Corned Beef/Cabbage

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In the Kitchen

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Is anyone making Corned Beef and Cabbage for St Pat's? Recipe I have states to use crock pot. Never have done this before much less use the crock pot. Someone tell me how they make theirs? I have made it before on top the stove with potatoes and cabbage but would like to see if I could get it to stay the same size. Always tendancy to shrink. Never enough for them to eat. Have to figure I cook for only men. I can't figure out how this happened but my sister doesn't like to cook. Neither do their girlfriends. Am I missing something here? Everybody has to eat, why not learn how to cook and like it? Happy St Pat's Day to you all. When I want to 'submit', have to hold my breath to make sure someone will read this.
 
I have never cooked it myself, but maybe I will try this year. I am sure someone will come along to give us some advice ;)
 
We do ours on the stove.

Put the brisket in enough water to cover, add the little spice pack (or extra pickling spice - all it really is), and simmer for 2-3 hours. For the last hour or so, add cabbage and potatoes/carrots as desired.

I like it with horseradish and mustard, but then again, I'm Polish.

John
 
ronjohn55 said:
We do ours on the stove.

Put the brisket in enough water to cover, add the little spice pack (or extra pickling spice - all it really is), and simmer for 2-3 hours. For the last hour or so, add cabbage and potatoes/carrots as desired.

I like it with horseradish and mustard, but then again, I'm Polish.

John

Does your brisket shrink too? It just seems no matter how slow I cook it, the thing just isn't the same size. I guess I should buy two for our family. Do you think I could do them at the same time? Every year seems like I go through this. Thanks John, sounds like you like it anyway even if you are Polish. I love cabbage rolls, aren't they supposed to be Polish?
 
Oh yeah, it shrinks - just have to kind of factor that in when you pick out the corned beef at the market. As for doing two - as long as they both fit in the pot (or in two pots), that shouldn't be an issue that I can tell.

And yes, cabbage rolls (at least Golabki) are Polish.
(Had some for dinner last night, in fact...)

John
 
we make corned beef and cabbage and spuds a few times a year, not only on st. pat's day. i've found a brand of corned beef that has only 11 grams of fat per 4 oz. serving, so it's nice and lean. most have around 20 grams of fat per serving.

just an fyi: the corned beef isn't really irish. it is a substitution that was used in nyc, probably introduced to the irish by jewish neighbors. the traditional dish in ireland is boiled ham or bacon and cabbage/potatoes, so the corned beef was similar.

unfortunately, it does shrink a lot so i use a large lobster pot to boil 2 brined briskets together, and always add more pickling spice to the water. i may try it with kale this year.
 
I made one the other day... just put it in a pan, covered the meat with water and added the little packet of spices. I cooked the cabbage separately and Paul wanted mashed potatoes so I made up a batch of some posted here. They had bacon and scallions and sour cream in them. I can't seem to find the recipe now but, they were great. ( and I don't really like mashed taters.
 
4 methods for you. First, and explanation. The resultant broth for the cooking corned beef can overpower the dish, especially when using the extra pickling spice packet. In addition, if you look around, you can get corned beef made from the round, which is very lean and hs very little shrinkage. I especially like this cut for slicing thin for sandwiches.

If you drain half of the cooking liquid, you can then dilute the salt content by replacing with fresh water. Then add the cabbage, spuds, carrots, and onions.

The same holds true for a true smoked ham. It is so salty that it has to be boiled to remove some of the salt. The liquid is either dicarded or diluted.
1. Start this before going to work in the morning. Place 2 corned beef briskets into your large crock pot. Cover with water and cook on low all day. When you get home, drain half of the liquid and replace with water. Turn the pt to hot and add the veggies. Cook until the veggies are tender.

2. Place the corned beef into a pressure cooker with about 2 cups of water. Cook for an hour. REmove the heat and let the pressure blow off per maker's instructions. Add the veggies, and replace the lid. Let the cooker develop its full pressure and cook for 15 minutes more.

3. Place the meat into a roasting pan and cover with water. Add the veggies and cover. Place in a 250' overn and let braise all day.

4. Fire up the grill and precook the brisket for 20 minutes (ten minutes per side) with the lid on and with a bit of hardwood thrown on the fire. Place in the crock pot, pressure cooker, or overn and braise for two hours with the veggies.

