St. Patty's Day - Corned Beef dinner tip

[rbowser-]

Kate and I are celebrating St. Patty's Day early, cooking up a big dinner to share with friends later this afternoon. OOOoh my but we love Corned Beef and Cabbage.

Let me pass on a "secret" cooking tip which I learned many years ago from an old Irish recipe.

The version of the traditional meal that we're making today consists of:

--Corned Beef (served with Horseradish)
--Cabbage
--Carrots
--Parnsips
--Turnips
--Potatoes
--Parsley

mmmMMm, all those root vegetables cook up So fine in the Beef stock. Those will be in the pot for an hour after the meat is done and has been taken out. Parsley is kept fresh, added to the plates, but is intended to be eaten with the rest.

BUT the Cabbage will be cooked separately. Now we're getting to the tips:

---If you boil the Cabbage for 15 minutes by itself, it doesn't get as heavy and greasy as when you cook in in the meat pot. The roots do fine and taste great cooked in the same pot as the meat was, but the Cabbage is more absorbant, and really does much better in its own pot with water.

HOWEVER - that's not all there is to the tip. The big Secret Ingredient:

---Slice up some Oranges to put in the Cabbage pot. - ! - Indescribable the way the tanginess of the Orange imparts this new flavor in the Cabbage which most people can't identify as Orange - it just gives the Cabbage a greater complexity of flavor, and it goes with the Corned Beef superbly.

Try it--You'll like it, I'm pretty darned sure.

Randy (---wishing I could find a Chef smiley)

[rob.manderson]

That sounds like an excellent idea - I'll give it a try the next time I do corned beef (which is about once a month).

As an aside, you look, from your photo, to be about my vintage. I remember, as a kid, that one didn't have to put salt on corned beef - quite the contrary - we'd boil it up at least twice to remove the salt. These days, here in the US, I find I have to resort to the salt cellar and that just seems unnatural.

Have you ever tried corned beef with Australian Tomato Sauce? That's much my favourite way of eating it. The sauce looks like ketchup but it's salty and malt vinegary instead of sweetish. Goes great with corned beef.

[Styxx]

Since I am not Irish yet love St.Patty's day ... My food of choice is the Rubin Sandwich. I used to love an Irish green pizza but never could get use to what ever green thing was in place of pepperoni. Not to mention the green sauce. Yeeessssshhhhh! :rolleyes:

Hemingway, here at school some of the teacher's make up Rubin's for lunch. They are supposed to be very good. We shall see!

Thanks for the tip!

[Frank D]

Sounds great Randy!

Here's my 100% Italian-American tip on cooking an Irish meal:

For the past dozen years I've been simmering our CBs in nothing but beer. I gather up any old, un-opened beer that's been hiding in the downstairs fridge ... it takes about a six-pack for 8-10 lbs of corned beef ... and poach it 3-4 hrs in my stock pot. If I don't have any, I get a six-pack of Schlitz ... the cheapest supermarket beer at $3.00/six (NY price).

The beer imparts a subtle flavor and masks the inherent saltiness of the CB. I started using 50/50 beer/water, but went to all-beer 5-6 years ago.

As far as cabbage, I use Savoy cabbage and just sauté it in a little oil, butter, caraway seed, and kosher salt ... keeps it's beautiful green color vibrant. OK, OK, ... I know ... I turned a visceral, ethnic meal into a foo-foo event ... but it does taste good!

Erin go braugh and buon appetito,

Frank

[Garritan]

Randy,

This sounds delicious.

Oranges in the cabbage pot? We're going to try that.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Bon appetit!

Gary

PS: Here's a chef smiley for you...



http://images.zaazu.com/img/chef-anim-chef-cook-food-smiley-emoticon-000273-large.gif

[rbowser-]

NIce stuff on this thread! I can happily report that our CB & Cabbage dinner was a Big hit last night. Such a fun old fashioned kind of thing to do - bring a pot of food over to someone else's home and they don't have to do anything but Eat.

We did the Cabbage at our friend's house so it'd be freshly done, and the rest, the CB and all the root veggies were in a big old pot of mine.

People ooooed and aaaahed and had a great ol time.

Rob - that sounds great, the tangy Australian style Tomato sauce--I'm going to try that. I'm fortunate that I have very adventurous taste buds, always wanting to try something new. I can already taste in my imagination how this would be great.

Styxx---Reubens! OH yeah--one of my faves! The green Pizza--hmmmm, that may test my sense of taste adventure a tad too far.

Frank---your recipe sounds super - I love cooking with beer, and wine, and Cognac, and Rum----you get the picture. :)

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!

Randy

[rbowser-]

AH, Gary - you posted simultaneously with my earlier reply.

THERE's an excellent Chef smiley!

GReat that you'll try the Orange thing, Gary. For the one large cabbage we cooked last night, quartered (perfect--there were 4 of us eating) - we just covered it in water, and cut two Oranges in half--tossed those in, skin and all, gave them a slight squeeze as dropped them in the pot. Once the water came to a boil, reduced heat to simmer, cooked for 15 minutes.

