Corned Beef and Cabbage (or how I got lucky): Part 2 of 3

After a week of brining, my beef brisket is finally ready to come out of its spice bath and be rinsed and cooked. It sat in the fridge all week, and I turned it two or three times to make sure all sides got equal time in the brine. It smelled pleasantly of pickles every time I uncovered it, like walking into a deli or one of those old country stores with a big barrel of pickles sitting in the corner.

We wanted to eat an early dinner, so I started the cooking process around 1 p.m. today. While I was cooking the meat and cabbage, I also made a couple of traditional side dishes – Champ and a loaf of Soda Bread. Oh! And for dessert, Irish Car Bomb Bread Pudding.

Detailed instructions for the corned beef and cabbage below. Follow the links above for the other recipes. Happy early St. Patty’s Day! Stay tuned for my actual St. Patty’s day post – I’ll be detailing a great use for leftover corned beef and cabbage – corned beef hash!

An interesting note – the pink color you see in the corned beef you get in the packages in the grocery store comes from Saltpeter, or Potassium Nitrate. You can actually purchase Saltpeter if you feel like you’re really missing the traditional pink hue you usually get with corned beef. I read a post recently that said you can use celery juice in place of Saltpeter, as celery has naturally occurring nitrates in it. Of course, I didn’t read this until after I’d already begun the brining process. At any rate, I’m perfectly pleased with the natural meat color of my corned beef, and will most likely continue doing things the way I always have.

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