I usually only have corned beef and cabbage once a year, at a bar on Parade Day. It’s $6.95 a serving. Not a bad price for what they give you.
At the store yesterday, I was able to get a corned beef brisket, a couple heads of cabbage, and a 10# bag of potatoes for around $6.95, so I’m going to make my own flatulence fuel this year.
One question, though. I can either boil or bake the brisket, and I’m leaving it up to you to decide for me.
My fellow lads and lasses, help an Irishman out.
You boil it - then bake it for the last 20 min. or so.
Sweet Jesus, were you looking over my shoulder waiting for me to hit “submit”? 
Here’s how I learned to do it:
Corned beef- 3-4 lb.
a few bay leaves
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp dry mustard- this is key in my opinion, I use Colmans.
Put everything in a pot an cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for about an hour.
Add the cabbage quartered or cut into eighths as the size of the head warrants. simmer for another half hour or until the cabbage is very tender.
Remove the meat and cabbage and allow to cool for a bit. Serve with boiled potatoes and carrots. Garnish with parsley and have some Chef sauce or HP sauce on hand. Alternatively I make a horseradish cream sauce.
You can also use the resulting stock for some darn good split pea soup. Pick out the bay leaves, let the stock cool and skim the fat. Then add 1 lb. beans per 8 cups of stock. Cook at high heat for 1.5-2 hours till peas go soft, puree and serve.
One I tried the directions for baking with no pre-boiling and it turned out so salty that we couldn’t eat it. We just boil it now.
Mmmmmmm, MikeG, that’s such a good idea about the pea soup!
I boil it, then bake it for 10 or 15 minutes before serving, as posted above.
But it takes so long to boil, we usually end up eating dinner around 9 PM or later on St. Patrick’s Day, and that’s with me leaving work an hour early to get started.
This week is a busy one at work, so I won’t be able to leave early. I’ve decided to put the hardly ever used crock pot to use. Hopefully it will turn out OK.
I love the split pea soup idea. I’m definitely going to give that a try.
Boil, serve with cabbage and potatoes cooked to mush. I LOVE St Patrick’s Day!
Don’t forget the parsley sauce.
You boil it.
For those of you who’ve never tried it, you oughta try corning your own brisket. It’s head and shoulders better than the stuff you buy at the grocery store, and it’s pretty easy to do. It takes 5-7 days of sitting in the fridge, but work-wise, it’s just trimming the meat (which you can have your butcher do) and rubbing a bunch of salt and spices on it.
The Crock-Pot idea will be a good way to go. Put it in on low before you go to work.
When you return. it’ll be ready. I guess you could throw the potatoes in at the same time, put them on top of the meat. Add just the smallest amount of water.
(Maybe 1/2 cup? Bayleaf, 1-2. pepper…good to go. Can’t help ya with the cabbage bit. cause I’m not a fan of cooked cabbage 
I always use the Crock Pot too. I put the potatoes in on the bottom, put the meat on top, and add enough water or beer to cover the potatoes but not so much as to make the meat soggy. I like to roast the cabbage separately in the oven with salt, pepper, and a little balsamic vinegar.
I did throw one corned beef on the BBQ one year. It wasn’t too bad, but would have been better suited to the low heat of a smoker, which I don’t have. The flavor was much more intense than boiled, but the meat was tough.
Boil it with cabbage and potatoes. The next day, chop up everything along with some beets, then fry it for New England red flannel hash.
As an additional question related to this, how does one “corn” beef to start with?
Is it pickled in brine? If so how and for how long?
Hoping for an answer.
I used to boil it. Family and I now firmly believe in the RINSE and grill. Gotta rinse or way too salty.
Grilled outside, at a low temp (say, around 225 or so) for several hours, letting the fat and juices permeate all the meat. Either with charcoal or add wet hickory chips in a clean pan if gas grill and let smoke.
Yum!
Tender, hickory smoked beef brisket. It’s the one time I allow (nay , encourage) tableside barbecue sauce to be added to grilled meat I’ve prepared.
We don’t actually “boil” it. We boil the water, then put the meat in, and lower the heat so that it simmers for 3 hours. The cabbage/potatoes/carrots go in for the last half hour.
I never thought it was salty at all. Usually I have to put a little salt on it myself. Maybe cause we do it for 3 hours?
So if I leave work, get to the supermarket around 5:45 PM, buy one of those prepackaged corned beef briskets and cabbage, and start boiling immediately (around 6), will it be ready to eat around 8?
I started around 6:00 last night, and was portioning everything out by 8:30. Started the pea soup at around 9.
I also made some cole slaw while I was waiting for the brisket to boil.
Asked my wife if she ever had a Dutch Oven before she left the stinky kitchen to go to bed. She asked if I was making one of them too (she apparently didn’t know what one was). I said probably several.
I don’t know whether or not I should share this, but until I read the recipes you all were giving, I had no idea there was no corn in corned beef. I’m 24. At some point you’d think I would have learned this. I guess that point is now. Way to fight my ignorance! More and more I learn that it’s a losing battle, but you all are fighting the good fight.
I picked up my corned beef briskets yesterday. The local grocery had the vaccum packed dealies at the unreal blowout price of $1.99/lb…I mean, that’s cheaper than a lot of ground beef! I picked up two units, each about 2.5 lbs. I stuck one in the freezer for later.
Remembering back to my mother’s method, she’d boil/simmer the CB with cabbage, carrots, celery, onion and little red potatoes. I don’t have a huge stock pot like she has, though. My largest pot is only 3.5qts. Hopefully, everything will jam in there. That the CB shrinks up a lot is going to help.
The simmer-then-bake method has me interested. I’m completely unfamiliar with this technique. What does this do the the meat? Is there any way I can screw this up, assuming I bake it for 20-30 mins before serving? What kind of heat should I use?
Also, I think I might try roasting the cabbage for the first time. This recipe sounds tasty. Anyone have any cabbage roasting advice? Thinking about it, I might pick up a head and try to roast it tonight after class. I’d hate to be without cabbage during my corned beef feast!