How to Slice Corned Beef

You’ve seen them— recipes that tell you to “slice meat against (or across) the grain.” So what does it mean? And what are the conse quences if you don’t do it?

To get the gist of what the grain of meat is, we need to keep talking about meat structure.

See also How to Cook Good Corned Beef

Muscle Fibers

Okay, you know meat is made of muscle fibers. And exercised muscles have thick fibers.

Before braising your beef, take a good look at it. You shouldn’t have a problem seeing the muscle fibers (they’re easiest to see on the flat cut). On beef tenderloin, the fibers are thinner—and more tender.

Grain

See how the fibers all run in one direction? That’s the “grain.” And how you cut meat in relation to its grain makes a big difference in how tender it is in your mouth.

With or Against?

When you cut meat with the grain, you’re cutting in the same direction the fibers run. The slices are made of long fibers stacked on top of each other.
 
But when you slice against the grain, you’re going in the opposite direction of the grain. Now the pieces of meat are made of very short fibers stacked on top of each other.

The bottom line is short fibers are easier to chew than long ones. Thinly slicing this beef against the grain is another way to tenderize.

Slicing on a Bias

If you’ve run into the grain question, you’ve probably been told to slice meat “on a bias,” too. That just means to cut it at an angle.

Brisket is relatively flat—hence, “flat” cut. Slice it straight down, and the pieces aren’t very wide. Slicing on a bias makes the piece wider.

You don’t have to slice on a bias to make meat more tender—mostly it’s just done for looks.

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