Corned beef with sauerkraut and pear salad: The Harrison, New York City

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 28, 2005

Executive chef Brian Bistrong adds salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, juniper, fennel, coriander, celery seed, cinnamon and white, black, pink and Szechwan peppercorns to water. He brings it all to a boil, cools it, pours it over boneless short ribs and lets them brine for three days.

Then he rinses the short ribs and poaches them in beef broth for three to four hours until they are very tender. He wraps each portion in a blanched leek leaf tied with a chive.

Separately, he sweats onions with caraway seeds, adds diced apples and sauerkraut and braises the sauerkraut mixture in Bavarian lager for about half an hour. Then he puts the mixture in a bowl, tops it first with the beef and then with a julienne of pear tossed in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, grated horseradish, salt and pepper.

He pours the braising liquid around the ingredients.