Sous Vide Corned Beef Cooking Time and Temp

I just got a Sous Vide Supreme and for my first experiment, I selected corned beef due to the close proximity to St Patrick's Day and in honor of St Patrick, the Patron Saint of corned beef. I found a corned beef in the market that was pre-seasoned and already vacuum sealed. After a little research on times and temperatures, I settled on 134 degrees for 48 hours.
This afternoon, I had an appointment on the lower east side of Manhattan and decided to go to Katz's Deli for lunch - a corned beef sandwich. They have been successfully cooking and selling corned beef there for 122 years so I felt like this was a safe control group. The sandwich was good, but the corned beef was a bit dry, flaky and falling apart - not my favourite. I got home later that night and pulled my first experiment out of the primordial soup. It was the best corned beef I've ever had. Solid, not falling apart and incredibly juicy and flavourful.

After reading the referenced article above, I tried it at 180 for 11 hours and 140 for 48 hours. Both were great, although I'll dial back the salt a bit next time. As Jason suggested above, I found the one that cooked at 180 for a shorter time was much more authentic, as the texture had more grain to it. While delicious, the low and slow version had a texture like tenderloin. Both were better than just about any I've had before.

The first time I did sous vide corned beef was for 135 for around 30-ish hours and it turned out really great. I've also done it at 145 for 30 hours and that was excellent as well, a little more tender but a little less juicy.

I think the 175 for 10 hours would result in a much less juicy, but fall-apart tender sous vide corned beef, much closer to a traditional one.

I'd just pick one and go for it, in my experience with sous vide corned beef they all turn out pretty dang good!

Check out this link for the definitive guide to cooking corned beef:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/how-to-make-corned-beef-st-patricks-day-simmering-brisket-meat-the-food-lab.html

It shows how time & temps affect the texture of the meat.

I just cooked corned beef at 180 degrees for 12 hours and I was happy with the results.

Todd

I used the cookbook that I got with mu Sous Vide Supreme. I cooked the corned beef for 30 hours at 150. The real silts were ok but not great. I felt that it was av little dry. I just put one in at 134 and will cook for 30 hours. I will let you know how it comes out