Delectable Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker Corned Beef

While I have another corned beef recipe on the blog that I love, I decided to also add this one since it’s a completely different style of preparation and you don’t need an oven to prepare it. This is more like the classic corned beef/salt beef that you can or don’t slather mustard on without any glaze but is moist and delicious.

Also, it’s fast and easy to prepare and if you have an instant pot, you can just put it up and walk away till done. What could be bad? I served it for Shabbat together with my coleslaw Perfect Tangy Coleslaw and a different version of my potato salad which seems to be a hit since I literally had nothing left and therefore no pics! No worries, next time. But it’s great with my other potato salad as well Tangy Creamy Potato Salad.

Start with a nice piece of corned beef and rinse off the outside to get rid of the excess salt and the bits of pickling spice. We will re-supplement this, no worries.

Note this is a nice thick piece and will need a bit of extra cooking, it’s about 5 pounds/2.5 or so kilo. Now gather the spices and the beer. Yup yup, this uses beer and I gotta tell you, you really can’t sub this out with anything else. It is what makes the beef so incredibly flavorful.

If you wish to use fresh garlic, just peel it and leave it whole but I actually prefer the minced kind for this. Just shake the spices into the pot with a couple of the bay leaves.

Now add the beer. I had large bottles but measured the liquid for you, 4 cups/948 ml of the beer and 2 cups/474 ml of water.

Next place the rinsed beef into the mixture. Set your instant pot to meat/stew for 90 minutes

and cover tightly making sure to turn the vent to pressure cooking. Make sure it comes up to pressure properly and wander off for about 90 minutes wandering back to turn it off and let pressure release on it’s own. It pays to check with a long wooden skewer or sharp knife before removing from hot liquid if the beef is fully tender. If need be you can always cook another 10 minutes but don’t overcook or it will fall apart on you.

I let it partially cool in the liquid and then remove to a cutting board to rest. This is very important since the juices in the beef need to redistribute and if you cut into it too soon they will run out and your beef will be dry and after all your work that would be a dreadful shame. So really, do this. K. Now, if you will eat the corned beef within a short time, cover with a tent of foil. If you will serve this cold or later on, just let it rest as is.

This is how it looks after cooking, you may note it’s shrunk somewhat (expect this). K. Now for slicing it, always always against the grain. all this means is check the meat to see how the “lines” run in the beef.

Now look on the top of the beef (in that hole), not the side. See the “lines”? That’s the grain. Cut against that direction, thereby keeping your meat juicy and not stringy. Slice as thin or thick as you like, we do it betwixt and between, not massive slabs but not paper thin either. We wanna sink our teeth into it. Just so ya know, this time we opted for it room temp (try not to serve straight from the fridge, room temp gives much better flavor). The beer flavor will blow your socks off, promise!

This is very forgiving since you can serve hot or cold and keeps nicely in the fridge and freezes fabulously well. It will very likely be on my Rosh Hashana menu for those of you who like to plan ahead. DH put this on a thick slice of challah with some nice brown mustard. A little piece of heaven.

Delectable Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker Corned Beef

1 uncooked corned beef, about 2.5 kilo or about 5.5 pounds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
4 cups (946 ml) regular beer
2 cups (473 ml) water

Directions:

Rinse off your corned beef to remove excess salt and bit of spices. In the pot of your instant pot (or pressure cooker) put the mustard sees, bay leaves, peppercorns, minced garlic the beer and the water. Mix together and submerge the beef in the liquid. If a regular pressure cooker, bring to the boil and cover with cooker lid and venter and when it comes to pressure,lower till it hisses nicely but not hysterically and set a timer (don’t forget!!) for 90 minutes. If using an instant pot, easy peasy. Set the controls to meat/stew for 90 minutes, cover and just make sure it properly comes to temp and the vent is hissing nicely. Wander off, read a book, have a cuppa. Wander back in 90 minutes (for the regular pressure cooker, I advise peeking at the pot from time to time to make sure it doesn’t seem to be hissing too loudly and need a flame adjustment). K. Turn of the instant pot/pressure cooker and let the steam/pressure release naturally. Carefully remove the lid and poke the meat with a wooden skewer or sharp knife to see if tender. If so, let cool slightly (about 15 minutes or so) and carefully remove to a cutting board to rest. YOU MUST let it rest at least 15-20 minutes to redistribute the juices in the meat. If you will eat this right away, cover with a tin foil tent while it rests. If you will eat later or choose to eat room temp, let rest without tin foil. When rested, slice to thickness desired and serve with mustard and wonderful bread or nice with coleslaw and potato salad.