The Worst Corned Beef. Ever.

The Worst Corned Beef. Ever.

This past St. Patrick’s Day, we had the worst corned beef. Ever.

What we had was a grass-fed uncured corned beef. It was more expensive than our usual corned beef, and not nearly as red or as fatty-looking. Or as tasty.

Grass-fed beef is never going to be as fatty as corn-fed beef. Corn is used as beef feed because a) we have a helluva lot of corn in this country, b) corn bulks up the cattle before harvesting, and c) corn puts flavorful fat on the meat. Without the fat, there’s going to be less flavor, less lushness on the tongue, more toughness to the teeth.



Years ago, when cattle were allowed to spend their lives grazing on grass land, all beef was grass fed. The cow, in fact, is “designed” to eat grass; its stomach is not really suitable for eating corn all its life long. In fact, eating corn over the long-term will cause cows to develop some serious digestive problems. That’s one reason why corn-fed beef is fattened up fast and then harvested before the beast suffers and perhaps perishes from ulcers, resulting infections and other maladies that result from stuffing its chambered stomach with something it has not evolved to be able to digest.

We should really be eating more grass-fed beef, not only because it’s more natural for the cow, but because it offers certain health benefits to the eater. Grass-fed beef is leaner, lower in calories, helpful in lowering LDL cholesterol and high in the much vaunted omega-3 fatty acids, which research indicates is good for lowering the risk of heart disease, even attention deficit disorder and Alzheimer’s. Or so we’re told.

Problem is, grass-fed beef just is not as tasty as corn-fed beef, at least to those of us who grew up on the stuff. If you’d never tasted corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef would not suffer so by comparison. But we have, so it does.

I posted a picture of our sad, dry, leathery-looking St. Patrick’s day corned beef on Facebook. My friend Mike Janowski asked, “Uh...if it's uncured, then how is it corned?”

To that, I can only respond that we do allow restaurants and other food retailers to call their food that which it is not, with no apparent consequences, as I mentioned in a recent post about “chicken” at Native Foods Café.

So this corned beef was not “cured” in the traditional sense, and as Rob Leavitt of Chicago’s Butcher and Larder commented “Uncured = lack of nitrates. Usually means celery powder is added instead.”

Nitrates are a controversial ingredient in cured products. Some research indicates the nitrates could lead to increased risk of Alzheimer’s, diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease.

Other, somewhat contradictory research indicates that nitrates are not all that harmful and that, in fact, vegetables are a huge source of nitrates in the diet.

And substituting lots of celery salt for nitrates raises the sodium level, which may not be healthy for those seeking to avoid salt.

So, when buying corned beef, I’m going to use as my guide the only certain standard I have: taste. If it tastes good, I’m going to eat it. Until further notice, I’m going with corn-fed corned beef, the fatty, delicious stuff.

David Hammond wrote:[color=green][b]To that, I can only respond that we do allow restaurants and other food retailers to call their food that which it is not, with no apparent consequences, as I mentioned in a recent post about “chicken” at Native Foods Café.

Unless, of course, we call them out on their mis-labeling. Who served you this non corned beef?

My wife.

I'm as confused as your Facebook friend. Nitrates or no nitrates, "corned" beef is salt-cured beef --- isn't it? So what does "uncured corned beef" mean?

To answer the question I think lougord99 intended to ask, the corned beef was from Costco. It was labeled "uncured corned beef." I understand that corned beef is, usually and by definition, salt-cured. I believe the labeling would be "justified" by the seasonings included (cardamom, black pepper) that were typical of the more standard, salt-cured corned beef.

Bacon is also usually cured, but on a recent trip to a Whole Foods in Oakland, CA, I was surprised to find that there was not a single package of bacon there (and there were like 10 brands available) that was cured; it was all uncured.

Add to that the relative commonality of beef bacon, turkey bacon, salmon bacon, tofu bacon, etc., and you can see that it is now usual and customary for things to be named after that which they are not.

The other problem with grass-fed beef, if we switched all cattle over, is that it would more than double the amount of land needed and dramatically increase the amount of water needed -- because it takes more than twice as long to raise a cow to market weight (and a lower market weight at that -- more time for less meat).

On a related note, I think it's interesting to note that Texas longhorns do not fatten on corn. Only the northern shorthorns do well (and by well, I mean culinarily) on corn.

I agree with you, although I've made some pretty damn good grass fed pastrami using brisket from Butcher & Larder. But I much prefer corn fed beef.

But I also have to ask: do the ingredients listed include celery powder or celery juice or the like? I'm a little tired of this "nitrate-free" or "uncured" gimmick because it's not honest with consumers and is bs. Celery has nitrates and a lot of (if not all of) the manufacturers putting out nitrate-free or uncured products are not (would it even be healthy to eat if it was uncured?). And I'm not aware of studies that show that one nitrate is better for us than another. But I digress . . .

BR wrote:But I also have to ask: do the ingredients listed include celery powder or celery juice or the like? I'm a little tired of this "nitrate-free" or "uncured" gimmick because it's not honest with consumers and is bs. Celery has nitrates and a lot of (if not all of) the manufacturers putting out nitrate-free or uncured products are not (would it even be healthy to eat if it was uncured?). And I'm not aware of studies that show that one nitrate is better for us than another. But I digress . . .

