Corned Beef and Cabbage

[Eric]

We're trying Amazingribs.com's recipe today.  His site is down (everyone in the world trying to grab the recipe?) but thanks to Google's cache, we're able to try it (or an older version?).  It's probably just a traditional recipe, but he's not led me wrong so far.
Considering he left out when to add spices and how long to cook potatoes before adding cabbage (add just before potatoes are tender), I'm guessing there's an update. 

***

Traditional Corned Beef And Cabbage (a.k.a. New England Boiled Dinner)

Surprisingly, corned beef and cabbage is not an Irish tradition. It is an Irish-American tradition. Corned pork and cabbage is more common in the Emerald Isles, but Irish immigrants to the US found beef more plentiful in their lower Manhattan ghettos where the butchers were mostly kosher and pork was verboten.

Makes. 6 servings (the meat shrinks quite a bit)
Preparation time. 10 minutes
Cooking time. 3 to 4 hours

Ingredients
1 (3 pound) slab of corned beef, preferably home made
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons pickling spices
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1" segments
2 pounds of potatoes, cleaned and cut into 2" chunks
1 small head of cabbage, outer leaves removed, cut in quarters

A good idea. While the meat is cooking, mix up some Secretariat Horseradish Sauce and refrigerate for at least two hours to let the flavors marry. Serve it on the side as a sauce.

Do this
1) Open the package the meat came in and dump out all the liquid. Rinse thoroughly. Trim off all the fat cap. If you have made your own corned beef, remove it from the brine, and rinse it well.

2) Before we can eat this cured meat, we need to cook it and desalinate it a bit. Place the beef in a large pot along with enough hot water to cover it by at least 1" and put the lid on. Turn the heat to medium and bring to a low simmer for 30 minutes. Do not let it boil. If you boil it, it will get tough and shrink. Beware that the meat is cold, so when it warms the water will slowly move from simmer to boil. Keep an eye on it and do not let it boil. After 30 minutes, dump out the water and cover the meat with fresh hot water. Bring to a low simmer again, this time for 1 hour. Again dump the water and replace it with fresh hot water. Bring to a simmer and let it simmer for 1 hour. Add the carrots. After 30 minutes add the potatoes. Add the cabbage. After 15 minutes the cabbage will be done and so will everything else.

3) Remove the meat and place it on a carving board. There are often two horizontal muscles separated by a thick layer of fat. Separate them by sliding a knife through the fat. Carve and/or scrape off the fat layer. Carve the meat by cutting across the grain about the thickness of a pencil. Any thinner and it will fall apart, any thicker and it will be chewy.

5) Lift out the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots and divide them into serving bowls. Place the meat in the bowl. Spoon some of the cooking liquid over them and serve.

This page was revised 1/29/2012

[AdmiralDigby]

Corned Beef and Cabbage is awesome .
One of my favourites .

[Eric]

I've always been lucky enough to have someone else cook it (including restaurants), but this is the first time I'm venturing on my own.
Pearl did make it a few years ago in the apartment. 

Last year's was take-out and was mediocre at best, not to mention pretty pricey.

[Eric]

The site seems to be up.  Sure enough, he's updated the recipe:

***


Corned Beef And Cabbage is the tradition on St. Patrick's Day, an event that, to me, is more about our common immigrant stories that about being Irish. Irish Americans share their remarkable tale with Jews, Italians, Germans, Cubans, and Mexicans. So many of us can trace our heritage to fearful, ragged, tired, and poor arriving on our shores with not much more than the clothes on their back, life in hovels, hard labor, discrimination, acclimation, acculturation, and success. That's why we are all Irish in some way.

Surprisingly, Corned Beef And Cabbage is not a tradition in Ireland. It is an Irish-American-Jewish tradition. Corned pork and cabbage is more common in the Emerald Isles where beef was scarce and expensive. But Irish immigrants in the US found beef more plentiful in their lower Manhattan ghettos where the butchers were mostly kosher Jews and pork was verboten.

In some quarters the dish and variations is called New England Boiled Dinner. The concept is that corned meat, which is meat that has been pickled in a strong brine or salty rub with spices, needs to be desalinated before eating. But all that salt can be used to enhance potatoes, carrots, cabbage, turnips, etc.

Traditional on St. Patrick's Day, it is a shame the dish not served more often, and my guess is that is because people just take the meat out of the wrapper and throw it in a pot with water and veggies and potatoes and they feel they have met their obligation. But everything is soooooo salty, the meat is tough and fatty, and the veggies and potatoes are mushy.

Here's how to do the dish properly. If you have leftovers, make Rockin' Reuben Sandwiches, Corned Beef Hash, or throw it on your smoker and make my Close To Katz's Pastrami. But if you do it right, there won't be leftovers.

Makes. 6 servings (the meat shrinks quite a bit)
Preparation time. 10 minutes
Cooking time. 3 to 4 hours

Ingredients
1 (3 pound) slab of corned beef, preferably home made
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons pickling spices
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1" segments
2 pounds of potatoes, cleaned and cut into 2" chunks
1 small head of cabbage, outer leaves removed, cut in quarters

A good idea. While the meat is cooking, mix up some of my Secretariat Horseradish Sauce and refrigerate for at least two hours to let the flavors marry. Serve it on the side as a dipping sauce.

Do this
1) Open the package the meat came in and dump out all the liquid. Rinse thoroughly. Trim off all the fat cap. If you have made your own corned beef, remove it from the brine, and rinse it well.

2) Before we can eat this cured meat, we need to desalinate it a bit and then cook it. Place the beef in a large pot along with enough hot water to cover it by at least 1" and put the lid on. Turn the heat to medium and bring to a low simmer for 30 minutes. Do not let it boil. If you boil it, it will get tough and shrink. Beware that the meat is cold, so when it warms the water will slowly move from simmer to boil. Keep an eye on it and do not let it boil. After 30 minutes, dump out the water and cover the meat with fresh hot water. Add the pickling spices now. They will replace some of the flavor flushed from the meat. Bring to a low simmer again, this time for 1 hour. Again dump the water and replace it with fresh hot water. No need for more spices. Bring to a simmer and let it simmer for 1 hour. Add the carrots. After 30 minutes add the potatoes. After 10 minutes add the cabbage. After 15 minutes the cabbage will be done and so should everything else.

3) Remove the meat and place it on a carving board. There are often two horizontal muscles separated by a thick layer of fat. Separate them by sliding a knife through the fat. Carve and/or scrape off the fat layer. Carve the meat by cutting across the grain about the thickness of a pencil. Any thinner and it will fall apart, any thicker and it will be chewy.

4) Lift out the cabbage, potatoes, and carrots and divide them into serving bowls. Place the meat in the bowl. Spoon some of the cooking liquid over them and serve.

[Pearl@32]

Almost ready to cook the veggies. Time to clean the cabbage.

[AdmiralDigby]

Time to clean the cabbage.



"Sounds dirty"

[Eric]

It's all finished and we ate an early dinner.  It came out very well, if I do say so myself.

I still think cutting brisket correctly is about as important as the way it's cooked.  Last year's restaurant-bought was chewy and probably sliced incorrectly.

[Eric]

Gregory Brothers (AutoTune the News) recently remixed the 2006 news report of a Leprechaun sighting in Mobile, Alabama:

Leprechaun Song - I Want The Gold

[Eric]

I want an aeons-old leprechaun flute.