3rd annual festival to highlight barrel-aged corned beef

By Frank Sabatini Jr. | SDUN Reporter

Just like the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line turns hot in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, the butchers at two leading meat markets in San Diego will soon find themselves playing the role of corned beef counselors to San Diegans planning their St. Patrick’s Day dinners.

But the advice they provide is best absorbed in person, when mouthfuls of the brined beef are dispensed to consumers in cooked form during the March 9 Corned Beef Festival, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free event, now in its third year, takes place concurrently at Iowa Meat Farms in Mission Gorge and Siesel’s Old Fashioned Meats in Bay Park.

About 50 pounds of the red-tinted meat have been earmarked for sampling at each store, said Iowa’s master butcher Richie Vought, who has helped oversee a lengthy barrel-aging process for nearly 8,000 pounds of brisket and rounds that began in late January. The uncooked meat is available for sale beginning the day of the festival, though pre-orders are currently being accepted at both stores.

“We developed our own cure about 17 years ago, and it’s darn good,” Vought said, revealing that the water-based recipe includes garlic, sugar, cloves, turmeric and sodium nitrate, which gives the meat its reddish color.

“The sodium nitrate is saltier than salt, so it preserves the meat longer,” he said while giving the raw cuts a gentle swish in one of their large plastic barrels. As for the mysterious notion of “corn” in corned beef, the term dates back a few hundred years to when Europeans cured pork with salt crystals the size of corn kernels.

“It wasn’t until you got over to America that beef became more desirable. Corning it really wasn’t an Irish thing,” he said.

The beef, however, is corn-fed and sourced from the Midwest, mostly Nebraska. With brisket, culled from a cow’s front upper-leg section, Vought said it is a little fattier and takes slightly longer to cook compared to the rounds, which come from the hind legs and slice more evenly. Once fully brined, the cuts are sealed in airtight bags and sell in varying weights for $4.99 per pound.

Vought will be joined by other meat masters at the festival in providing cooking tips and recipe ideas that embody a host of vegetables and zippy condiments. For those missing the event, he offers some pearls of wisdom for turning your corned beef into a “pot o’ gold.”

• Always cook the meat covered in water, simmering it until thoroughly done and tender. For additional flavor, add a few cups of beer or apple cider to the water from the start.

• Do not add citrus to the liquid. “It doesn’t work well,” he said.

• When using a Crock Pot, set it on high for the first hour.

• Use the oven only if adding a glaze to the corned beef after it’s cooked. Vought prefers equal parts of horseradish, mustard and honey. He covers the cooked beef with the mixture and bakes it at 450-degrees for about 20 minutes.

• Corned beef is juicier after letting it rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

• Cut the meat against the grain to avoid a stringy mess.

• Add vegetables such as cabbage, potatoes and carrots into the braising liquid after the corned beef is cooked.

For more information, contact Iowa Meat Farms, located at 6041 Mission Gorge Rd., by calling 619-281-5766, or Siesel’s Old Fashioned Meats, 4131 Ashton St., by calling 619-275-1234.