Subtle and wonderful alongside the more robust Corned Beef and Horseradish.

Enjoy!

MEANWHILE---I just now saw the "Stand By Me" video--that is so incredibly beautiful I can hardly stand it.

Randy

[reberclark]

Oranges! Interesting - I'll try it. We usually do corned beef and cabbage on St. Pat's (along with Guinness and possibly later some Old Bushmills). This year I opted to do reubens with a cabbage slaw on the side. Just a change of pace. But, Randy, I will try the oranges soon!

Slainte!

[Garritan]

"Orange" you glad Randy posted this recipe? ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

[wilx]

It's 'Paddy's day' by the way! I've never heard anyone Irish refer to it as 'Patty's'...

I'm also not that sure that many Irish people eat corned beef as a 'national dish'...

Happy st Paddy's day anyway :)

[HongKongCV]

That's actually a good point, Wilx. In the auld country beef was more of a luxury for the wealhy... the poor folks didn't get much of it, having to make do with chickens and pigs. Corned beef is something that Irish immigrants to the US concocted... beef was avialable and cheap enough to buy, and they cooked it the same way they would have cooked pork... boiling it to draw off the excess salt, and then braising it with cabbage.

But two of my favorite dishes in the world are Irish Stew and Shepherd's Pie. My family (as well as the occasional guests) simply love the recipes for both that I finally selected after trying out various things.

Irish Stew
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Special-Irish-Beef-Stew/Detail.aspx

Shepherd's Pie (halve the gravy)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Shepherds-Pie-Complete/Detail.aspx

And, if yer willin and yer liver's healthy, don't ferget a wee drop o' the pure!

[Frank D]

From what I understand, the true Irish peasant meal was boiled ham, buried beneath "stinking" simmering cabbages and root veg to mask the pleasant aroma of the ham ... meat was an upper crust-only commodity and the impoverished peasants where cooking the ham on the sly for a rare celebratory meal.

Corned beef actually is very Irish (it was a main export of the country into the 1800's), but the "Corned beef and cabbage" dinner is strictly Irish-American.

[rbowser-]

"...It's 'Paddy's day' by the way! I've never heard anyone Irish refer to it as 'Patty's'..."

How do you know how I said it in my post, wilx?---hehe--But actually you're right. I'm not Irish, I'm 'Murican and say things funny. I'm Irish for a day and maybe I don't say "Paddy's" correctly, but I Do spell it correctly!

I'll tip one for y'all tonight!

Randy

[dominick]

Don't forget the Guinness extra stout!

[PaulR]

Anyone know where St Patrick came from?

[rbowser-]

NO problem, Dominick--The Guinness awaits!

Paul R - here ya go--Did a quick Wiki on St. PaDDy:

"Saint Patrick (estimated AD 387 - AD 461)(Latin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language): Patricius,[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick#cite_note-1) Irish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language): Naomh Pádraig), said[by whom? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words)] to have been born Maewyn Succat (Latin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language): Magonus Succetus), was a Roman Britain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain)-born Christian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity) missionary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionary) and is the patron saint (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patron_saint) of Ireland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland) along with Brigid of Kildare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid_of_Kildare) and Columba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columba). He was educated at a monastery and school of divinity founded by Saint Illtud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illtud) (now Llantwit Major (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llantwit_Major)), often called "the oldest university in the world". It was distinguished for also educating Taliesin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliesin), Saint Gildas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gildas), Saint Samson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_of_Dol), Saint Paul Aurelian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Aurelian) and possibly Saint David (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_David), Patron Saint of Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales). When he was about sixteen he was captured by Irish raiders and taken from his native Wales as a slave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave) to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the church, he later returned to Ireland as a missionary in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked and no link can be made between Patrick and any church. By the eighth century he had become the patron saint of Ireland. The Irish monastery system evolved after the time of Patrick and the Irish church did not develop the diocesan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocesan) model that Patrick and the other early missionaries had tried to establish.
The available body of evidence does not allow the dates of Patrick's life to be fixed with certainty, but it appears that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century. Two letters from him survive, along with later hagiographies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagiographies) from the seventh century onwards. Many of these works cannot be taken as authentic traditions. Uncritical acceptance of the Annals of Ulster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annals_of_Ulster) (see below) would imply that he lived from 340 to 460, and ministered in what is modern day northern Ireland from 428 onwards. On 17th March St.Patrick's day is celebrated to remember him and what he did. This is celebrated across the world."


Randy

[Frank D]

Hi Randy,

The only thing I can add/modify was that according to "An Irish Expert" on the NBC Today Show last week, he was born in what became Italy, and brought to Wales at around four years old.

There seems to be a great deal of missing info on St. Paddy and who knows what is correct:) ... But today we honor him and his grand day!

Frank

[PaulR]

St Patrick comes from Devon!!!!! What a load of rubbish you read on the interweb. He was from a very well to do family and a bit of a playboy.

He was captured by Viking raiders and escaped to France.

God sake! Wales and Italy! Ha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4snnXZidvw&feature=PlayList&p=263978CEACF20CE0&index=9&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL

And what about the Venerable Bede?





:D