Corned Beef and Questions

Mattman3969

Started out with this 
Soaked for about 24hrs and changed water 4 times.  Rubbed with black pepper and coriander and on the egg at 275° indirect till 162° IT.  Then in a pre warmed DO((I was behind on supper so I prewarmed on gasser) with beef broth,carrots and onions on the bottom to keep the point outta the liquid so it would steam rather than braise.  All this was done with a simmer.  After 1 1/2 hrs when meat was probing extremely close I added cabbage. 


The meat was extremely tender but when sliced well  it had an off texture. Almost like I was chewing the fat/marble line in the meat.  Was this because I used the point?  Did I cook it wrong?
 I thought it would be more tender using the point.  

Plated up and looking forward to any help I can get on this.  Thanks in advance. 

blind99

Looks pretty damned good from here. I use pretty much the same strategy but I've always had flats so maybe that's the issue. I'd tell you to use a square plate but I know those diamond ones are money. 

SciAggie

Can't help you my friend. It looks delicious as always. 

Mattman3969

Thank you @sciaggie and @blin99. 

I'm not a big brisket cook and this is the first time for corned beef, maybe my expectations was to high.  Just wondering if maybe this should have been a pressure cooker meal rather than on the egg. IDK.  

Theophan

Mattman3969 said:

... The meat was extremely tender but when sliced well  it had an off texture. Almost like I was chewing the fat/marble line in the meat.  Was this because I used the point?  Did I cook it wrong?

It looks spectacular, just wonderful!  My mouth is watering!

I've only cooked a few brisket flats -- I just haven't even seen a packer in my area -- so I'm no expert.  But it sounds to me as though the fat and connective tissue the point is loaded with didn't spend enough time in a high enough temperature zone to render and soften.  You said the meat was probing "extremely close" when you added the cabbage, but cabbage doesn't take long to cook.  Maybe the meat still wasn't quite soft enough when the cabbage and the rest of it was done.  Maybe another time don't add the cabbage until by gosh you can tell the meat is just clearly done, probing like buttah.  I can't imagine that adding and cooking the cabbage at that point will hurt the meat any.

SGH

Mattman3969 said:

The meat was extremely tender but when sliced well  it had an off texture. Almost like I was chewing the fat/marble line in the meat.

 Was this because I used the point?  

Did I cook it wrong?
 I thought it would be more tender using the point.  

I'm no corned beef expert, but it sounds a tad undercooked. I base this on two things you said above; "I thought it would be more tender" and "Almost like I was chewing the fat/marble line". 
The point makes the best corned beef in my opinion, so I say no, it's not because you used a point.  
If it wasn't undercooked, my next hunch would be that you just got a hold of a poor quality point. It certainly happens. 

SGH

On a seperate note, it looks like a winner from where I'm sitting. 

Mattman3969

@sgh - you sir were correct.  Undercooked.  I got home today and made a redneck steamer and finished till it was crazy tender almost heavenly.  
Foil pan with water and AF balls to raise next pan

Second AF pan butcher with a knife


Corned beef in the pan with holes over the pan with water, covered with foil in the oven @400 for 1hr.  Made a hell of a difference.  I'm happy now.   Thank you for makin me think about it.  

SGH

Glad to help brother. And glad to hear that you got the results that you were looking for my friend. 

PoppasGrill

My wife did a corned beef in the crock pot this weekend , and that took 10 hours to get tender. Turned out scrumptious.
Did you say you only cooked it on the grill about 2 hours?
And why soak it 24?

Mattman3969

@poppasgrill - it was on the egg smoking for about 3 1/2-4hrs.  At that point the IT was 162° then it went into the DO for roughly 2hrs.  Taste was great but texture was No Bueno.  I steamed it tonight for about 1hr.  Texture is now awesome.  Moral of the story I undercooked it the first go around.  Lesson learned.  

LetsEat

I have always found that the secret to corned beef - flat or point is to cook until fork tender. I don't rely on suggested time/temp as experience has shown me the variable is the cut of meat. Sometimes requires more sometimes requires less time.
 
I now cook my vegetables in a separate pot and add the juices/broth from the corned beef vessel. No over cooked vegetables but still capturing the flavor of the corned beef.

@Mattman3969, your plated dinner looked delicious!  I've never cooked my "corned beef dinner" on the egg but will do so next time with yours as my inspiration. 

Mattman3969

Mattman3969 said:

@poppasgrill - it was on the egg smoking for about 3 1/2-4hrs.  At that point the IT was 162° then it went into the DO for roughly 2hrs.  Taste was great but texture was No Bueno.  I steamed it tonight for about 1hr.  Texture is now awesome.  Moral of the story I undercooked it the first go around.  Lesson learned.  

I forgot to answer the soak question.  Most of the time people either boil or pressure cook the beef in water and veggies and the crazy amount of salt that is brined into the beef will help season the veggies.   In my case because I smoked it first I did have the water to help the salt escape. That's why I soaked it first.  

PoppasGrill

That clears that up, since my wife did ours in a crock pot it didn't need soaked.
Thanks