Another St. Patrick’s Day Treat! {Corned Beef & Cabbage}

When I think of St. Patrick’s Day, I think of green beer, leprechauns… and a good ole New England boiled dinner. Anyone who didn’t grow up in New England like I did probably refers to this simply as Corned Beef & Cabbage. I was curious where the name came from, so I did a little research. Apparently, corned beef and cabbage is not actually a traditional Irish meal, but rather something that became popular in Irish American culture in the Northeast when Irish immigrants came over. Corned beef and cabbage is now traditionally enjoyed on Irish holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day. Super!

Anyways, with the upcoming holiday, I decided to make a boiled dinner. I figured any meal based around a giant hunk of meat would meet Nick’s approval. I’d like to say that I spent 10 days marinating a brisket from scratch, but that would be a lie. Three hours for cooking a meal is long enough for me. So I bought a pre-marinated corned beef with a convenient little shrink wrapped spice packet inside. That being said, I don’t really have a recipe for you. But if you do decide to marinate a brisket, or just buy a prepackaged one, this is how you can cook it…

I put the meat in a pot with its juices (blood?) and spice packet.

Then filled the pot with water to cover the meat.

I brought the pot to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered for almost 3 hours. In the last 30 minutes, I added the carrots, and in the last 20 minutes, added the cabbage. (If you wanted to add potatoes too, add them with the carrots. We’re not really potato fans so I left them out). Unfortunately, I didn’t think ahead and use my big pot, and the majority of the veggies didn’t fit in the pot. Luckily, thanks to Aunt Diane, we have two of these pots!

So I boiled most of the veggies separately in some beef stock and water (50/50), with some red pepper flakes. I didn’t have any peppercorns, and was hoping the flakes would add some flavor, but I’m not really sure whether or not they did.

After 2.5 to 3 hours, make sure the beef is tender and internal temperature is at least 160 degrees. I used one of my new kitchen tools! A birthday present!

The cabbage and carrots should also be nice and tender.

Let the beef rest 15 minutes before slicing.

Plate everything up and serve to hungry men! I had two to feed and they both thoroughly enjoyed their meat.

The hardest part about this meal? Butchering this guy…

It was almost as hard as my recent acorn squash massacre!