When I was a kid, my grandma would make this dish. She used canned corn beef. I’ve picked up a package of raw corned beef. It’s thawed out and I’d like some suggestions. Should I be searing this first? Just boilig it with the cabbage, the way my grandma did with the canned kind? Seasonings? I’m expecting it not to have the saltiness of the canned meat.
You can find a lot of crockpot type corned beef and cabbage recipes and you should probably try one of those first if you are looking for a nostalgic way of doing it but after that, I highly recommend this recipe - https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a11462/corned-beef-and-cabbage/ We’ve never made it the traditional way again
You can just put it into a big pot and bring it to a simmer. If it has a spice packet, wait a bit until you can skim off the foam. Simmer until tender.
Add cabbage at the very end, when the corned beef is almost done. Carrots or potatoes can go in earlier.
This is how I do it. I put the brisket in a pot with roughly chopped carrots, celery, onions, maybe turnips, a garlic clove or two, fill with just enough water to cover everything, bring to a simmer and let it simmer covered for a few hours.
Potatoes I would not add too early- they don’t take all that long to cook and will turn to mush if overcooked. I’d add potatoes after a few hours, give it maybe 15-20 minutes, then add the cabbage.
I cooked corned beef only once, and I let it cook for hours and hours. It tightened up and was as tough as an old boot. Did I cook it at too high a heat, maybe? (from then on, I only bought sliced corned beef from the deli. It was only the two of us.)
Yep. Corned beef baked in the oven is the best, by far.
Probably, yeah. It should be cooked at a very low simmer. And when you cut it, make sure to cut against the grain.
@LVBoPeep’s baked recipe sounds intruiging, but for CB&C I do like the old-fashioned boiled method because it makes a nice broth. I serve my CB&C in a big bowl with some of the broth, kind of a cross between a plated meal and a soup or stew.
7 hours in a crock pot on low with vegetable stock and the seasoning pack. Veggies to taste. I put a medium/large onion sliced into 4 thick pieces on the bottom of the pot and the beef on top of that. Pack in as much potatoes/carrots/celery as will fit and then cover with broth.
I cooked it using the recipe LVBoPeep posted and the meat was really tender. However, the company who seasoned the meat must have assumed people would be boiling it, because it was very salty. So, I soaked it for awhile to pull the salt out, and it was a lot better after that.
Yes, when baking a corned beef, you almost always have to soak it to get some of the salt out. The local Irish butcher makes a corned beef that isn’t that salty, so I don’t bother with theirs, but any commercial one I’ve bought requires a healthy soak.
I’ve posted this recipe before and offer it now as an alternative to the traditional boiling:
Take an oblong baking pan, the kind you’d use to bake a loaf of bread. Line the bottom with a thick layer of dark brown sugar. Cover the sugar with a layer of thinly sliced onion and carrot. Put your cut of corned beef on top of this and reverse the process, ending with another layer of brown sugar.
Pour a bottle of Guinness over the meat and veg, shaking the pan slightly to make sure the stout gets into every little nook and cranny. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake in the oven at 350 F for an hour or so, until the meat and veg are tender. You should be able to cut the meat into eight equal portions around half an inch thick.
Serve with bubble and squeak for the potato and cabbage component. (Personally, I like it with colcannon or champ and some steamed cabbage sauteed in butter, or another green vegetable like broccoli.)
The meat and gravy will be savory and sweet at the same time. This dish is what I now make for St Patrick’s Day.