Woke up early Monday to try an experiment: home-made corned beef hash. I've made it before, and the "cheater version," with deli corned beef cut thick, has been disappointing: too salty, too chewy. (Using left over home-cooked corned beef works well, though it's different from the classic, more hash browns with corned beef.)
Clearly, the meat needed to be cooked closer to the falling-apart stage. Cubing it and cooking in a little water seemed promising, so I was determined to find out.
Started with the potatoes, and they were soon bubbling gently in the skillet (with a little dehydrated onion for luck); cut up and added the beef, covered and let it cook until the potatoes were soft, uncovered to dry it a little and then added a handful of yellow bell pepper for a bit more cooking with the lid back on.
The taste was exactly right! Textures tell me I should start with the meat next time; it should be a little softer and the potato could have been firmer. Nevertheless, the basic process does just what I wanted it to do.
It only took forty-plus years to figure out.
water eh? did you add any oil?
ReplyDelete60 minutes in a pressure cooker (15 psi) works wonders to tenderize a 3 pound or so corned beef brisket. Use the pressure cooker rack and add water to just below the rack. Leftovers after overnight in fridge can be diced cross grain and make great addition for the corned beef hash.
ReplyDeleteIt me me about that long to figure out how my Mom cooked her eggs. We've have been hashless since Hormel went the TVP route. I'll await your final recipe with great anticipation.
ReplyDeleteNJT: no oil; I fried a strip of bacon in the ban and poured the grease off. That leaves a very small amount behind.
ReplyDeleteAnon: I was starting with cooked corned beef from the deli as a shortcut. When I make the stuff from scratch, it's just shy of falling-apart tender, which works fine.
Jerry: when I make the next batch, I'll write it up in detail.
I'd subscribe to the Rx cooking show for this one alone.
ReplyDelete"Cooking Prescriptions with Ms. X"
You have inspired me to do similar with my own taters and the cans of corned beef that I, too, remember being of higher quality 30 years ago.
Somewhat OT, but we had beef short rib hash at the Rusty Bucket last Sunday brunch that was just heavenly. And I have some brisket left over from last week that I could hashify... :)
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