I think you need to cook it longer or cook it in a pressure cooker for 35-40 minutes instead.

Cook it longer.....
Outside of that everything you did was right...
You will know when it's done by how easily you can poke it with a fork.
Linda C

I like to cook mine in the crockpot overnight.
Kathy G in MI

I use the pressure cooker or the crock pot.
I prefer the crock pot and I let it cook for a long time.

Thank you, all! Next time I think I'm going to use a crock pot and cook it for hours and hours. lol.

I did 3.5 hours because I found a lot of recipes that said that for a 4lb, so thought for sure it would also be long enough for a 3.5lb.

Thank you, again.

Val

Val maybe you needed to simmer it a little harder you know, not a soft simmer.

No - dont simmer harder, cook it longer. A lot of those recipes way underestimate the cooking time. I think it is bedcause a lot of the beef that is sold as "Corned Beef" now is terribly lean. If there is some decent fat, then it can cook for a shorter time.

Alexa

Shaun - I thought that made meat tough?

hard boll makes meat tough.
If you cook it for too many hours and hours it will disintegrate to just meat strings.
I put mine into my Le C dutch oven with enough water to just cover and a quartered onion and the flavor packet....bring it to a simmer and put the whole thing into the oven at about 212 ( half way between 225 and 200) and cook it 4 or 5 hours. Then I take it out and put it on a burner and add my potatoes carrots and when they are nearly done 20 to 30 minutes, I add a quartered cabbage!
Ummmm!!!!

Alexa - Yes, this had almost no fat! I was very surprised about that. But glad too.

Linda - That sounds so easy. I will try it that way too.

Thank you!

Are you comparing it to the brisket or to top round? Slice it as thin as you can and it should treat you well. I like to run it in the crock pot for 12 hours, adding potatoes carrots, onions, cabbage and parsnips after 8 hours.

Corned beef without a layer of fat isn't worth eating, tough or tender! Some foods just require a, "to heck with it!" I'd rather have one small slice of corned beef with a nice fat layer than a whole plate full of it without.

Mmmm....come to think of it, corned beef season is coming soon. Funny how some foods are simply not appealing when the weather is in the high nineties, but as soon as the mercury drops one craves them! October, here we come!!!

I use a pressure cooker for mine, as well.

Last time I made one it didn't just get tender, it got falling apart on the fork tender.

Yummmmm! I do mine in the crock pot too; it cooks for about 6-8 hours while I'm at work. When cooking, I add the "spice packet" that comes with it, about a cup of water, a bottle of dark beer, a bay leaf, and a tsp of peppercorns for good measure. Cook on low.

When it's done, I ladel off some of the liquid (about a cup) and pressure cook potatoes and cabbage. This all gets serverd with some grainy/spicy mustard and a cold beer!

Slurp!

My mom made a corned beef that you could cut with a fork. Just delicious. I tried over and over and could never get it like hers.

She told me that I was more or less letting it sit in warm water - that I needed to simmer it a little harder.

I didnt say to boil it, no no, dont do that. But simmer to where you see movement. You know what I mean?

That's what my mom did.