ERIN GO BRAH

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE DINNER:

4 lbs Corned Beef
1 lg Head cabbage in wedges
12 Medium potatoes peeled
6 Large carrots peeled

Marinade:
½ cup Red wine
½ cup Red wine vinegar
2 tsp Crushed garlic cloves (jarred)
1 tsp Garlic powder
4 Bay leaves
1 tsp Peppercorns
1 tsp Celery seed
2 tbl Pickling spices
½ tsp Dry mustard

Mix marinade and add corned beef. Store in refrigerator overnight, turning at least once. Scrape marinade off beef, and put in large pot. Strain marinade into pot. Cover beef and marinade with water, bring to boil, and simmer two hours. Add vegetables, be sure all are covered with water. Bring to boil again, and simmer two more hours. Be sure veggies are done, and remove them to warm platter. Slice meat and add to platter. Make gravy from liquid. For each quart of liquid, add ½ cup of instant mix flour.

[Jenise]

Lovely. My corned beef is on the stove right now (a freshly made one from Whole Foods--no plastic vacuum pack this year!). What chance is there that the vegetables wouldn't be done in two hours? I'm surprised at that instruction.

A 'large' head of cabbage is a bit subjective. You could try slicing thinner wedges to match the thickness of the potatoes. That way, 2 hours is still reasonable. I'm gonna give myself 3 hours when I try this, just in case. Happy Cooking!

[Jenise]

Joe, my question came from the other direction. I wasn't worried about the cabbage undercooking, just the part of Carl's recipe that implied two hours might not be enough, as I couldn't understand under what circumstance that could be the case. How long one cooks them is just a preference thing. When I do corned beef and cabbage, I add the vegetables near the end of cooking--the cabbage is my idea of 'done' in 15-20 minutes, even in large wedges. Carrots will get 20-25 minutes. Potatoes, I don't even do potatoes in the broth anymore. I've taken to preferring to have something on the plate that DIDN'T cook in the broth for flavor and texture contrast. So I flip back and forth between oven roasting the potatoes or serving a bulgur wheat pilaf instead. And every plate is garnished with bright green grilled scallions.

Say, aren't you involved with the IWFS?

Hi Jenise, yes I blog for the IW&FS.

You're right, roasting them would be a welcomed change for this traditional Irish dish. And I agree, as I am not much for boiled potatoes either.

[Jenise]

Cool, I've been to one or two events with the Vancouver chapter.

Great, you must know Jim and Melina?

[Jenise]

Holy Toledo. Yes I do!!! Jim and I belong to a monthly brown bag lunch group hosted by Bill Spohn, who also frequents this forum, and we see them as a couple at various other events.

Cool, small world. I created the video for the Vancouver Branch's website.

Have to admit that the last couple of years we've been cooking all the ingredients separately in the pressure cooker. We make sure we have a cup of strained marinade for the meat, and another cup with additions of wine and vinegar for the potatoes and carrots, and ditto for the cabbage.