It’s hard to find an outstanding Irish restaurant, so I usually cook our St. Patrick’s Day feast. The corned beef I get at the supermarket is sold with its own spice packet but, when prepared as directed, is a tad understated for my tastes.
How can I give it more oomph? I’ve seen bottles of pickling spices at the grocer, but am wondering if it’s just that easy: Add an extra tablespoon or so of spices. ALSO, can someone improve on the following menu:
Corned beef, red potatoes, carrots, cabbage, Irish soda bread, and, um, green sherbet.
In a recent thread on recipies, a recommendation was made on corned beef. The poster said to cook it in a slow cooker for “twenty-four hours. Not twenty-three, not twenty-five, TWENTY-FOUR”. So a week or so ago I tried it.
Fantastic! The most tender corned beef I’ve ever had. I took some water from the crock at the twenty-third hour and cooked the cabbage, carrots and potatoes in that seperately.
Turned out reeeally well.
I realize this doesn’t address the “more oomph” question but it may enhance the meal overall.
Why not try giving it some oomph by not having it - what they actually have in Ireland is not corned beef, but “bacon and cabbage”. This is basically a big cut of cured gammon steak. You soak it overnight to remove the salt, then boil it of bake with a glaze, and serve with green cabbage (kale), potatoes (of course), sharp mustard (ironically English in most households) and gravy. Delicious, and very authentic.
:dubious: Ummm… Beer is conspicuous by its absence… An oversight, I hope?
I simmer my corned beef with a chopped up onion, allspice and a bottle of dark beer. By the time it is ready, it is almost like simmering in a fragrant onion soup. I’ll throw the cabbage and the carrots in at the end, but I prefer plain boiled potatoes so I boil them separately.
Although I generally loathe the American style of yellow mustard, I do like what it does to a corned beef dinner. Heresy (I know), but the vinegary sharpness seems to be a good contrast that I don’t get with authentic mustards.
Yes. I thought so too but I thought I’d gamble on the advice. My wife said it was the most tender she’s ever had. I just added the packet and put it on low from the begining as opposed to cooking on high for part of the time.
I would do it the same way next time.
BrainGlutton I chose the wrong term. I don’t know the American term for Irish bacon. It is not, I repeat, “bacon” as Brits or Yanks would know it. Here is an example on a hideous website. Second product down.
Garlic: convert the number of cloves in a corned beef recipe to bulbs of garlic. A mistake made by a bunch of kids a long time ago, while preparing a batch for a school report on Ireland. It was tasty, but nineteen eleven-year-olds full of boiled cabbage and garlic makes for a, erm, thick classroom environment.
Since corned beef is basically brisket, what I generally do is cook it halfway in a slow cooker, then finish it off on the grill. Center nice and juicy, fat gets rendered, and the outside gets crispy. Sometimes I put on a finishing rub of brown sugar, dry mustard and olive oil, sometimes there’s Montreal Steak seasoning involved.
Corn your own beef. Really. It’s very, very easy, I do it every year, and I can’t make enough for everyone to be happy with. This year, we bought 15 pounds of brisket in the hopes we’ll have leftovers.
You need a brisket and about 5 days. Basically, you cover the brisket with a dry rub, put it in a big ziploc, and turn it over every day.
If you’re really interested, I’ll dig out my recipe and post it tomorrow.
…boiled ham & potatoes is enough for me