Ok so you all know by now that there has never been a food holiday that I don’t love. Heck I even choose what team to cheer for during the Super Bowl based on which city’s food is better. So it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that come March I start stocking up on hunks of Brisket and picking spice. 🙂

Corned-Beef and Cabbage

There are two ways (maybe 3 I am thinking about roasting it sometime) to make corned beef and cabbage.  One is a soup and the other is fairly dry.  They only differ in the amount of water and spice; although for the soup I cut the brisket into bite sized pieces prior to cooking.

3lbs of Packaged Beef Brisket with spice packet
1 Large Onion
3/4s of a head of Cabbage
2 lb Red Potatoes chopped to bite sized pieces
1 tbls Dijion mustard
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (I actually use Crystal Hot Sauce it is my favorite vinegary hot sauce)

The key to good corn-beef and cabbage, in my opinion anyway, is time and then adding the ingredients in stages. That way every thing is finished cooking at the same time.

I start my Corned-beef 3 hours prior to dinner time. Start by trimming any excess fat from the meat. In a stock pot on medium-high add some butter to and heat until the bubble stop forming. Add meat to the pan and brown on both sides. Add 2 cups of water the mustard, the hot sauce and the spice packet that came with the meat. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes then reduce the heat to a simmer for the remaining time.

With 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time removed the meat and slices it against the grain. Add the potatoes and the meat back to the pot and cover for 10 minutes. At “T-minus” 10 minutes add the cabbage and cover until almost cooked. Remove stir and serve.