St. Patrick's Day Dinner, Part Two

I have to say WOW! this turned out so much better than I expected it to.

As you can tell from my previous post I felt a little iffy about rubbing a big piece of beef with salt and spices and smashing it under a bunch of cans in my fridge for a week.

But I highly recommend it.

The veggies, prepped and ready for their turn in the pot. As you can see from the recipe, you can choose from an assortment of veggies. I chose brussels sprouts, parsnips, and carrots. I thought we would eat those best.

Note--I don't know if I would use parsnips again. I really like them, but I prefer them roasted. Boiling them like this just didn't cook them evenly. The outsides sort of turned to mush and the woody core inside remained sort of firm which was not a pleasant affect. I liked the brussels sprouts and the carrots, though.
I also made some Irish soda bread and thought it was tasty with the meal.

Here is my lovely dinner. The meat turned out so tender and very tasty. The flavor of the spices was nicely subtle, not too strong, and it was not too salty (I was relieved to see in the recipe that you rinse the brisket before you cook it).

Definitely a keeper! Again, from Cook's Illustrated.

CORNED BEEF WITH VEGETABLES (serves 8, but I halved everything and it worked great)

1 beef brisket, corned/cured as in previous post

7-8 pounds veggies, chosen from the categories below:

Category 1 Veggies:

Carrots, peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise

Rutabagas (small), peeled and halved crosswise, then each half cut into 6 chunks

White turnips (medium), peeled and quartered

New potatoes (small), scrubbed and left whole

Boiling onions, peeled and left whole

Category 2 Veggies:

Green cabbage (small head), blemished leaves removed and cut into 6-8 wedges

Parsnips, prepared same was as carrots above

Brussels sprouts, blemished leaves removed and left whole

Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. Bring the brisket to boil with water to cover by 1/2-1" in a large soup kettle or stockpot, skimming any scum that rises to the surface. Cover and simmer until skewer inserted in thickets part of brisket slides out with ease, 2-3 hours (for the half-size brisket I cooked it about 2 hours, maybe a little more).

Heat oven to 200. Transfer meat to large platter, ladling about 1 c of cooking liquid over it to keep it moist. Cover with foil and set in oven.

Add vegetables from category 1 to kettle and bring to boil, cover and simmer about 10 minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. Add vegetables from Category 2 and bring to boil, cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, 10-15 minutes longer.

Remove meat from oven, cut across the grain into 1/4" thick slices.

Serve meat with horseradish or grainy mustard (we ate it with Grey Poupon mustard, the Country Dijon kind, and it was GREAT. It added a little extra zing to the dish).

CLASSIC IRISH SODA BREAD (Note: I suggest making AND baking this while the beef is boiling, so you can use the oven to keep the meat warm while cooking the veggies)

3 c flour

1 c cake flour

2 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 T unsalted butter (2 T softened + 1 T melted)

1 1/2 c buttermilk

Heat oven to 400. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingers until texture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough comes together. Turn out onto floured surface and knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy (12-14 turns, don't overknead).

Pat dough into 6" round, about 2" high. Place on greased baking sheet or in cast-iron pot (cast iron makes the crust a little crispier).

Bake until golden brown and skewer in center of loaf comes out clean (internal temp 180). Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.

Corned Beef

I've never made the "traditional" St. Patrick's day dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage, but I've always wanted to try it. So I looked it up on the trusty Cooks Illustrated website. According to Cook's, the corned beef you buy at the grocery store is nasty. So, they suggest you "corn", or cure, your own beef. So, here goes.

You need to purchase beef brisket. I halved the recipe because it feeds 8, but here's the original recipe from cooksillustrated.com:

HOME CORNED BEEF BRISKET

1/2 c kosher salt

1 T black peppercorns, cracked (I put them in a bag and used a rolling pin to crack them)

3/4 T ground allspice

1 T dried thyme

1/2 T paprika

2 bay leaves, crumbled

1 beef brisket, 4-6 pounds, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed and patted dry

Mix all spices in small bowl. Poke 30 holes in each side of the beef brisket with a meat fork or metal skewer. Rub each side evenly with spice mixture and place in 2-gallon zipper-lock bag. Press as much air out as possible. Place brisket in jelly roll, cookie sheet, or similar pan. Place another pan on top and weight with bricks or cans. Refrigerate 5-7 days, turning once a day.

Here's my set-up with the corned beef underneath the cans.
Looks and sounds a bit motley, eh?! We'll see if it turns out!
Stay tuned . . .