Corned Beef & Cabbage
Adapted from The Steamy Kitchen
Servings: 6 people
Equipment
- 6-8qt Dutch Oven I like to use a larger size so I don't have to worry about beer bubbling over.
- Large Stock Pot for the veggies
Ingredients
Corned Beef
- 4 cans Guinness Beer
- 1.5 cup Beef Broth
- 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
- 3-4 lb Corned Beef, rinsed and pat dry
- 2 tbsp Pickling Spice
- 1 onion cut in half {across the onion, not at the root - this will help the halves stay mostly together}
- 2 heads Garlic - cut in half {I use the same cut method here - cut across the garlic, leaving the root in tact. I use the rooted bottoms of the garlic heads only so small cloves don't float all over the pot}
Veggies
- 1 head Cabbage, cut into small wedges (I usually have 8)
- 5-6 Carrots, cleaned and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 1 lb Red potatoes, cleaned, skin on and cut into bitesize pieces
- 2 tbsp Parsley, minced
- 2-3 tbsp duck fat (or bacon fat) for cooking veggies
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 300 degrees. (This can be cooked in a slow cooker as well but I much prefer the oven method)
- Combine beer, beef broth and sugar in your large dutch oven. Then gently slide in the corned beef. Add the pickling spices, onion and garlic. Over a medium heat, bring the mixture to a slow simmer, keeping uncovered. Do NOT bring to a full boil {you don't want to boil the beef}. You're just giving the corned beef a little head start by warming things up before it hits the oven. *This step also removes most of the carbonation from the beer.
- Remove from the heat, cover the pot and place it in the oven. Total cook time is about 4 hours but I check periodically to make sure the beef is still largely covered by the beer as it cooks.
- Remove from the oven after 4 hours. Ladle about 2ish cups of the reserve cooking liquid from the pot and allow the beef to rest in the pot covered.
- In your stock pot, heat the duck fat. Add the cabbage wedges, working in two shifts. You want a nice browning on the sides of the wedges, so don't over crowd the pot - it won't allow the cabbage to brown properly.Cook 3-4 min per side until browned (and don't forget to season with s/p) while cooking) then remove and set aside on a plate.
- Add the prepared carrots + potatoes to the same pan. Give them a quick few turns in the pan to pick up some of the flavor from the cabbage and duck fat, and don't forget to season with s/p as well.Add the 2 cups of reserve cooking liquid to the carrots and potatoes and bring to a simmer, cooking for about 10-15 minutes. Use a fork to periodically check for doneness.
- When just about done, add the cabbage back to the pot gently stirring to combine and to reheat the cabbage slightly.
- Remove the veggies and liquid to a serving bowl and top with parsley.
- Carefully remove and slice the corned beef for serving. Don't forget to reserve more of the cooking liquid {it's very helpful to reheat any leftovers!}