Corned Beef is a cured meat. The cure is typically a heavily salted brine commonly containing Potassium nitrate which preserves the pink color. The cut of beef is often brisket or round steak, both considered tough cuts, the brining process tenderizes and preserves the meat.
Traditionally the meat is boiled - a common method is to boil it in water for 50 minutes per pound. Boiling the meat tends to reduce the salt taste in the meat. Other variations involve boiling it in beer, apple juice, or pineapple juice. The 'juice' contained in the package is part of the flavoring and goes in the pot. There's also a small spice packet in the package - open it and sprinkle the spices over the meat. Some people boil the meat then finish it off on a BBQ, adding a smokey dimension to the meat.
The Vegetables
Cabbage, potatoes, and carrots are another part of the traditional meal. Often they are cooked in the same pot as the meat. Since the cook time is rather long for these vegetables they are left in large chunks. Potatoes and carrots can be left whole, carrots should be pealed and have the tops cut off, potatoes may have the skin on or off. Cabbage it commonly cut into four large chunks.
Crock Pot Method
I prefer to put the meat, juice and spices in a crock pot, with enough apple juice to halfway cover the meat. Set the crock pot on low and cover. The apple juice adds a bit of sweetness as well as take out some of the saltiness. It's pretty hard to over cook a corned beef. I recently had a 4 pound corned beef in the crock pot from 7:00am till 6:00pm - that's 11 hours and it was wonderful!
Boiled Red Potatoes
I prefer my vegetables cooked separately. I prefer the small red potatoes boiled in heavily salted water. Once they are fork tender throughout. I drain them in a colander, placing the hot pot back on the stove and using the residual heat to melt some butter and sprinkling in some chopped fresh rosemary and chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley. The larger potatoes I'll cut in half or quarters, smaller ones I leave whole. Once the butter is melted and the herbs have had a chance to get heated, add the potatoes to the pot and stir.
Pan Fried Cabbage and Carrots
. Mince about half a cup of onion. In a large skillet over medium high heat, coat the bottom of the pan with a half cooking oil and half butter mixture, add a pinch of caraway seed, celery seed, and some fresh ground black pepper. Put he onions in first when they are translucent, add the carrots - if the carrots are on the thick side, let them cook a bit before adding the cabbage, otherwise add the shredded cabbage at the same time. Stir fry to the desired doneness. Some people like their vegetables heated through but still crunchy, some like them with a bit of scorch on them. Set the vegetables aside, while you carve the meat.
Carving the meat
For Taste Sake
Over all corned beef with the fat layer removed is a rather low calorie source of protein. More calories can be saved by substituting broth in the skillet, instead of the half and half oil and butter mixture, steaming the vegetables instead of frying.
I think one of the greatest joys of eating corned beef is that it goes so well with mustard so we break out the mustard collection - coarse ground, Dijon, Wasabi , Hot Chinese.
The cabbage, carrots, and onions can be cut up the night before, stored in the refrigerator in plastic bags to make the preparation that much easier, the following day.
I love a good corned beef dinner but truth be told, I would cook corned beef simply for the leftovers - a Ruben Sandwich is one of my favorites but you haven't lived till you've had freshly made corned beef hash!
I promise to make that my next recipe.
is a handy tool to shred the carrot, if you don't have one, you can use a conventional vegetable peeler. Use the peeler to produce long thin strips. Lay the strips on top of each other, cut the strips in half lengthwise then cut those halves lengthwise into as many strips as you can.
