Ye all be Irishmen on St. Patrick’s Day!
In celebration of St. Patrick, and the Classic Irish American hearty dish of Corned Beef, I set out recently to corn a grass fed beef brisket. If you’ve never tried it, you really should, it’s super simple and only requires time. The simple brine heavy on the salt, bay, mustard seed, peppercorns and cloves can marinate the meat for 2-6 days refrigerated. When your ready to cook, 8 hours on low in the crockpot produces a fork tender richely corned beef perfect for a rowdy group of celebrators.
As with most holiday fare, I did a little research on corned beef, because history always is interesting how a tradition becomes a tradition in relation to food. In Ireland, although plentiful due to their revered “sacred” status from Gaelic times and prized dairy production, cattle in Ireland were not consumed for meat until the beef-eating British came to rule. The British married their love of beef to Ireland’s quality salt (of corn kernel-size, hence the name “corned”) to produce “corned beef.”
The area of Cork, Ireland was a great producer of Corned Beef in the 1600’s until 1825. It was their chief export and sent all over the world, mostly in cans. The British army sustained on cans of Cork’s corned beef during the Napoleonic wars. Over time, with Irish beef being mostly exported, it was too expensive for most, so Irishmen who owned cattle were raising them predominately for their dairy products, from which butter, cheese and cream could be obtained. Sheep were raised as a source of wool and hogs were one of the only livestock species raised by the peasantry for consumption. Salt pork and bacon became the staple protein more common of Irish tables. In talking with my Irish relatives, the meal they most crave on St. Patrick’s day and when traveling abroad is bacon and cabbage. After the Great Famine, and many Irish found themselves in American, the availability of brisket was much more affordable and accessible to the recent immigrants from Kosher butchers, and became more common in traditions.
As my slow cooked Grass Fed corned beef approached readinesss, I decided to prepare the cabbage and potatoes separately. I love the sweetness of roasted cabbage, as do my kids. It’s easy enough to slice a whole cabbage into 1/2 inch rounds, rub all over with garlic cloves,place on a olive oil greased baking pan, and roast at 400 F degrees flipping once, for about 20 minutes. If you have a sweeter balsamic vinegar, drizzle it over the cabbage once it’s cooked.
For the potatoes, I roasted with the cabbage whole at 400 F degrees for 30 minutes, removed and pierced with a fork, cooking another 20 minutes. You get a flaky potato if you wait to pierce, because you trap the steam into the potato while it bakes and then realease it during the second half of the cooking time to allow it to get flaky. We served these baked potatoes with extra Kerrigold Grass fed butter, crispy bacon and chives.
Since St. Patrick’s day falls within Lent, and meat is given up during that time for most, this holiday allows for a break in the fast and a time to celebrate with family, friends, music, stories and food. So wether you make a corned beef, Irish Stew or crave bacon and cabbage, may it warm your soul and bring you closer to the ones you love.
Corned Beef
4-5lbs grass fed beef brisket
2 quarts water
1 cup tender cure salt
1/2 cup vinegar (white or apple cider)
4 tablespoon sugar
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
Pinch whole clove
4 garlic cloves, smashed
Trim beef of some fat, I tend to leave the fat intact to add flavor.
Place all ingredients in a large bag, I used one meant for turkeys I had around. Or you could use a ceramic crock and cover with beeswax paper if your like most Californians and avoiding the single use plastic bags.
Allow the grass fed beef brisket to corn for 2-6 days, turning every day.
Once it’s corned to your liking, remove the brisket, rinse it and place in a crockpot. Discard the brine.
Next cover brisket with water, and add a fresh bay leaf and some garlic. Then cook on low for 6 hours or longer for a larger brisket.
When ready to serve, allow brisket to rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before slicing.
Grass Fed Beef Truckee 