Reuben

It's a popular sandwich and here's how I made the best one I ever had in my life.  First let me start my pointing out what I believe are 3 essentials that make it the best ever...

1. Make you own Thousand Island Dressing
2. Use a heavy Cast Iron Grill Pan to toast the sandwich after it is assembled 
3. Now for the hard part - Make your own Corned Beef from scratch.

You can find a lot of information on making your own brisket on this blog posted just a few days ago.  If your not into curing a big beef brisket for Corned Beef, just buy one and follow the rest of the steps for this great sandwich.  I used this recipe click here and I felt like the order of bread, dressing, cheese, etc is important and made for a better than average Reuben.  Most recipes have ketchup and mayo for the base in Thousand Island dressing but some have Chili Sauce and I think it makes a much better dressing.

Corned Beef

Corned Beef is too strong with the Corned flavor to me and what I do if using a store bought beef is to soak it in water for about six hours or even overnight.  What works best though is to make your own from scratch.  Here's how.  The beef brisket flat is used and my advise is to start with a whole brisket that will cost much less per lb and learn to separate the Flat from the point, click here to watch a video on how to trim a brisket provided by Charbroil.  Next you will need to brine it with these simple ingredients all of which you most likely have except two, the "pink salt or Insta Cure #1 and Powdered Dextose.  You won't find those in the grocery store but most sporting goods stores like Cabellas or Academy stock these items for the hunters out there.  An avg size brisket of 10 to 12 lbs will usually provide a flat of 5 or 6 lbs and here's the recipe based on that much meat.

1 qt hot tap water

2 tbs + 1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs + 1/8 tsp Insta Cure #1

1 tbs + 1 3/4 tsp Powdered Dextrose

1 tbs +1 3/4 tsp Pickling Spice

Dissolve the salt in the hot water and add all the other ingredients and let come to room temp.   With a meat injection needle pump about 12 to 15% of the weight of the meat into the brisket.  Place the pumped meat into a large bag (it will take a 2 gal bag or a turkey type bag to hold it), then pour the brine into the bag and refrigerate for 4 days being sure to turn the meat morning and night each day.  Remove from brine and rinse thoroughly then dry and let come to room temp just before cooking.  If your not ready to cook at that point, just refrigerate.  There is really no need to worry about coordinating the time for the 4 day brine with the day you plan to cook the beef.  

Now you are ready to cook you own home cured brisket and I have news for you - you don't want to boil it as you might have in the past.  The best Corned Beef I have ever had in my life is the one that was oven roasted / braised as you see below and with the following recipe.

For the seasoning:

2 tbs brown sugar

1 tsp each of cloves, black peppercorns, and allspice, ground in a coffee grinder together

Rub the meat all over with the spices and place fat side up on a baking rack in a large 2 in deep pan (I use disposable pans) along with about six cups of beef broth in the bottom of the pan.  Plan for this to cook at least six hours.   To add a wonderful flavor to the finished dish, on top of the meat add:

1/2 sliced onion

4 cloves of sliced garlic

1 lemon thinly sliced

Now for the oven set it at 225 - 240 and cook uncovered until the internal temp is around 150 to 165 at which point the brown sugar and spice rub will provide a great looking color to the meat and at that point you will need to cover tightly with foil and continue to cook until the internal temp is around 190 - 195 and make sure it is very tender when you stick a knife or fork in it and if not disregard the internal temp and continue to cook until it is tender.  After removing from the oven let it sit 30 min or 1 hour while still wrapped tightly to absorb all the juice then uncover and let cool to slice.  You are going to absolutely love this Corned Beef and after having a meal or two with thick, fork tender meat you will have plenty left over to slice thin for sandwiches.

Jewish Brisket w/Tsimmis

This is a real winner and something that was very new to me.  The Brisket started out as a Whole Packer Brisket that I separated the Point from the Flat with plans of using this Point, which is much more marbled as you see here for this recipe and reserve the Flat to make Corned Beef with for St Patrick's Day.  I had never heard of Tsimmis until I Googled for a Jewish Brisket recipe.

