By Kathryn Washburn Breighner
After stopping at Zingerman's deli in Ann Arbor for a corned beef sandwich--$11.50 for a 1/2 sandwich--we got hungry for corned beef. We love good corned beef but because we don't get home from work until after 5 p.m., we don't have time to prepare it during the week. On the weekends, we want to play in the kitchen with foods that need more fiddling--corn beef just needs time.
My rule with corned beef is to cook it long and slow. So I got out the slow cooker! I rarely use this but thought it would do what I wanted with the corned beef. And it did. I put the corned beef in the cooker, covered with water and added 1 t each of pepper corns and mustard seed, 1/2 t of whole cloves, and 2 bay leaves. I cooked the corned beef on low heat for 7 hours and then on high for another hour. It was perfect! The long and slow method let all of the fat cook out of the meat. It was tender, juicy, lean--and gone. We finished off a 3 pound corned beef in one meal! With this long and slow method, there is a lot of shrinkage. But I would have liked enough for a sandwich.
Our favorite accompaniment for corned beef is a blend of 1/2 part Dijon mustard and 1/2 part horseradish; mix portions to your liking but we use a lot! This is a very tasty blend that is spectacular with corned beef.
While Mom used to do a boiled dinner with cabbage and potatoes added to the boiling corned beef pot, I have updated the veggies. I roasted the Yukon Gold potatoes--tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 375 degrees F for 20-25 min. turning occasionally.
The cabbage was cut into wedges and steamed until a bright green and then tossed with a little melted butter and fresh dill (from my AeroGarden!), salt and pepper.
The presentation of the lean, red corned beef, the crisp, golden potatoes and the bright green cabbage was indeed an updated version of the Corned Beef and Cabbage we grew up on.
4 comments:
Yumm!
Made this today. GREAT! One significant change: made 8 pounds of brisket to ensure leftovers!
I have a really old slow cooker; the new ones are much more high tech. But it does just what I need it to do. And it looks a lot like Mom's! The slow cooker is just perfect for this corned beef.
Next time I, too, will make a larger corned beef so we can have sandwiches!
Hmmm. Speaking of: time for LUNCH with my corned beef! On the slow cooker: Carolyn got MAJOR shit the other day. She had taken our blender - a 1984 wedding present - to work to make mock-tails on a lark. They accused her of coming from the "harvest gold" era! It actually ISN'T harvest gold, but the "kids" can't tell the difference. :)
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