Turn Off The Stove: The Best Way To Cook Corned Beef So It's Fall-Apart Tender

Corned beef is savory, salty, hearty — basically, what comfort food dreams are made of. Whether you're Irish by blood or simply Irish at heart, St. Patrick's Day is a great time to whip up some corned beef. If you've made corned beef at home before, you might have run into some issues with toughness — a common problem. This can happen when the corned beef is cooked at too high a temperature for too long. While some recipes recommend that you roast your corned beef in the oven, the slow cooker is far easier — and more likely to get you the result you want. The low-and-slow cooking method is perfect for creating tender, fall-apart-easily corned beef. It's truly a set-it-and-forget-it option that allows you to focus on the day's festivities rather than tending to a roast in the oven. 

Setting up your corned beef in the slow cooker is simple. First, you'll remove the meat from the package and place it in the slow cooker with the included seasoning packet (it's full of pickling spices). Set your slow cooker on low when cooking corned beef, and give it eight to nine hours — this will give plenty of time for the fat to liquify, leaving you with a tender, juicy roast. When you add your potatoes and other veggies is a matter of personal preference. Some cooks add them from the start, giving the flavor from the meat plenty of time to infuse into potatoes and carrots. Others prefer adding vegetables halfway through, or even further along in the cooking process, to keep them firmer rather than tender.

You'll have a few decisions to make when you're slow cooking corned beef at home. First, you'll need to choose whether you prefer a point cut or flat cut – either works. The point cut is a bit fattier than a flat cut, and offers a deeper, more "beefy" flavor. The flat cut can be a little bit more stringy than point cut if you don't slice it against the grain, but it's a better fit if you plan on slicing up your corned beef to make fresh Reuben sandwiches at home after it finishes up in the slow cooker. 

When you buy corned beef at the grocery store, it's already cured. If you'd like to go the extra mile (beyond using your slow cooker instead of your oven) and cure your corned beef at home, you certainly can. This gives you total control over the spices that you're going to use, allowing you to customize the flavor of your roast. You'll need to give yourself some time — it takes about five days to take your cut of meat from a standard brisket to a salty slab of corned beef. While nothing about this meal is a quick process, it'll be well worth it when you pull your perfectly roasted, fall-apart tender corned beef out of the slow cooker.