By Dylan Clay
When St. Patty’s day is over, Corned beef goes on sale and not many people realize you can smoke it.
I’ve tried smoking the flat cut before and it ends up much drier.
If you can, try to find one that is roughly an even thickness throughout and one that has a fat cap.
To know if it was pre-brined- on the label it will say something along the lines of:
“Contains up to 25% of a solution of Water, Salt, Sodium Phosphates, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Flavorings, Papain.”
The purpose of soaking the corned beef in water is to draw out some of the salt.
If you were to smoke the meat without doing this, it will be quite salty – bordering on not palatable.
Remove the corned beef from the packaging and rinse the exterior in the sink.
In a large bowl, put your corned beef and then cover with water; Then put in your refrigerator for an hour.
Every hour for 4 hours, dump and replace the water.
If your corned beef had a fat cap, leave it – this will render down when smoked.
If your corned beef has a thin end, trim it so that it’s roughly the same thickness throughout.
This rub uses elements from a typical corned beef boil.
*I used McCormick Pickling seasoning and I grinded it for 3 seconds in my coffee grinder.
Apply this seasoning to all sides of the meat.
Remember: The meat already has salt in it as it was brined in a salt solution. Meaning, your rub doesn’t need any salt.
If your meat has a fat cap, point the fat cap at the heat source; I smoked the meat on my Weber kettle so I did fat side up.
I used Maple wood because that’s all I had- post-oak works well and so does hickory.
Allow the corned beef to smoke until you’re happy with the bark.
Once you’re happy with the bark – place the corned beef in a foil boat.
To the boat, add some beef stock or some water. You don’t need much, you essentially want a thin layer on the bottom of the meat.
Once boated, return to your smoker or your kitchen oven set to 250F.
Unlike a typical brisket where you’d smoke until around ~200F+, corned beef brisket (the point specifically) won’t need to go this high to be probe tender.
When I say probe tender too – I mean you should be able to take your probe thermometer and drop it and it will fall completely into the meat with no resistance.
This happened for me at ~185F internal.
If you boated the meat, you don’t need to tent it; Simply rest on the counter.
Once rested, slice into pencil thin slices.
Buy your favorite sourdough bread, some prepared horseradish and some dijon mustard and then top off with your smoked corned beef and enjoy!
