Well, after a week of curing and a whole night in the slow cooker, there's my final plate of corned beef and cabbage. How did it turn out? Very pink, as you can see, thanks to those slightly suspicious nitrates and nitrites. (I figured one plate a year can't hurt too much.) Read on for the rest of my thoughts, and the final outcome of my little corned beef experiment.
I usually like to mess around with the classics; if I made corned beef regularly I probably would have cooked this one in the oven with mustard or horseradish, and served cabbage braised in wine. But since this was my first time making corned beef, I decided to stick close to tradition and boil it. I cooked my home-corned beef brisket two ways:
• One half went in the slow cooker with water, some spices, celery, onion, and carrot. It cooked overnight, and then I put a couple wedges of cabbage, sprinkled with black pepper, on top of the meat in the last hour of cooking.
• The other half soaked in water overnight (I was concerned about how salty it was) and it went into a pot this morning for a long slow simmer with vegetables and spices.
The results? We liked the slow cooker version better, but the long-simmered beef in the pot was still pretty close. I felt that the slow cooker beef was was moister and softer, with that tender melting texture I expect from brisket. But the stovetop beef was also very good, once it had cooked for about three hours. (We tried it after about an hour and a half, and it was still tough.)
And the briskets weren't too salty; you all were right on that account. I think the overnight soak was unnecessary. If I make corned beef again I'll just do a quick blanch in boiling water to remove any excess salt.
I loved the cabbage, steamed on top of the moist brisket. I didn't cook it very long; I like my cabbage with a little bit of crunch left in it. It had just enough salt and taste of the spices to be really delicious.
Served with sour cream and horseradish, this is a splendidly old-fashioned meal, with enough beef and salt to increase your blood pressure. It's great every so often, although we wouldn't eat this more than once or twice a year. There are plenty of corned beef hashes coming up; this little experiment definitely yielded some nicely-spiced beef, but it's far beef more than we would ever eat in a week! It's going to get shredded and put in the freezer in little packets for use later.
Are you cooking corned beef today, and if so, how are you cooking it?
More Corned Beef
• How To Cure Corned Beef (In Time for St. Patrick's Day)
• How To Make Corned Beef: An Update
• How To Cure Corned Beef: Time to Cook!
(Image: Faith Durand)
My Staple Summer Cocktail Recipe: Campari & IPA Spritzer
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Bacsac Bacsquare 04...
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Great to read about the end result. I stuck mine in teh slow cooker this morning over a bed of quartered onions, celery and carrots with halved small red potatoes placed over the beef. I poured in a bottle of Fat Tire's springtime pale ale and headed off to work. I wasn't sure how I was going to do the cabbage as I didn't want the cabbage to get soggy sitting in the slow cooker all day so I think I will do what you did, add it at the last hour of cooking.
This is my first attempt at corned beef so I am really anxious as to how it turns out.
We've got one going in the slow cooker too, pretty simple preparation, and I will likely add the cabbage late like you did. I like it crunchy too. Can I throw some potatoes in too? Definitely excited about our first CB&C, and hoping for some leftovers for hash as well :)
Neither the hubs nor I are corned beef fans, so we're going the Dublin coddle route. So simple, yet so satisfying--though with both bacon and sausage, it too is an every-so-often kind of dish.
My simmer on the stove for 3.5 hours worked wonderfully. Took out the meat to a warm oven, and put the veggies in the dutch oven for half an hour, with the last 12 minutes adding the cabbage. Plenty of malt vinegar on top and horseradish cream on the side. Quite a fantastic meal, and for my high protein, high salt diet self, this is a dream meal--I feel great!
My oatmeal/walnut soda bread was a great finish, though I'm tempted to head to the freezer for some Jeni's Ice Cream Gravel Road to finish of the night as I'm missing green beer and drunken debauchery in a serious way!
I saw Martha Stewart make her corned beef this morning and could barely wait to start cooking mine, I'm always glad when a long prepared meal turns out awesome. Happy St. Patty's day!
It looks divine!
Nitrates and nitrites, yum! (Well, once in a while, like a hot dog in New York a couple of times a year).
We did corned beef on Sunday, after an 8 day brine using Alton Brown's recipe but leaving out the saltpeter (which will keep it pink). Tasted fantastic after a 4 hour simmer - added potatoes, carrots and onions in the last half hour, and the cabbage at 15 minute. Apparently neither my 42 year old brother nor his 13 year old son had ever eaten corned beef or cabbage before (they are picky, non-adventurous eaters), so I was truly happy when both had seconds of the beef and my brother ate cabbage. The ommission of the pinking-agent left it just looking like cooked beef, which was fine by me. I also think it's funny that if my nephew ever gets corned beef somewhere, he's going to wrinkle up his nose and not want to eat it because it will be a different color. :P
Awesome! Looks spectacular!
It looks very delicious. Nice job.
Nitrite