corned beef, corned beef brisket, how to cook corned beef brisket... This blog post will tell you how to cook the easiest and tastiest corned beef brisket ever...

This corned beef looks like it took alot of work, but truthfully it didn't, It takes a lot of time, but it doesn't take much effort and it looks and tastes like you slaved all day. This is a get it started and let it do it's thing kind of recipe. Now that is the kind of meat main dish recipe I love..

I wish I could afford corned beef brisket more often, because it is one of my favorites, but then again, maybe its one of my favorites because it is a rare treat and I don't get to enjoy a good ol' corned beef brisket as often as I would like, that is for dang sure...

Corned beef brisket might seem complicated, it sure looks delicious enough to be complicated, but it's really not. Corned beef requires a long cooking time, but that cooking time is just that, cooking time, nothing required from you.

Corned beef is probably the easiest meat to cook because it has already been soaking in a brine and comes with a seasoning package and aside from rubbing that seasoning packet into the meats fatty area there is no seasoning required.

I'm going to tell you three different ways to cook a corned beef brisket and you can take your pick. All three are as easy as it gets if you have the time, which is about 4 hours.. Corned beef is soaked in a salt brine before packaging so it does not require any extra salt or spices except the included seasoning packet.

So with all that said her are three easy peasy 1 ingredient corned beef brisket recipes I wanted to share with you.

1. crock pot - its simple, open your seasoned corned beef brisket, put it in the crock pot rub the seasoning packet into the fatty side, place it into the crock pot fat side up and set it to cook for 5 or 6 hours

2. Oven with foil wrapped tightly around the meat rub seasoning packet into fat then wrap the meat tightly in tinfoil and place in a casserole dish or cookie sheet fat side up with raised edges just in case of drips and let it cook for 3 to 4 hours in a 350 degree

3. Oven with foil wrapped tightly around the dish as above rub seasoning packet into fat of meat place in greased casserole dish, fat side up, and bake in oven 3 to 4 hours at 350 degrees, uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes to char fat

My favorite method is to wrap the meat itself tightly in tin foil because I believe it keeps the juices contained in a more contained space nearer the meat and makes for better flavor. But that is just my opinion, and not the method I would advise someone who isn't familiar with corned beef brisket to use..

**note** The seasoning package is optional but I use it and sometimes add a little extra black pepper. 

The key to corned beef is a long and slow cooking time... When you cook a corned beef brisket you want to cook it so long that it is fork tender, which means you can take 2 forks and shred the corned beef easily with minimal resistance from connective tissues. A corned beef should pull apart with two forks, in the same way as shredded chicken or roast when it is done, If you check your corned beef and it cannot be pulled apart with 2 forks to a shredded consistency then it is not done enough and you need to stick it back in the oven for an addition 30 to 45 minutes, at bare minimum a corned beef brisket should cook 3 hours, more if not for tender...

If you are new to cooking corned beef brisket they I would recommend either the slow cooker method, or the oven recipe with the foil around the dish so that you can remove foil to check for doneness, the tightly wrapped meat method is probably more suited to those familiar with corned beef brisket and its cooking times.

That is the ease and beauty of corned beef brisket... if its not falling apart when you pull t it with two forks cook it longer.. No genius required in that...

when corned beef is done let sit for at least 10 minutes and then shred with 2 forks. I leave fat in the meat because I love the seasonings on the fat from the seasoning packet and they can pick out the fat if they don't want to eat it.It's not so fatty that picking out their own fat has ever been an issue, or maybe they don't complain because corned beef is a rarity around here and they are just glad to have it even with the fat.. But trust me if you can get those little spice crumbs into the bites of actual meat you are in for an even greater treat, Those little bursts of flavor are just WOW!!!!

In any case if you want a main dish meat that requires almost nothing from you, and looks like it was a lot of effort, corned beef is the ticket... Like I said corned beef brisket takes time to cook, but minimal effort, Just put it in your oven or crock pot and forget about it.. Yes, it is just that easy to cook a corned beef brisket.

I will post the cabbage and pinto beans recipes later, but I thought corned beef was so amazing that it deserved its own post...

If you try it let me know your results in comments...