St. patrick's day irish style corned beef

1 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
From: Diane Duane ------------------------
... couldn't afford what little fresh beef came on the market in
Their areas.

Directions

Many of them, indeed, never got a taste of beef until after they emigrated to America or Canada, where it was affordable even for immigrants. There, when they got beef, they treated it the same way they would have treated a bacon joint at home in Ireland: they soaked it to draw off the excess salt, then braised or boiled it with cabbage, and served it in its own juices with only minimal spicing.

This is the dish which has become familiar to North Americans as the (usually) dreadfully overcooked glop which in many East Coast cities becomes unavoidable around Saint Patrick's Day or at election time.

In the USA, at least, it is almost never done right in any restaurant: it's too much trouble to cook the cabbage fresh every time, and not overdo it. The following recipe for cabbage and bacon is a good guide to how corned beef and cabbage *should* be made.

Cooking times for the meat will be similar. CABBAGE AND BACON (Bagun agus Cabaiste) 2 lb bacon, in a joint 1 white cabbage black pepper "Bacon" here means a rolled cut of pork, like shoulder or foreleg, tied up if necessary. It would always have been salted, here, to improve the flavor and tenderness of the meat: you would then soak it to get the salt out. The brine used to salt down the cruibins (see earlier message) will do fine for this. Leave the cut of meat in it for about a day. Then soak in cold water for a few hours to remove excess salt. Put the bacon in cold water and bring it slowly to a boil: simmer *gently* until really tender, about an hour and a half.

(Overestimate if you're not sure.) Turn off the heat and leave the bacon to set in the water. Cut the cabbage in quarters. Cut out tough stalks at the center. wash thoroughly in lots of cold salted water.

Rinse, then plunge the cabbage into fast boiling water and boil *really* hard for 3-4 minutes. Add a few cups of the water in which the bacon was cooked, to salt and flavor the cabbage. Continue cooking until cabbage is tender but still crisp. You're just going to have to keep testing it: each cabbage has its own timing. It might be five minutes, it might be ten... Don't believe any recipe you have that recommends cooking cabbage for this kind of dish (or with corned beef) longer than 20 minutes. When the cabbage is ready, slice the bacon and serve it with the cabbage, and a parsley sauce. And mustard and horseradish, if you like them. * QMPro 1.0 90-8356 * New Jersey, The Garden State ++- WILDMAIL!/WC v4⅑ * Origin: The Magic Dominion 1:107/614 n.j. 908-583-7894 28⅘ (1:107/614.0) From: PAT STOCKETT Date: 03-07-95

====================================================================== ==== ==== Hi Jim! JC>I wondered where he go off to. I replied to a message from him around >the 14th and hadn't heard from him since. He has to have more surgery so will be staying with one of his daughters. Then he's off to do some writing. He's promised to check in once in a while though. And to be back for the picnic in Baltimore. JC>Oh please! Sue is nuts for anything that reduces kitchen space. It >wouldn't be so bad, but she can't even reach the back of the first shelf! When we first moved into this house I thought the kitchen was so big I'd never even be able to make it look lived in. Now it's stuffed. :-) * QMPro 1.0 90-8356 * New Jersey, The Garden State ++- WILDMAIL!/WC v4⅑ * Origin: The Magic Dominion 1:107/614 n.j. 908-583-7894 28⅘ (1:107/614.0) From: PAT STOCKETT Date: 03-07-95

====================================================================== ==== ==== I realize that some of the soda bread information is repeated here, but then there's some new stuff too. And it's the way I saved it in q-book. Real long ones. :-) -Begin Recipe Export- QBook version 1.⅐

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