Never mind that the dish isn’t really eaten in Ireland, or at least not with the enthusiasm for it that you’ll find here. We’ll celebrate the day the way we like, and raise a toast with a pint of Guinness as well.
Video: How to Make Baked Corned Beef and Cabbage
Boiled or Baked Corned Beef?
The traditional way to cook corned beef and cabbage is to boil it, both the beef and the cabbage. Several years ago my friend Suzanne introduced me to her favorite way of making the corned beef—speckled with cloves, slathered in honey mustard and baked – not boiled – and then served alongside sautéed cabbage. One day we cooked corned beef and cabbage both ways, boiled and baked. The winner? The whole family agreed, baked corned beef, hands down. But traditions die hard. So, here we present to you both versions, a corned beef and cabbage in the oven with honey and mustard (blanched first to extract some of the excess salt), and a boiled version. Also we show two ways to cook the cabbage, boiled or sautéed.
Which Corned Beef to Buy
By the way, when buying corned beef you have a choice between “flat cut” and “point cut.” Either cut will work with these methods. The point cut will have more fat marbling throughout the meat, making it a more flavorful cut, but there will be more shrinkage due to fat rendering out of the meat, so you will need more to have the same amount of cooked meat. The flat cut is a leaner cut of corned beef.
Want to make your own? Here’s how to cure your own corned beef.
Enjoy and Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Looking for More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes?
Corned Beef Hash - for your corned beef leftovers! Irish Soda Bread Guinness Chocolate Brownies Colcannon Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Stew
3 pounds corned beef brisket
10 whole cloves
1/4 cup hot sweet honey mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Corned Beef (boiled)
3 pounds corned beef brisket (including spice packet, if it came with one)
Cabbage (sauteed)
Extra virgin olive oil and butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large head cabbage, sliced into 3/8-inch to 1/2-inch slices
Salt
Cabbage (boiled)
1 large head cabbage, sliced into 3/8-inch to 1/2-inch slices
Additional vegetables such as a couple carrots (cut to 1 inch pieces) or several new potatoes (quartered)
Corned beef can be very salty, especially when baked. To remove some of the salt before cooking, place it in a pot fat side up. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and discard the water. Repeat to remove even more salt. Insert the cloves into the top of the slab of corned beef, evenly spaced. Spread the top with the hot sweet honey mustard. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Lift the corned beef up to see which direction the grain of the meat is. Then cut the meat at a diagonal, across the grain of the meat, into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve immediately. Simmer for 2-3 hours, until the corned beef is fork tender. Removefrom pot to a cutting board. (Reserve cooking liquid for boilingcabbage, if you plan to boil and not sauté the cabbage.) Cut slices across the grain, into 1/2-inch thick slices. Serve. Spread out the cabbage evenly over the bottom of the pan and do not stir until it starts to brown. If the heat is high enough, this should happen quickly. The trick is to have the burner hot enough to easily brown the cabbage, but not so hot that it easily burns. When the bottom of the cabbage is nicely browned, use a metal spatula to lift it up and flip it, scraping the browned bits as you go. Serve with the corned beef. Serve with boiled new potatoes. Can be made ahead and reheated. Place vegetables in a serving bowl, add a little of the cooking liquid to the bowl. Home Cured Corned Beef here on Simply Recipes Colcannon here on Simply Recipes