1 6 pound brisket
1 Tbsp crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp thyme
4 large Onions, sliced into rings
6 stalks celery, sliced
1 lb carrots, sliced (or use whole baby carrots)
12 oz can of tomatoes, stewed or plain
1 cup brewed extra strong coffee
½ cup sweet kosher wine such as Manischewitz (I used Burgundy)
1-2 packages of dried fruit assortment (plums, apricots, etc.)
1-2 lbs small whole yukon gold or red potatoes
2 large yams, cut into chunks
½ cup balsamic vinegar (optional and I left it out)
½ cup honey (optional and I left it out)

My Roast turned out to be just under 4 lbs and I adjusted the ingredients accordingly using http://mykitchencalculator.com/calc.html and started by gathering all ingredients and rubbing the meat with minced garlic, cracked fresh blk pepper, and coarse ground Sea Salt.

Next I layered 2/3 of the onions, celery, and carrots in the bottom of the cast iron pot and placed the meat on top. The rest of the onions, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and dried fruit were added on top of the meat and sprinkle with the Thyme, and Paprika which I increased the amt called for to my taste and added salt and pepper. You may have noticed that browning the meat in oil is not required here which makes this much easier and quicker as that step takes a little time.  

Now add the Strong Coffee, and Wine and cover and place in the 300 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours. The time to cook gets tricky and you simply have to disregard the time and use what I call "the poke test" (when a fork, instant read thermometer, or toothpick goes in like butter, it's done. This Point meat portion of the Brisket took more like 3 1/2 hrs to reach the tender stage. Not wanting the veggies on top to be overcooked, I took them out at that 2 1/2 hour mark and set them aside. Once the meat is tender, remove to a rack over a plate to cool for 30 min before slicing and while it cools add the potatoes, yams, and 1/2 of the dried fruit and continue cooking until they are done then add the sliced meat along with any juices back to the pot, cover the meat with the reserved veggies and the other half of the dried fruit and cook an additional 30 min. Served with your choice of bread. The flavors are amazing and I really think anyone would enjoy this recipe

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CORNBREAD

I make cornbread 3 or 4 ways and I like them all but Hoe Cakes is fast and easy and as good and any of the others.  I have 3 cast iron pans for cornbread, a small and large pan, and a divided pan.  I use the small when I want a regular thick pan of cornbread and the large when I want to cook it in a thin pone.  The divided pan is the go to pan that I use most and I just give it a heavy coat of Pam with no oil added to the batter.  All my cornbread has about 1/3 flour and 2/3 yellow cornmeal and I do always add a couple of tbs of grits to it and 1 tbs of sugar.  I can't wait to heat one of the Hoe Cakes up and slip some butter on top and pour some sorghum on it for desert.

Brat's and Blackeyed Pea Stew

This Stew is now my favorite soup or stew of any kind.  It is so good you just want another bite and then another bowl full.  All it takes is to brown you sausage in the casings and set aside wile you cook down an onion, bell pepper, and one jalapeno (seeded or not), 4or 5 cloves of minced garlic, then you add 14 oz of tomatoes drained and chopped, simmer till the juice of the tomatoes is about gone then add about 4 cups of low sodium chicken broth and 2 or 3 cups of water and 2 cups of dried black eyed peas.  Cook about an hour until the peas are tender then add the sliced sausage back to the pot and continue to cook another 15 minutes and enjoy your stew with a nice hard roll.

Oysters 2 Ways

Whoa now...you can still have that Oyster Roast even if they came in a pint jar (no shells).  I put mine on slices of a Baguette and drizzled them with melted butter w/minced garlic, worchestershire, lemon, salt, and pepper.  Very hot pre heated broiler and about 1 min later you will have something good.  I love oysters anyway you can serve them and my favorite Po Boy is an Oyster Po Boy.  Bread Crumbs, Flour and seasoning, egg wash and pan fried is how these were prepared and they are just as good as deep fried.