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Recipe Thu Mar 08 2007
Top of the Cornin' to Ye
If you're not of the Bridgeport-dwelling, Daley-endorsing, South Side Irish, but you're still hoping to pull out all the stops for St. Patrick's Day, have yourself a look at my aunt's recipe for corned beef (her notes included). It takes about a week, but it's easy to do as there's very little work involved. If you start this weekend, you have exactly enough time to prepare the beef in time for a "traditional" boiled dinner (Yeah, yeah, supposedly the real Irish don't actually eat corned beef and cabbage, but the real Irish celebrate the feast of St. Patrick by going to Mass, not by drinking green beer and donning kelly green everything).
"This meat is always tender and has just the right amount of salt to it," says my aunt Mary Lynn Lawless, supplier of the recipe. "It is easy enough to do and kids especially love to be the ones to stir the meat in the bucket."
The beef will appear more gray than the reddish corned beef you get at a deli, but it's delicious, and who can deny the kids a chance to "stir the meat in the bucket"?
Corned Beef
4-5 lbs roast beef (I use the first cut of the beef bottom round. It is triangular in shape)
1 box Kosher salt
1 bucket with a cover (such as a utility bucket)
1 potato, peeled
•Put enough cold water in the bucket to cover the meat by about 3-4 inches, but don't put the meat in, yet.
•Place the peeled potato in the bucket and begin pouring the box of salt, stirring constantly. The potato will begin to float (after approximately 3/4 of the salt is poured in).
•Remove and discard the potato.
•Place the meat into the bucket and cover. Place the bucket in a cool, but not freezing location (such as outside, if it's above freezing).
•Each day for the next 5-7 days, give the meat a whirl around in the brine.
•After 5-7 days, remove the meat and place it in a large pot of cold water (or In a dutch oven)
•Slowly simmer the meat for about 1 1/2 hours. (Grammy puts a little vinegar in the water)
To prepare the vegetable part of the boiled dinner, either place spring cabbage, sliced carrots, and turnip directly into the pot with the meat, or prepare them in a pressure cooker, adding some of the brine to the water. Peel, quarter and boil the potatoes separately. The amounts of vegetables you use depends on how many you plan to serve this to.
