Monday Meals: Corned Beef Two Ways

"Why is corned beef so good? And why do we only eat it once a year?"

There was a lot of this in the Wisconsin Test Kitchen this weekend. And since a bout of strep throat cancelled all our weekend plans; we decided to spend the weekend at home, eating as much corned beef as possible.

Saturday night we made homemade Reuben sandwiches, thanks to the recipe below:

http://theframedtable.com/2013/04/reuben-sandwich/

The result? So delicious. We can't recommend making your own dressing enough. It added a nice tangy, creamy element to the sandwiches that store bought Thousand Island dressing can't even touch. Just do it. You'll thank us later.

When it came to grilling the sandwiches, we made ours on a Panini grill- which made the rye bread nice and crispy and the inside all melty. Mmm. If you're making these for a group, we recommend grilling them on a large griddle, instead of making them one at a time in a frying pan.

Sunday it was time for traditional corned beef and cabbage. We've been using the same recipe for the past few years; and the results are great. The recipe bills itself as "goof-proof" and we have to agree. If you can add a bunch of things into a crock pot; than you can make corned beef and cabbage.

Cool Dads Corned Beef & Cabbage

Ingredients (in order of use)

5-6 garlic cloves

1 small onion, cut into wedges

3 cups of water

2 TBSP sugar

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

12 oz beer (we used Killian's Irish Red)

4 lbs corned beef brisket

1lb. of carrots

1 lb small red potatoes, quartered

1 head of green cabbage, cut into wedges

 

—-seasoning packet ingredients—–

{leave this out if you are using the packet that comes with the meat.}

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 bay leaves, crushed

8 Allspice berries

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

 

1. First place onion wedges and garlic at the bottom of your crockpot. This is going to act as a stand for your meat, so it doesn’t touch the bottom and dry out. Place beef on top of onions and garlic.

 

 

 

2. Next, mix together water, beer, sugar and vinegar. 

 

 

 

3. Pour over beef and then sprinkle seasoning packet over meat.  If you are using the homemade corned beef seasoning recipe, simply mix together the mustard seeds, bay leaves, allspice berries, salt and pepper and sprinkle on top of beef. 

 

 

 

4. Set crockpot, cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

5. After 4 hours of cooking, add in potatoes and carrots. Cover and continue cooking.

 
6. When 1 hour remains, add cabbage to the crockpot. Cover and continue cooking for the remainder of the time.

There you have it: corned beef and cabbage- simplified.

Recipe courtesy of www.familyfreshmeals.com

A note on buying corned beef: you have two options when it comes to briskets: the flats and the points. Flats are better for sandwiches- they slice easier; whereas the points are fattier, and perfect for stews and boiled dinners. The Wisconsin Test Kitchen got a TON of questions about this at the grocery store on Saturday.

Hope you have a lovely, safe St. Patrick's Day, full of delicious food!

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew