This blog post is dedicated to my Popi. Corned beef. What is it about this meal that makes my mouth water? Hmmm, must be the salt. Ever since I was a kid this meal was served on my dad's birthday. St. Paddy's Day. He is 100% Irish and has the name that means "brave-power" and "noble." Yes, these words describe my dad Richard Patrick. A man who is celebrating his 77th year of life, love, and laughter. Happy Birthday Popi!
Every March 17th my mom would make corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes for dad's birthday. I couldn't wait to jump off the school bus and get home. As I got closer to my house I could hear the Irish music playing on the outside speakers. The whole neighborhood knew about this special day. In fact, the whole neighborhood was Irish on this day! I swung open the front door and the aroma of the cooking corned beef swirled around my nose and made me smile. I couldn't wait to open the oven to take a peek at the goodness that was cookin. Patience. Corned beef takes time.
When my dad got home from work the beef was done. My mom would pull it out of the oven as my dad and I hovered over it watching her pull the tender pieces of meat apart. We never carved the meat pretty against the grain. Nope, we pulled it apart and ate it like string cheese. My dad and I waited for a moment to sneak a piece. Just get a little sample. It was a game we played every year. That tradition has been passed down to my kids. Same ritual from the music playing when the kids stepped in the house after school to hovering over the meat to sneak a sample. Makes me smile just thinking about it. Our kids are grown now and experiment making this meal on their own. We have our cooking/coaching calls before the big day. I love it!
Since living in Nepal and Tunisia, I have not been able to locate that little bag at the grocery store that has the meat prepped and ready to go. This year, I ventured out to make my own brined corned beef. Marty and I brined and cooked our test batch last week and it ROCKED! I had to make some slight modifications on the recipe, but for the most part this was a snap to make.
Thanks to Elise at Simply Recipes.
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/home_cured_corned_beef/
I stuck pretty close to her recipe but made a few changes. Now that I know how to make this from scratch, I may not buy the packaged stuff anymore! The special part of making this meal was purchasing spices from our olive/spice vendor man at the fresh market and choosing the correct beef from our local butcher - using English translated into French, showing our drawings of the side of cow we need to purchase, and using hand motions. Priceless!
This is for you Cal, Kate, Meg and Nolan! Have fun and enjoy your St. Paddy's Day!
Slainte (slawn-cha) - Meaning "Health" in Irish Gaelic,
Mama
It all starts with the spices:
Mix all the spices in a bowl to make the pickling spice
1 Tbls whole allspice berries
1 Tbs dijon mustard (or whole mustard seeds)
1 Tbls coriander seeds
1Tbls fennel seeds
1 Tbls red pepper flakes
1 Tbls whole cloves
1 Tbls whole black peppercorns
9 whole cardamom pods
6 large bay leaves, crumbled
2 tsp ground ginger
1 stick cinnamon (or 1 Tbls cinnamon)
For the brine:
1 gallon water
2 cups kosher salt
3 Tbls of homemade pickling spice
1/2 cup honey (or brown sugar)
5 tsp pink curing salt (optional - I didn't add it and it was just great)
Add all ingredients to a large stock pot and heat long enough till salt is dissolved.
In a large dutch oven place beef brisket in ziplock bags.
(One 2 lb beef brisket per 1/2 gallon of brine)
Scoop brine evenly into the ziplock bags. We doubled the recipe so made 8 pounds of beef.
Fill bags till they are at least 2 inches from the top and seal up.
Nestle the bags and beef all together and add the lid.
Let them party in the fridge for about 5 days.
After 5 days, remove beef brisket from the brine and rinse. Place brisket in a crock pot or dutch oven. Cover 3/4 brisket with water if you are cooking in a crock pot. Cover 1/2 brisket with water if you are cooking in a dutch oven. With a slotted spoon, scoop out about 2 Tbls of the brining spices and add to pot or dutch oven. Discard rest of brine. Cook on high for 1 hour in crock pot and then turn on low for 4 -5 hours. In dutch oven, place brisket in oven and bake at 350 covered for 3 or so hours. Add more water if needed. Really, to be honest I cook the beef until the brisket is fork tender. It will be like string cheese!
When brisket has graduated to being called corned beef, place on a platter and use a fork to separate the strings of beef. Pour a bit of the cooked water/brine from your dutch oven/crock pot over the corned beef to keep it moisturized. Serve and Enjoy every morsel!
Marty and I made the trial run last week. We made a Gluten Free Ruben with it.
Corned beef, homemade kraut, creme fresh with 1/2-1 Tbls corned beef cooked brine and 1/2-1 Tbls Kraut brine (just taste it and see how ya like it), rolled up in a Paleo Tortilla (Thanks to Stupid Easy Paleo). PS. I add 1/8 tsp of baking soda to the Paleo Tortilla recipe. YUM!
The only thing I would add to this ruben is a couple pieces of swiss cheese.
Enjoy this whole meal!
No forks allowed!
