Since corned beefiness is pink, how do you know if it's fully cooked? And why is it pinkish anyway?

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Carrots and Potatoes.

Corned beefiness is a brined, tougher cutting of meat that can be either the brisket, rump or circular that many Americans traditionally like to eat on St. Patrick'southward Day along with cabbage.

Corned beef got its proper name from the corning or curing process that was historically used to preserve meat before modern refrigeration . The beef cuts were dry-cured in coarse pellets of salt that were typically the size of a kernel of corn. The pellets were rubbed into the meat to continue it from spoiling. Hence the proper name "corned" beefiness.

Today'due south corned beef is now brined or cured using a salt water or sodium nitrite mixture, which fixes the pigment in the meat and causes it to exist pink in color.

That'south why corned beef remains pinkish after cooking, co-ordinate to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. While many people think the color pink means that beef is not fully cooked, it's important to note that this is not the case with corned beef.

However, because corned beef is a tougher cutting of meat, it does take longer to fully cook. Corned beef is safe to eat in one case its internal temperature has reached at to the lowest degree 145 degrees Fahrenheit and has stood for about 20 minutes subsequently removing it from heat, USDA recommends.

If you purchase corned beefiness, information technology can be safely stored in a refrigerator for up to 7 days past its sell-by date. If your package has a apply-by date, the meat can be stored unopened in the refrigerator until that date, USDA recommends.

Corned beef can exist safely cooked several ways, USDA says, including:

  • In the oven set up at 350 degrees, with the brisket fatty-side upwardly. The meat should be slightly covered with virtually i inch of water, with the container covered throughout the cooking time. Permit well-nigh 1 hour per pound.
  • On the stove with the brisket fatty-side up in a large pot covered with h2o. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, assuasive virtually ane hour per pound. Vegetables may be added during the last 20 to 30 minutes of cooking.
  • In a irksome cooker. If you lot plan to use vegetables such as potatoes and carrots, put them in the bottom of the slow cooker and so identify the brisket on top of the vegetables. Add together almost enough water to cover the meat and cook on the high setting for the first hour of cooking. And then cook for x to 12 hours on the depression setting or 5 to vi hours on high. Cabbage wedges may be added on top of the brisket during the last 3 hours of cooking.
  • In a microwave oven, allowing xx to 30 minutes of cooking time per pound. Place brisket in a large casserole dish and add together enough water to encompass the meat. Encompass with a lid or vented plastic wrap and microwave on medium-low for half the estimated time. Turn the meat over and rotate the dish. Microwave on loftier for the remainder of time or until fork tender. Vegetables may be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking.

Leftover corned beef should exist refrigerated within ii hours of cooking and can exist eaten safely for up to 4 days. Frozen leftover corned beef can safely exist eaten for up to 3 months, USDA says. To reheat leftover corned beef, the meat should exist brought up to 165 degrees before eating.

Chow Line is a service of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and its outreach and research arms, OSU Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Send questions to Chow Line, c/o Tracy Turner, 364 Due west. Lane Ave., Suite B120, Columbus, OH 43201, or turner.490@osu.edu .

Editor: This cavalcade was reviewed by Dan Remley, Field Specialist in Food, Nutrition and Wellness for Ohio State University Extension.