All of these make a good meal. The first three taste about the same, with the last adding the complexity of smoke to the meal.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
* Glazed Over. Give a tasty twist to a plain corned beef brisket. After braising it, remove it from the pot and put it in a baking pan. Make a glaze by mixing brown sugar and spicy mustard; horseradish and orange marmalade; or whiskey and apple jelly. Spread the glaze on generously and then bake the corned beef at 400 degrees F until the glaze is nice and bubbly and browned.
 
Corned Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry
Yield: 4 servings

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 small cabbage, shredded
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium tart apple, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 (1 pound) can corned beef brisket, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water

Heat oil with salt in wok. Add cabbage, onion and apple. Stir fry for 2 minutes. Add water and sugar. Cover and steam for about 10 minutes or until cabbage in still slightly crisp.

Uncover and stir occasionally. Add corned beef. Stir fry for 1 minute. Cover and steam about 1 to 2 minutes or until corned beef in heated. Add soy sauce and dissolved cornstarch. Stir until slightly thickened.
 
I can only get corned beef here this time of year so I buy a few and freeze them so i have for later use. We love cornedbeef and cabage along with boiled potatoes and carrots. I always boil it but i have seen a few recipes here that were posted that I'm going to try too.
 
Point of interest: why is it always so salty? Or was I the only one who thought it tasted extremely salty. Potatoes didn't need any extra seasoning, cabbage and carrots tasted okay. I did put horseradish sauce as they felt plain horseradish wasn't as good, too strong. do you believe this? Want the sauce instead of the plain horseradish? Are they getting particular or what? I must admit it did taste more smooth but the fact I have to go back and forth to the store kind of ruins things. Am I getting crabby? Sorry. I do appreciate all your comments so much. Goodweed you always take such time and details I do thank you for your time. Very considerate.
 
Dunno why I didn't see this thread before...


I bought a juicer/steamer last year to make jellies and stuff and the booklet gave instructions for steamed corned beef and I tried it and we both thought we'd died and gone to heaven! Tender, juicy, succulent and the cabbage & potatoes were perfection.

Tried it again not long ago but the corned beef looked to have been made from tri-tip roast and was much too lean to enjoy for the dinner but made wonderful sandwiches.

I'll definately do this again....there's also a recipe there for steaming chicken...hmmmmmm....and dumplings????
 
Okay, now you piqued my interest. What is the brand name of the appliance you got for juicer/steamer? You really have me anxious now to see if I can duplicate your comments. You make it sound so good. Thanks for sharing. Don't you get excited when something turns out to be so rewarding? You really got me interested. Thanks Sounds healthy too.
 
Just for grins Kitchen ...

Corned beef is salty because it's salt cured brisket. The "corn" has to do with a grain of some kind about the size of a grain of wheat ... going back to olde Anglo-Saxon English. Thus, beef was "corned" with a coarse grain salt.

Shrinkage is a matter of temperature. If you simmer it low (about 120-F) for a long time there will be little shrinkage ... but the higher the temp the more shrinkage there will be. The proteins in meat begin to shrink in diameter at 120-F .. and just a little above that they start to shrink in length - the higher the temp the more they shrink ... and the meat gets smaller and tougher.
I generally wash my corned beef under cold water ... then put it into a pot of cold water ... bring it to the boil on the stovetop ... then place it into a 150-F oven about 10pm the night before I want to serve it for supper at 6-pm (about 18 hours cooking time for a 10-pounder).
 
Where do you find a 10 pounder????? I would be way into overdose! :LOL:

In, I'll have to look at the steamer and at this moment my little darling Gidgett is on my lap (where she belongs) and I just now sat down but I will certainly get it to you!

Yes it is exciting - my results so far have been delightful and I can hardly wait for the summer's bounty to use it for all sorts of jellies. The juice comes out nearly pure and undilluted pretty much and you can make fruit leathers from the pulp.

The steaming also helps in terms of shrinkage because it's a gentle way to cook.

We have a flowering plum just off our deck and it's not supposed to produce fruit but last year it did - big time! The plums are pretty small - ping pong ball size so to make much of them would be tremendously labor intensive - I didn't think about using the steamer until just recently. Since we've had such a warm, dry and early spring I think it will fruit up again this year and my head is spinning with ideas using the steamer! Don't even have to peel the fruit!

Plum wine anybody????8)
 
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