
I'm not Irish but my husband is half Irish and so every year, like many others, I make a corned beef dinner on this day. For many years, when I was first married, I made the traditional "boiled dinner" wherein the corned beef, cabbage and potatoes were all cooked together in a pot of boiling water. I must admit I'm not a fan.
Thankfully, I was rescued many years ago from boiled meat, mushy cabbage and waterlogged potatoes by my friend Laura. She gave me her recipe for corned beef braised in the oven and I have used it ever since. Today, I would like to share it with you.
- 1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Honey Mustard (I have found you can use any kind of mustard you like)
- 5 lb Corned Beef (works with smaller ones also)
Heat oven to 325. Place meat in a roasting pan and cover with boiling water until half submerged. Sprinkle with the pickling spices that come with the corned beef. It's ok if you don't have any. Cover with foil. Bake 2 hours. Cool in the liquid. One hour before, drain the beef. Mix the mustard and brown sugar and spread over the meat to glaze. Cook 30 minutes to reheat.
The beauty of this recipe, aside from how good it tastes, is that you can cook the corned beef ahead of time and just reheat before dinner. Another thing I have learned is to reuse the foil you used to cover the meat to line the pan when reheating. Saves cleanup if glaze mix drips onto the pan.
As far as the potatoes and cabbage go I have 2 alternative menus. One is cole slaw with steak fries cooked in the oven or hash browned potatoes. The other, for when I'm feeling really Irish even though I'm not (and have the time) is to make a traditional Irish dish called colcannon which is mashed potatoes and cabbage mixed together. I use the recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham.
So, I hope you will try my non-traditional St. Patrick's day dinner and let me know how you like it.
Have a fun day!
Cynthia