Corned Beef for Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day in the US is far different than it is in Ireland as I understand it.  Here in the US it seems to have devolved to encompass three things, parades, green beer, and eating corned beef and cabbage.  The Irish view the day as a time for reflection and time to get together with family. 


The good wife and I both have a bit of Irish genetics according to the DNA results but that is about as far as our Irishness goes.  We did enjoy going to the Saint Patrick's Day parade when we were stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX.  San Antonio has one of the largest parades in the country and is something to see.  After the parade was a day of entertainment by various musical and dance groups at the amphitheater on the River Walk.  We've not made it to the local Saint Patrick's Day parade since we know it will not compare to the one in San Antonio.


I don't know what to say about green beer other than, NO.  I mean, if you want to drink something to connect with Ireland why not drink a pint of Guinness?  The last number I heard was that there would be 13 million pints of Guinness drunk on Saint Patrick's Day.  That certainly makes more sense than green beer.  If a Guinness isn't your thing, rest assured that Ireland produces other beer styles that should suit any taste and many are readily available in the US.


Now for the corned beef.  Even today, with Ireland making its mark in the Foodie scene, beef is not a big deal.  The Irish are more about pork and lamb, not to mention seafood.  I did run across a mention of corned beef in Ireland from long ago and it was in the list of things served to a high ranking man as a means to impress him.  Beef just wasn't consumed much since so when a cow was finally slaughtered it most likely went to the well to do folks. 


Corned beef became an American Irish thing during the great Irish immigration periods into the US.  It was procured from Jewish delis and was inexpensive and when served with cabbage and potatoes provided a cheap filling meal.  Usually brisket is the cut of choice for making corned beef but any part can be used.  From such humble beginnings do some fine traditions spring.


Most corned beef in the US is sold in the weeks leading up to Saint Patrick's Day unless it is found at the deli counter to be sliced for sandwiches.  Yes, I know there are Jewish delis in New York that are famous for their corned beef sandwiches but I'm talking about corned beef as the cornerstone of a large meal.  While commercially produced corned beef is better than nothing, you are at the mercy of their recipe and whatever spice blend they include to cook with it.  Much better flavor and control can be had be making it yourself.


The corned beef I made for this year was made using a 5 lb chuck roast.  I used the brine recipe out of Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.  Most everything used in the brine is likely in your house already or is readily available.  The only specialty item is the pink salt, aka sodium nitrite, and it can be found at some specialty stores though I get mine from Butcher and Packer.  The beef sits in the brine for 5 days in the refrigerator and you have corned beef.  Here is the curing recipe from Michael Ruhlman's blog, Curing Corned Beef.


In the interest of time, I cooked mine in the pressure cooker this year.  We had a meeting to go to so couldn't take the time to slow cook it.  I had the good wife dump the brine and replace it with plain water to alleviate some of the saltiness about mid-morning.  After I got home, I dumped that water and put the corned beef in the pressure cooker.  I added water to just cover the meat and added 20 grams of my homemade pickling spice.  The pickling spice was based on the one in Charcuterie.  40 minutes of pressure cooking later we had hot corned beef.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, Roasted Potatoes

The cabbage was easy to do.  I put an onion, quartered then sliced, in a hot skillet with 3 Tbs of butter and let the onion cook while I sliced the cabbage.  Once the cabbage was sliced I laid it on top of the onion in the skillet then added 1 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid from the corned beef.  After the cabbage had steamed a bit I stirred it all around to get the onion and cabbage mixed together and made sure all the cabbage had time in the cooking liquid.  No need to add salt or pepper because there was plenty of flavor from the butter, onion, and corned beef cooking liquid.

Cabbage ready to plate

Since potatoes are the usual thing to go with corned beef and cabbage, I decided to go with roasted potatoes.  These were just cubed, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and put in a 425F oven for 20 minutes.  After the 20 minutes the potatoes were tossed/stirred about the pan and back in the oven for another 15 minutes.


So, with the exception of the time required to brine the beef, this was a quick easy tasty meal.  It's definitely worthy of being used more than one day a year.  Besides, the corned beef you don't eat with the meal can be sliced and made into sandwiches or some variation.  I'll have a separate post about a variation to a corned beef sandwich.


I encourage you to try to make your own corned beef and just taste the difference.   Visit Chef Ruhlman's blog and make the corned beef and then look around for other things to try.  If you make your own, let me know how it turns out.


Uncle T