BR, I didn't read the ingredients list before the meat was prepared (I'll blame Carolyn; she made it the same way as she does every St. Patrick's Day), but it wouldn't surprise me if they did use celery in some form.

I don't think you're digressing at all: the issue of nitrates vs. celery powder/juice is controversial, with many complaining that using the latter instead of the former offers no health benefits and is just a marketing ploy.

I got an "uncured" corned beef as well, though from TJ's not Costco. It was very tasty, and had enough fat for me. It did have celery in the ingredients.

Maybe it's your preparation? Looks like you baked yours? I simmered mine for several hours in a mix of the contents of the package, water, smoked porter and ginger beer. It was tender and tasty. I served it with oven roasted potatoes, carrots and cabbage.

leek wrote:I got an "uncured" corned beef as well, though from TJ's not Costco. It was very tasty, and had enough fat for me. It did have celery in the ingredients.

Maybe it's your preparation? Looks like you baked yours? I simmered mine for several hours in a mix of the contents of the package, water, smoked porter and ginger beer. It was tender and tasty. I served it with oven roasted potatoes, carrots and cabbage.

Good eye, Leek. Carolyn always boils and then bakes the corned beef, which works well with fattier versions, but with this leaner beef, it was a mistake.

I bought a pretty expensive chunk of corned beef (made in-house by a GNR meat market). Put it in the crockpot for 12 hours...dry as leather. I don't care if it was grass or corn fed beef...what it lacked was fat. Next year I'm looking for FAT!

David Hammond wrote:Bacon is also usually cured, but on a recent trip to a Whole Foods in Oakland, CA, I was surprised to find that there was not a single package of bacon there (and there were like 10 brands available) that was cured; it was all uncured.

I accidentally ended up buying some Usinger's "uncured" bacon a few weeks ago at Woodman's. Thankfully, despite my mistake, it still tasted find and just as good as "normal" bacon. This "uncured" nonsense is load of tripe. Firstly, "cured" does not imply the use of nitrites/nitrates. Salt curing is still curing (you just need much more of it if you're using it for long-term preservation than if you use a mix of salt and nitrites/nitrates.) Secondly, this stuff is absolutely cured with salt and sodium nitrate--it's just that the sodium nitrate happens to come in the form of celery, as other posters have noted. I do not understand how labeling laws allow it to be called "uncured." (Although a quick bit of unsourced research seems to indicate that it's labeling regulations that require it to be marked as "uncured." That seems odd to me but, well, stranger things have happened.)

For the first time, I splurged on corned beef this year and got the $8/lb house cured beef (flat) from Winston's on 63rd. Braised on a bed of cabbage in a Dutch oven, it was absolutely the best corned beef I've ever eaten.

It seems the distinction the labeling is intended to clarify is between "naturally occurring" nitrates/nitrites and "synthetic" nitrates/nitrites (salts developed "in the lab"?). This is probably why it makes sense for a place like Whole Foods to trade in the former, just as it makes sense for them to focus on vitamin c from rose hips rather than abscorbic acid. It's "natural." It sells.

Another issue is the use of the term "uncured," which does seem misapplied. It's cured, just with natural rather than "unnatural" stuff. Binko, in the video you linked to, the nice man and lady suggested "naturally cured" might a better designation, and it may be a step in the right direction, but it's still an akward way to express "cured with naturally occurring nitrates." Either way, of course, the meat is cured.

Maybe "Vegetable-cured"? "Celery-cured."

To me "uncured bacon" is marketing mumbo jumbo used to fake us out as consumers.

http://ruhlman.com/2011/05/the-no-nitrites-added-hoax/

David Hammond wrote:It seems the distinction the labeling is intended to clarify is between "naturally occurring" nitrates/nitrites and "synthetic" nitrates/nitrites (salts developed "in the lab"?).

Sure, that's clearly what is intended, and that's what grates on me. It's still loaded with nitrates/nitrites all the same if it's using celery. (I seem to even recall reading one article where the "uncured" version of a product actually had more nitrate content than the traditionally cured one.) And I'm not sure about "naturally cured." If a maker uses mined sodium nitrate or saltpeter (which occur in nature) in their cure, is it also "naturally cured"?

And you can certainly corn a beef without nitrates or nitrites, but that still wouldn't make it "uncured" in my book. It's just "nitrate/nitrite free" cured only with salt. To me, an "uncured corned beef" would simply be brisket (or whatever cut of beef you prefer.) If you're salting the hell out of it for days or weeks, regardless of whether you're using curing salts or not, you're curing it.

That said, your beef, judging by its complete lack of redness, looks like it was only salt-cured. I've had salt-cured corned beef that I've made before, and, when cooked, it looks a lot like what is in your picture. That said, it still tasted like "corned beef." I suppose it's possible that you really did get a truly "uncured" "corned" beef. If it wasn't all that salty to begin with, then it probably was just a hunk of meat marinated or injected with "corned beef" spices. That said, I've never seen that before, and calling it "corned" would bug the crap out of me.