Having Your Corned Beef and Eating Your Hash Too

I know my Irish Post was yesterday (thanks for the Irish blessing Maura!) but I HAD to tell you about my corned beef. It was AWESOME. Seriously, so good I can't rave enough about it. I was worried because I never really liked the corned beef my grandmother used to make, the one you get at the grocery store with the little packet of pickling spice in it to boil the meat in. It never tasted like corned beef to me, just like boiled meat with mustard seeds stuck to it. Plus I was more of a pastrami than a corned beef girl. So I made the home cured corned beef with low but hopeful expectations. Man, was I ever blown away. It was honestly the best corned beef I have ever eaten and the vegetables were out of this world. The salt from brining the beef mixed into the water with the spices (which were tied in a bag made from a coffee filter so no weird seeds stuck to the meat) and seasoned the vegetables deliciously. It smelled so good while it was cooking. I wanted to eat the whole thing, but I also wanted to have enough to make hash, because we love hash at this house. The only bad thing about the corned beef? Because I was scared that I wouldn't like it I got the smallest brisket I could find and now we only have enough left over for hash, while if I had made a bigger one we could have had hash AND reuben sandwiches. (But I have learned from my mistake and it won't happen again!)

Here is the recipe, courtesy of Bon Apetit magazine, March 2008.

Brine:
6 cups water
2 cups lager beer
11/2 cups coarse kosher salt
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons Insta Cure no. 1* (optional)
1/4 cup pickling spices
1 6- to 8-pound flat-cut beef brisket, trimmed, with some fat remaining

Corned beef and vegetables:
1 12-ounce bottle Guinness stout or other stout or porter
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 whole allspice
1 dried chile de árbol,** broken in half Cheesecloth
12 baby turnips, trimmed, or 3 medium turnips or rutabagas, peeled, quartered
8 unpeeled medium white-skinned or red-skinned potatoes (about 3 pounds)
6 medium carrots, peeled
4 medium onions, peeled, halved through root ends
2 medium parsnips, peeled, cut into 2-inch lengths
1 2-pound head of cabbage, quartered

For brine:
Pour 6 cups water and beer into large deep roasting pan. Add coarse salt; stir until dissolved. Add sugar; stir until dissolved. If desired, stir in Insta Cure No. 1. Mix in pickling spices. Pierce brisket all over with tip of small sharp knife. Submerge brisket in liquid, then top with heavy platter to weigh down. Cover and refrigerate 4 days.
Remove brisket from brine. Stir liquid to blend. Return brisket to brine; top with heavy platter. Cover; refrigerate 4 days. Remove brisket from brine. Rinse with cold running water. do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead. Wrap corned beef in plastic, cover with foil, and refrigerate.

For corned beef and vegetables:
Place corned beef in very large wide pot. Add stout and enough water to cover by 1 inch. Wrap cheesecloth around bay leaves, coriander seeds, allspice, and chile, enclosing completely, and tie with kitchen string to secure. Add spice bag to pot with beef; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until beef is tender, about 2 1/4 hours. Transfer beef to large baking sheet.
Add turnips and all remaining vegetables to liquid in pot; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently until all vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to baking sheet with beef. Return beef to pot and rewarm 5 minutes. Discard spice bag.
Cut beef against grain into 1/4-inch thick slices. Arrange beef and vegetables on platter. Serve with Horseradish Cream and Guinness Mustard.

*Insta Cure No. 1 is a mixture of sodium nitrate and salt that is used in cured and smoked sausages to prevent botulism. In this brine, its only purpose is to prevent the meat from turning gray, so you can certainly leave it out. You'll find Insta Cure No. 1 at sausagemaker.com.
**A thin, red, very hot three-inch-long chile; sold at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Latin markets.

The changes I made were to reduce the amounts to half since I made a very small brisket. I only used one onion and I added some golden beets to the vegetables. I didn't use any Insta Cure, but it was fine without it. And for the spice bag I just used 2 Tbsp. of pickling spice with the chile de árbol and a few juniper berries thrown in for good measure. (I changed the spice bag because I don't like bay leaves and I already had the pickling spice.) I also used a, gasp, English beer, because that's what I had in the house and I knew my mom would drink the leftovers. And I only brined it for six days.

I served this with an Irish soda bread, which I had also never made before but I would again, it was so easy and delicious.
Just mix 2 cups of four and 1 teaspoon each salt and baking soda in a bowl. Pour 1 cup of buttermilk into a well in the center of the flour and incorporate gently into the flour just until it all comes together. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead about 3 times, gathering the dough into a ball. Place the ball onto a greased pie tin, flatten it slightly and cut an X in the top. Bake it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Or you can cut the flattened ball into 4 rounded triangles and grill it in a greased skillet for 10 minutes on each side for a scone/biscuity looking thing. (I made the bread but I'm going to try the 'farls' next time.)

I swear, you have to try this. (Maura, put Larry on this, seriously) It wasn't hard and once you put the meat in the brine you just put it in the back of your fridge and forget about it. It was the best St. Patty's day meal I have ever made. So good that I can hardly wait till next St. Patrick's Day to do it again!