tert in seattle said:Quoted message said:tert in seattle said:let's say someone got the instructions wrong and added about 20 cloves
instead of 1 or 2 to a corned beef recipe and let it simmer that way
for about two hours ... is there an antidote?Quoted message said:Without knowing how huch corned beef (and especially how much water)
you're talking it's difficult to say if you're actually using too many
cloves.Quoted message said:Cloves are a normal part of pickling spice. Typical stupidmarket
pickling spice uses very few cloves, because cloves are expensive,
mostly they use mustard seed, the cheapest spice. Were I cooking
corned beef 20 cloves would be too few in my pickling spice, but I
cook like 20lbs of corned beef in like 20 quarts of water. I like
Penzeys pickling spice, it is potent with the "good stuff", contains
lots of cloves.Quoted message said:Penzeys:
"We use less mustard seed than most pickling spice mixes, as mustard
is the least expensive spice around. Hand-mixed from: yellow and brown
Canadian mustard seeds, Jamaican allspice, cracked China cassia,
cracked Turkish bay leaves, dill seed, Zanzibar cloves, cracked China
ginger, Tellicherry peppercorns, star anise, Moroccan coriander,
juniper berries, West Indies mace, cardamom and medium hot crushed red
peppers."Quoted message said:How do you know that your corned beef will have too strong a clove
flavor, did you taste it? If it's still cooking add lots more hot
water (adding cold water will cause the meat to seize, so it can't
readily release the clove flavor. If it's finished cooking you can
still simmer it awhile in plain water. A good neutralizer for cloves
is hot pepper (as in jerk sauce), if you don't mind the heat, and
citrus with it's sweet [censored] flavor will also counteract clove flavor,
add the peel of an orange. I often add an orange rind and a lemon
rind to my corned beef boil as a matter of course.Quoted message said:But you haven't actually said that your corned beef has too much clove
flavor, only that you think you added too many cloves. Why don't you
try tasting some and report back.someone posted this link:http://www.recipezaar.com/86868
I had about 3 lb of corned beef which came with its own packet of
spices (stupidmarket post-St Pats sale ... no cloves included)I emailed the recipe to my wife from work and asked her to start
it so we'd eat some time before midnightI said "add one clove" and somehow she heard "add two dozen cloves."
I came home to a house that smelled like potpourri and a started
fishing for cloves immediately.In hindsight the idea to discard the broth and simmer in plain water
(with apple juice -- thanks Dmitri, I like that idea -- or some lemon
juice might have helped) was probably the right thing to do but I
foolishly attempted to salvage the full-strength broth and reduce
it like the recipe says and I didn't want to waste that bottle of
Guinness ... but it was a lost cause alreadythe corned beef was all right -- a little heavy on the clove and
not too bitter -- but the sauce was inedible and possibly toxic
in large enough quantities.
You still don't say how much water... and the cooking liquid is NOT
for making sauce... it's for pouring down the drain with all the salt,
in fact my recipe calls for a second simmering liquid just to be sure
as much of the cure as possible is discarded. If you want sauce make
it separate, mustard, horseradish, honey, brewski, whatever floats
your canoeski.
This should be a lesson to everyone... never ever, not under any
circumstances ask someone to start your dish. I never have in my
entire life, not even to put a pot of water to the boil... in fact
that is one of the most dangerous acts one can ever commit in a
kitchen... you're guaranteed a burned pot, maybe even your house
burned down. The only thing you ever ask anyone to do when you can't
be there to cook is to make reservations.
Sheldon