One of the difficulties with searching for corned beef recipes is the hyperbole you need to navigate while reading various recipes.
Let's start with the basics.
There are various ways to cook corned beef that will produce results that are preferred, some dry, others moist, some fall apart tender, others stiff and solid. But none of them wrong, nor perfect, you just need to know what you and your family prefer.
Even worse than all that, in some cases, corned beef might be preferred to be left to be eaten the day after, throwing all of that out the window.
All that to say, there's no true easiest, or best, or tastiest method to cooking corned beef.
So, let's start with the basics and go from there.
For most, access to a cooking method will have the most impact as to how the corned beef turns out.
Do you only have access to an oven? Then you'll probably be cooking it there, either braising or baking.
Do you only have a few hours? Then you want to look for quick methods with higher heat.
Are you looking for something you can slice into sandwiches? Then the cooking method becomes less important since you will need to have the meat rest overnight in the fridge.
But there are a few key steps you need to keep under consideration before you start diving ino recipes.
The first of which is cost.
For most of the year, corned beef comes in vacuum sealed bags on the shelf at the supermarket's meat section, usually at a higher cost than the meat itself due to the added cost of the process required to turn a brisket into corned beef. But for a few weeks in early to mid March, corned beef briskets go on sale.
Now, you could save a few bucks and corn (or pickle or brine) the beef yourself to both impart preferred flavors or, as the cases with many readerd here, avoid even the possibility of added corn byproducts (although, for the most part, corned beef sold in the supermarket, generally doesn't contain any corn).
However, by doing it yourself, you won't get that pickling packet that comes inside the vacuum sealed bag, which is actually the flavor most people associate with corned beef, which is basically a combination of mustard seed, black peppercorn, bay leaves, and corriander seed. Occasionally, other spices will be added such as red pepper flakes, All Spice Berries, Cardimom, Cloves, and Anise, among others.
I would suggest you play around with those spices to see which ones you like.
It is also advised that you heat them up in a pan, prior to using them to allow the oils in the spices to become fragrant, maybe 2-3 minutes. If you this you will add fundamental flavors to your corned beef that just go stale in those packets.
Some people like to slow cook thei corned beef, but you need to submerge the brisket in liquid when doing that.
Water is a basic medium, but as Alton brown likes to say, why not bring more flavor to the party? So play around with it. Try adding beer or ale to the mix, although, again the beer in the U.S., be wary as mush of it contains corn syrup, unmentioned on the label, but used to activate the yeast.
Then there's the option of adding vegetables to the mix, usually carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, but you want to focus on vegitables that don't have a strong taste, such as onions, or garlic, you want the flavor to be subtle and not overpowering.
Outside of using a slow cooker, a low and slow approach is preferred because you need to give the brisket time to allow the connective tissues in the brisket to break down, providing tenderness.
Again, you have many options, but one of the preferred methods is to bake the corned beef brisket in an oven at 350 for about an hour per pound (adding another 15 minutes per quarter pound over).
But then you get intor running the risk of it drying out, especially if you choose a lower temperature and longer time to cook.
A suggested way to accomplish this is to rub yellow or dijon mustard on the brisket, pouring the packet mixture over it generously, then topping that with brown sugar to form a crust.
You can also use this method when preparing the brisket to cook in a smoker. As you can see, there is no best overall method to cooking corned beef brisket, you just need to find which method you're comfortable with.
And, finally, you need to understand the difference cuts of corned beef readily available at your local supermarket, the point and the flat. Some swear by one or the other, but usually you will find that the flat cut costs a few more cents per pound than the point cut, but the real difference between the two in how the muscle fiber interacts.
In the flat cut, for the most part, the fiber lays in a uniform way, allowing you to cut against the grain in steady, even strokes, producing a slice that is easy to chew through.
The point cut, however, has muscle fiber that crosses over and produces a more tough chew, however, the point has much more fat, which some prefer as it provides a more robust flavor profile, so there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
As you can see, there's no one way to prepare and cook a corned beef brisket, all of them, while different, bring something else to the table.
You just need to try each type and find out what works best for you and your family.
I know this article only provides questions to what would seem like it should have provided answers, but that's the thing about cooking, you can find all the answers you're looking for, but it's until you begin to find the right questions you won't know what works for you.
Hopefully you now know what questions you need to ask to find the answers you seek.