patrick.net

You're way ahead of me. I can barely cook at all.

I thought the whole purpose of corned beef was it was impossible to ruin when you are shit faced by noon on Saint Paddy's Day.

In years past, I make a pizza dough but add caraway seeds to it. I chop the corn beef, add sauerkraut, top with swiss and make a St. Patty's Day pizza. I lightly top it with russian dressing. Sacrilege to my Italian heritage but it comes out pretty tasty. Kind of a play on an open faced reuben.

Ceffer says

I thought the whole purpose of corned beef was it was impossible to ruin when you are shit faced by noon on Saint Paddy's Day.

Yes, and when combined with cabbage and that cheap beer, it gives you a leg up on the next day's farting contest. (Irish girls find such a manly sport very romantic).

Lighting whiskey cabbage farts has led to any number of peat bog deaths by fire.

Ceffer says

I thought the whole purpose of corned beef was it was impossible to ruin when you are shit faced by noon on Saint Paddy's Day.

Funny how you can completely ruin and dry out Corned beef by boiling the shit out of it.
It is best to let it sit on low heat for three hours, it should never get up to a rolling boil ever.
Otherwise it will get tough, dry and stringy.

I know how to do it for a good Cabbage boil, and use the left overs for Rubens or CB hash.

I wanted to do something else. I should try several Asian cooking techniques that I have learned, and make a video with 3 or 5 ways.
Sorta like that Asian Cook, that makes dishes, then calls his wife Claire, who comes and eats it while she critiques it. Most always good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcuTtrQvs7I

So I decided to give this more thought, so I made Steak Kew out of a 2 inch TBone I had in the fridge.
When it comes to using a Beef for a stir fry, this is the only dish that I recommend a quality Steak. As a grilled/broiled steak is the star of this dish.
Broil a 2 inch steak at 450 for 6 minutes on each side. Remove from over, and toss in a pan with a tablespoon of oil at 500f until a brown crust forms on each side.
This steak was right out of the fridge, so the broiling to get things tempered, and the pan frying to crust the outside, and bring the middle up to medium/Med rare.
Stir fry vegetables while steak rests, make a sauce, cube the steak, bring sauce to a bubbling crude, toss in vegetables until coated, toss in meat, take off heat.

More on sauces and vegetables I like to use later.

I have found that tough top round and sirloin the cheapest cuts of beef is the best to use for stir fry beef dishes. We Americans equate that to strips of beef they sell in the grocery store, Pepper Steak, which is the crappiest thing to use. Get a nice cut of beef, none of the presliced crap. And cut it in 1/8 to 1/4 thick slices that the strips of meat will be about 1 inch by 3 inches.
Then place in bowl with two tbl spn Chinese cooking wine, 1tpsn black pepper, one egg white, and 1 tbl spn soy sauce, one tbl spn oyster sauce, then mix thoroughly and let sit in fridge covered for 20 minutes to 4 hours. Add a tblspn of corn starch and let sit to come up to room temp.

Method one, place meat one at a time into rolling boiling water. Leave them for about 2 to 4 minutes. Pull out and strain. Pat dry and proceed to use in your favorite stir fry.

Method two, roll in 1 part wheat soft flour and 1 part potato starch, shake off excess and place one at a time in cooking oil heated to 375. let fry until they they turn light brown, and the heat has returned to 350f. If you're doing it in batches, let oil get back to 375 before adding more. After they are all cooked, let oil return to 375f and refry one more time, until nicely golden brown and crispy. Proceed to use in your favorite stir fry.

I plan on using these techniques to the Corned Beef. I'll treat and ferment the uncooked corned beef. And see what results I get. I think I'll use the velvetized boil method for a Beef in Lobster sauce version. And I'll use the fry method for a Szechuan Beef.

Now some folks may be asking, hey TPB why the interest in Chinese food, they aren't so popular right now?
To that I say, au contraire, Chinese people are snobs about the Chinese fare that American eat. They claim it's not Chinese food at all, I have always said "of course it's Chinese food! It's Chinese techniques", but it's American in spirit, and to that end, I proudly learn everything I can about the Chinese techniques. For one thing, it's Frugal as Fuck!
Take the Steak Kew stir fry, normally when I plan a Steak dinner, I buy one for me, one for my wife, one for the wee ones to split up, and one my Older Daughters either may or may not be home to eat when we BBQ them. And most of the time, we do a steak, potato, and a salad. I buy and throw away so much vegetables, because we don't take the time to steam or make veggie side dishes when we're doing a steak dinner, or other Western cuisine and comfort food. In a stir fry, the vegetables are the star, you can't make a decent stir fry without them. So vegetables are never a second thought.
Take this corned beef I'm planning on making. Normally by time I slow boil it traditionally, it will hardly seem like enough to get one meal.
How ever I can see in a stir fry it could be cut up into four meals. Meals that feeds everyone without waste.
Like the meals I make from just three or four thighs, it can make a huge Chinese entre with left overs. Yet an 8 piece of fried chicken seems short.

By the time you finish with that corned beef, it's going to be stealing technology and trade secrets.