Raise your hand if you ate corned beef on St.
Patrick’s Day. Like so many people, I
was raised eating corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day and continue to do so to
this day. For many of us, it is a
tradition but have you ever wondered where that tradition came from? After doing a small amount of digging, I came
up with the answer.
Surprise!
Corned beef and cabbage is NOT the national dish of Ireland. What I found is that the Irish were used to
eating salt pork prior to coming to America.
When they arrived on US shores they found that the closest thing they
could get to salt pork was bacon. In 19th
century America, bacon was an expensive cut of meat and, therefore, not
something readily obtainable to poorer immigrants.
Seeking to fill the void, these poor Irish
Immigrants found another substitution: A
relatively inexpensive cut of beef called brisket. These beef briskets went through a long
curing process which involved the use of large grains of rock salt, also called
“corns”, and brine. These cheap and
readily available corned beef briskets became a staple amongst 19th
century Irish-Americans. Seeking a side
dish to accompany the corned beef, these immigrants found that cabbage was one
of the cheapest vegetables available, making it the perfect choice.
When I was growing up, my family always had
corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day so it should come as no surprise
that I continued the tradition once I was grown and on my own. That being said, while I don’t mind a little
cabbage, I’m not a big fan of the vegetable.
Furthermore, my husband would not touch a leaf of cabbage if you paid
him to do so. For that reason, I do not
include cabbage on my table at St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, I stick with potatoes.
I have been making my recipe for corned beef
for so long that I no longer remember where I got the original recipe or how
many changes I have made to it over the years.
When I am in my element in the kitchen, I do not use a written recipe
and quite often do not even bother to measure anything. (This could be the reason why nothing I cook
ever comes out quite the same twice.) What
you will find in the recipe below is the estimated amounts of the ingredients
so feel free to add or subtract as you see fit.
Also, I have a juicer so instead of using store bought apple juice, I
make my own fresh apple juice so that I know I am not including any additives
(or pesticides) in my food.
My corned beef recipe is made in a slow
cooker, which I absolutely love doing.
The house smells incredible all day long and by the time you pull the
corned beef from the slow cooker, it is melt in your mouth, fall apart
tender. Even though there are just two
mouths to feed in my house, I still make the full recipe. We eat corned beef sandwiches on rye bread
with mustard for days and some of the cooked corned beef goes into the freezer
for quick meals at later dates. Make the
full amount or only half. Either way,
you cannot go wrong.
Slow
Cooker Corned Beef
Makes Two
3-pound Corned Beef Briskets
Ingredients
·
4 cups apple
juice (I used about 10 medium size organic gala apples)
·
½ cup brown
sugar
·
2 tablespoons
prepared mustard
·
2 3-pound
corned beef briskets (with spice packets)
·
15 – 20 small
potatoes, scrubbed
·
3 carrots,
cleaned and cut into chunks
·
1 head of
cabbage, cored and cut into chunks (optional)
Directions
1.
Place apple juice, brown sugar and mustard
into the slow cooker and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2.
Mix in the
contents of the spice packets which came with the beef.
3.
Place both beef
briskets into the slow cooker then top with the potatoes, carrots and cabbage,
making sure to push everything into the liquid, and cover.
4.
Cook on Low
for 8 – 10 hours or on High for 4 – 5 hours or until the corned beef is tender.
5.
Remove corned
beef briskets from the slow cooker and allow to rest for 10 – 15 minutes before
slicing.
6.
Slice corned
beef briskets in thin slices, across the grain and serve with the vegetables.
Comment
below with your St. Patrick’s Day traditions!
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