How to Cut Corned Beef

You’ve got your corned beef cooked and you even took the extra time to brown it in the oven with a delicious mustard glaze. Now, you’re faced with a dilemma…How do you cut corned beef? Wasn’t there some special trick to it? You whip out your cell phone and put in a call to the family cook to ask how to slice the meat and he or she responds with an incredibly helpful:

Photo by Dexie Wharton

“Why, you just slice it across the grain!”

Umm…yeah. That helped. You’ll just go…umm…Right. Well.

Actually, it isn’t that hard to find the grain of the meat. After it is cooked, look at the side with the least fat. You should see long lines running through it. Ah, the grain! So, don’t cut the way the lines, which are muscles, are running. Instead, cut the other way, which is straight across the lines.

Still not sure you’re doing it right? Just make your best guess and cut a thin slice. If it is long and stringy and falls all apart, just eat it and then cut the rest of the meat the other way. Unless you break down and cry about the ruined slice so loudly that your dinner guests hear you, they’ll never know you messed up that first slice.