Okay, okay, I ate it... and it didn't suck

[cjsmith]

I grabbed the smallest chunk. I got two forks and a knife. I got rid of the obvious big fat layer. In some places it really wanted to separate just at the meat/fat boundary, which was very handy; in other places I sliced.

Then, based on klwalton's suggestion, I took the forks (sometimes one fork with the knife holding the chunk down) and combed it, just like I'd attack my hair as a child after some egregious bout of tomboyishness. Voila! Almost instantly it became the texture of taco filling. Well, okay, not quite that fine. But it definitely wanted to fall apart along the grain. I encouraged it.

I took the good thick sandwich roll I didn't have, toasted it in the toaster oven I don't have, and made a sandwich. (Okay, so it was lightly toasted white bread. Next time, a chunky roll.)

It didn't suck!

It was a bit heavy on the sauce. No shock there. The sauce was quite a bit saltier than I particularly wanted, in that kind of quantity. Oh well: all of THAT'S fixable. Less sauce in the next sandwich.

So I sliced the fat off the rest of the chunks, combed them too, and popped it all into the freezer for later. One's in a nice sandwich-sized serving.

P.S.: The cats reeeeeeeeally like little tidbits of this -- if I wipe the sauce off. :)

P.P.S.: The rosemary chicken is starting to smell gooooooood. :) Can I thicken the sauce still in the crock pot, or do I pull out the lemon/water/rosemary/pepper goo and put it in a little pot on the stove with some cornstarch or suchlike?

Comments

[mountainkitten.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely do it on the stove... not in the crock... the crock doesn't do a fine job of thickening.... (not enough heat usually)...

at least it didn't suck... part of the nature of corned beef is that its pretty salty on its own.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip. I'll do it on the stove. Is that what you do with the liquid / do with the chicken? I was kinda hoping for a sauce, and I figured the liquid from the crock might be a good start for it.

Oh interesting, the meat was salty to begin with? That's good to know. I think I'll stick to not-corned-beef for future barbecuing experiments! :-)

[mountainkitten.livejournal.com]

yes the liquid would be a good place to start for sauce to go with your chicken. :) I do that all the time. very tasty usually. :)

as far as the corned beef goes... its a salt brine that is used to cure it. that's where the saltiness comes from.

another good idea for your new found toy ... crock pot roast. I take a can of cream of mushroom soup (get the lower sodium variety if you can find it), packet of onion soup mix, and a can of water... mix this together.... take my roast (eye of round, sirloin, chuck roast, english roast... your choice) and brown it in a bit of oil ont he stove.... put it in the crock pot.... pour the soup mixture over it and cook until the roast is done and tender. I also add potatoes and quartered onions at some point along the way, and carrots & celery if you like that. usually early on... so they have time to cook. at the end of cooking remove the roast and vegetables... pour your soup mixture into a pan on the stove and thicken with a bit of corn starch. makes an awesome gravy. if you have people that don't like onions... strain the onions out of the dry powder from the packet. this roast has never failed me yet...

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Oh, and will you post the Rosemary Chicken recipe, please?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The Rosemary Chicken recipe came from erisian_fields here. I haven't tasted that one yet, as it came out of the pot just in time for me to clean up the kitchen for guests. I'll post about it soon!

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry, meant that to go to CJ!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It never thickened! Woe is me! I pulled out the chicken and strained some of the fat off, the stuff that wasn't liquid at crock temperatures. I poured all the rest (rosemary and all) into a pot on the stove. I stirred a couple tablespoons of cornstarch into cool water until it was smooth, then poured that in the pot too. I boiled it, and boiled it, and boiled it, and boiled it... and then gave up 'cause guests were coming!

Thanks for the crock pot roast recipe! I remember doing roasts in the oven and they often had a packet of onion soup mix in 'em. It's a handy place to get onions, salt, a touch of garlic, etc in one place.

[mountainkitten.livejournal.com]

I hate when that happens. could of been not enough corn starch... not sure what else to suggest.

I sometimes make my roast with a stew packet (like you buy at the grocery store from mccormick or the like) and follow the directions for mixing it... usually one packet to 3 cups of water and a bit of flour (1/4 cup maybe)... whisk well... pour over your browned roast... makes a different nice gravy at the end too.

trying to think of other things I've done with the crock pot... one of my favorite ways to cook.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I bet you're right about not enouch cornstarch. I saw this morning that some little spots in the broth looked like they had tried to thicken.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

The stuff you strained out wasn't fat, but solidified proteins that would be liquid if they hadn't been cooked. It's just part of the meat and it's the same stuff that gets stuck to the frying pan when you cook meats on the stovetop. It makes the tangy, yummy bits in the gravy/sauce when you deglaze the pan after frying. It makes excellent gravy in the crockpot, too.

