great flavor. We will definitely be repeating this one for future St. Patrick's Days!!!

[PAMMELA]

Does anyone have the recipe handy?

[Rottlover]

Guiness-Braised Beef Brisket

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Beef Crockpot


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup Guiness stout
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped fresh or 1 tablespoon dried dill
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can low-salt beef broth
6 black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
1 (3 pound) cured corned beef brisket, trimmed

Combine first 11 ingredients in a large electric slow cooker, stirring until well blended; top with beef. Cover and cook on high 8 hours or until beef is tender. Remove beef; cut diagonally across grain into 1/4-inch slices. Discard broth mixture.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 3 ounces). 226 cal, 9.7g fat, 17.9g pro, 15,2g carb, 0.9g fiber, 87mg chol, 2.2mg iron, 1105mg sod, 28mg calc.

Source:
"Cooking Light-3/03"


I made this last night for company (along with the CL Irish Wheaten Bread and CL's Colcannon). Everyone raved about the brisket and there were no leftovers ! I was a bit confused about the "proper" crockpot setting based on other posts, so I did one hour on high and about 6 on low. The beef turned out great.

[PAMMELA]

Laurel, thanks for posting! Based on what others said, I think i'd like to make this with beef as DH abhors corned beef! I only eat it once a year and last night we went to the sports bar that we go to every year and it was an hour wait:mad:. But then we went to On the Border and I had THE BEST fish tacos i've ever had! YUMMMMM...it was the chipotle mayo...:D

[Mlasley]

Do you think you could substitute a leaner cut of beef like eye of round? I've seen corned eye of round in the grocery store...

[Kay Henderson]

I would think that people who don't care for the heavy fat of brisket could easily used a corned eye of round. Both cuts are sold cured (as "corned beef") in my part of the world also.