St. Patrick’s day is coming soon and I would really like some corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes.
Do you have any good recipies or tips for a first timer?
Thanks!
DO NOT BOIL THE CORNED BEEF!
i realize this can be hard to control on some stovetops (#%$@* electric stoves), but trust me, a non-bubbling simmer is plenty good enough to cook the brisket so it stays tender.
add the cabbage during the last half-hour of cooking. i don’t generally do potatoes too (Adkins), but they should probably go in around then also.
best tip – save the cooking broth! pour cooled broth into large sealable containers (very large canning jars, or the ones with the gasket and attached lids). stick in the back of your refrigerator, and use again the next time you cook corned beef. (i make it several times a year myself.) the fat that rises to the top and solidifies helps seal and preserve the broth, and you can de-fat it before cooking again.
i also tend to add all the brine from the package as well as included seasoning spices to the water when i cook a corned beef from scratch.
my version; my $.02
I have good luck just putting it in a big crock pot on low for the day, w/ potatoes, carrots, and onions, then add cabbage the last hour. I’ve used beer and/or vegetable stock to cover, and also, savoy cabbage instead of the big heavy stuff.
Another nice touch is to take the corned beef out, smear it w/ a combination of spicy mustard, a little brown sugar, and cider or malt vinegar, then pop it in the oven on low, around 325, for approx 1/2 hr, while the cabbage is cooking.
I like corned beef, but never tried to make it. Can you get a pre-“corned” brisket and cook it at home (is that what I’m reading here)?
I’d like to give it a whirl if somebody can comment more on the corned beef part-I can handle the cabbage, onions and potatoes myself. I saw a show on corned beef once, maybe Alton Brown or David Rosengarten and all it really talked about was the brining process to the uncooked brisket, how each deli had a slightly different brine recipe. I don’t really care to brine a brisket unless there’s no way around it.
I’m kind of confused as to what you’re asking here. If you buy a “pre-corned brisket”, that’s just a regular brisket. “Corning” is the process by which you preserve and flavor said brisket in brine and spices (and sodium or potassium nitrate which keeps the beef the bright red color as well as helping to preserve it. You can corn beef without these ingredients, but it will gray). The process takes about 3 weeks to a month, from what I remember (we seriously considered corning our own beef when I lived abroad, but never got around to it.)
Normally, though, you just buy already corned beef at the grocer and prepare corned beef and cabbage from there.
Did I understand your question, or did I just make a complete hash of it?
Costco has brisket with the brine chemicals and spices sealed in plastic. You just pop it in the crock pot. You can put in what ever veggies that strike you at the moment.
I guess I meant un-cooked corned beef brisket. The only brisket I’ve ever cooked was smoked, it just starts out as raw meat. But I wasn’t sure if you bought the corned beef brisket already brined and then cooked it (that was what I meant by “pre-corned”, brined/seasoned but not cooked) or had to start from scratch. Sounds like you can go either way. I suppose the best thing for me to do would be hit the store and see what they have and proceed from there.
The only corned beef I’ve had has been from deli sandwich shops, already made into a sandwich. I know I like it, but am pretty clueless from there on (as if you hadn’t picked up on that by now). There are no delis around here that have it AFAIK, if I want any, I’ll have to do it myself.
Thanks for the reply (and picunurse as well). There are no Costcos here, either, but now that I have an idea as to what to look for I’m at least ready to go looking.
Most grocery stores, in my experience, have uncooked corn beef brisket in packages–during early March. May start slightly before March, but they vanish quickly after St. Patrick’s Day. Often displayed with cabbage.
Yes, kind of a frightening looking package of red meat. It’s the brisket you made before, after the corning/pickling/brining.
My brother perfected brisket smoking while living in Texas, so I’m sure that’s what you mentioned. It IS the same cut, so you know it needs time, but in a braising environment.
I buy a pr-seasoned one at the grocery store - they’re in the meat section (and I’d swear they are by Vienna - but I could be way off - I just remember a bright red label) - then I fill a big pot with water, the meat, and the seasonings from the package of brisket, then simmer it for a few hours. I add some new potatoes towards the end as well as some cabbage quarters - that’s about it. It really is a no-brainer. One year I added a bunch of those mini carrots but husband said it wasn’t the same (I wouldn’t know - I hate corned beef and cabbage personally).
My bolding. I can’t believe I’m the first to catch this. (Perhaps the others were too appalled to reply.)
However, I did taste real corned beef hash up in Yankeeland. Not from a can! It was great.
The Food Network had a new episode of Good Eats on last night, and it was about this exact subject (timed, I’m sure, for St. Patty’s day this weekend). Episode details, including the recipes. They looked pretty good. If you pick up a sealed “corned beef” package at the supermarket, you can skip the ten day brining step and go right to the “corned beef and cabbage” recipe.
In my experience (and Alton backs me up), you should put the potatoes in about 15-20 minutes before the cabbage, otherwise you’ll end up with either underdone potatoes or overdone cabbage.
The funny thing is, this was not an intentional pun…I noticed it upon reread, but at the time of writing, there was no pun intended. My brain sometimes likes to play little tricks like this on me, slipping in unexpected puns at random.
Anyhow, just out of curiosity, has anyone here made corned beef completely from scratch? I’ve actually never met anyone around here that corns their own beef. The Good Eats brine seems to be a little quick…a casual glance around the web suggests that at least 3 weeks is recommended for the brining. At any rate, is home corned beef worth the wait?
Any tips?
Throw the corned beef out and eat some bacon like the actual Irish 
I caught it right away, and was just impressed (and kinda jealous) at being in the presence of such a quick mind!!! 
Anybody else besides me make ham and cabbage instead?
Yep, I just watched it on my DVR.
And WHAT, may I ask, were they thinking to show the episode 4 days before St. Patrick’s when it teaches you how to do a 10 day brine?! :mad: I’m so annoyed, 'cause I would have bought an un-corned brisket and done it myself - it sure looks easy enough. But of course I already bought my scary red meat a few days ago, and it’s too close to the day to go get new meat (especially since we’re having corned-beef-n-cabbage *tonight *instead of Saturday.)
It’s my first year making it, so I don’t really have any tips except to pass on my Grandmother’s advice: put more garlic in the braising water. No, more than that. However much you’re using, put more in. 
In case anyone knows more about the corning process than I do: is there anything about the treatment of pre-corned beef that would aggravate a gluten or wheat allergy?
I’d eat me some actual Irish if Pierce Brosnan were handy.
I love a good corned beef, but it’s always too freakin’ salty for me. We soak it before cooking and we don’t add the spice package that comes with it.
My (Dominick’s) commercial corned beef says: “Containing up to thirty percent of a solution of water, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate [yes, the same stuff in many household soaps - WN], sodium erythorbate, garlic, sodium nitrate.” No wheat derived things that I recognize. Read the ingredients, though, as each one may vary.
As for the process, it’s classically soaked for a while in a marinade, though I wouldn’t be surprised if injecting it is faster and cheaper.