To get the sauce to thicken, make sure you put your cornstarch into cold water and mix it thoroughly before adding it to already boiling liquid. If you do it that way, you can mix up and add more cornstarch to make it thicker if the first batch doesn't do a good enough job. If you whisk the gravy while adding the cornstarch-water mixture (don't do that if you're using a teflon pan!), it helps keep the lumps out. Me, I like the lumps. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh interesting. I had no idea what it was, and it looked off-whitish and slimey, so I thought fat.

I did do the cold water bit. But yeah, I needed to add more. (And I was whisking it a bunch. I don't know yet whether I like lumps!)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was going to suggest that you go with straight brisket next time. And if you want a less fatty cut, ask for a "first cut" or "flat cut", not the "point cut".

Okay, now (and it's *your fault*) I'm going to go bake some bread :):).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I was definitely supposed to start with straight brisket *this* time. :-) I bet if I do it "properly" it'll come out much tastier to my palate! And now that I know how easy it is to trim the fat, I'm fine with the cut I had.

Alas, alack, I am responsible for bread! How ever shall I atone for my sin? ;-)

[runeshower.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it turned out okay!! It's been high comedy, reading about your bbq beef experiment. I knew you were in for trouble the moment you referred to "corned beef kits". :-) There's no such thing. Corned beef is already processed. I don't know what they do to it exactly, but I assume it involves pickling in some kind of brine that contains the same kind of spices you get in the packet. The packet might add a tiny bit of extra flavor, but I think of it basically as decoration. If you boil a corned beef without the packet you get pretty much the same result. The meat is indeed permanently pink when cooked. You can cook it till it falls apart completely and it will still be pink.

I happen to love corned beef, fat and all. I put one in the crockpot, surround it with a few potatoes, carrots and onions cut into large pieces, add enough water to cover, then cook it for a few hours (it tastes best if you stop cooking BEFORE it falls apart). During the last hour I add a head of cabbage cut roughly into eighths. And that's New England Boiled Dinner, also known as corned beef and cabbage.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

If only I'd known that there were far better things to do with a hunk of "raw" corned beef and its spice packet than stick it in a crock pot with barbecue sauce! :-) I guess that's a lesson I won't soon forget.

I am sure future crock pot experiments will lead to future comedy, too. The rosemary chicken is looking kind of dull, in that it's probably going to come out the way it's expected to. But golly, I can only imagine what in all innocence I am going to add to the beef stew.

[runeshower.livejournal.com]

Hey, cooking "without rules" has led to some of the most delicious accidents. If everyone just followed recipes, there'd be no new creations!

I'm not enough of a risk-taker, myself. I usually do a little internet research before I cook anything unfamiliar, looking for other people's recipes and cooking hints. I *might* branch out from there with my own ideas, but usually only on 2nd-and-later attempts.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm usually not a risk-taker either... except in baking, where I'm more confident. This was not intended to be a risk, as I thought I was following the rules. It was just a BIG OL' GOOF! :-)

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

I bet the BBQ sauce isn't too salty. I bet the saltiness came from the meat.

I like cooking, but nothing that requires any sort of knowledge. I make it up as I go along, so I am very impressed you made a brisket!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

After seeing some other comments too, I bet you are absolutely right. And I bet if I hadn't started with CORNED beef it wouldn't be like that.

I may be able to tone that down a little by putting some lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. Or... something. Dunno.

The brisket recipe came from fuzzygruf here.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Ignore that other message. LJ is wonky.

Corned Beef

[ctgstr8.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone has mentioned that the quality of corned beef differs from store to store. We buy ours from an independant grocery that prepares its own corned beef. Their product is lean and mild in flavour. I cook the meat in a crock pot, covered with water, and add a bit of vinegar, some celery, some pepper corns, and a bay leaf.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, guess I didn't have to read that much further at all. :) Good for you, CJ! I'm glad it turned out well. It may not have been the meal of your dreams, but at least you cooked something from scratch and convinced yourself you won't die. And you learned along the way. So it's all gravy (sorry, couldn't help myself) from here.