Here’s the BEST corned beef and cabbage for your St. Patrick’s Day party! We’ll show you 2 ways to make it – boiled the traditional way in spiced water or baked with cloves and sweet, spicy honey mustard. Either way is delicious.
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Once a year, in mid-March, we Americans enjoy the best excuse ever to cook corned beef and cabbage: St. Patrick’s Day!
Video: How to make baked corned beef and cabbage
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Baked Corned Beef and Cabbage
Boiled or Baked Corned Beef?
The traditional way to cook corned beef and cabbage is to cook both the beef and cabbage.
A few years ago, my friend Suzanne introduced me to her favorite way to prepare corned beef – sprinkled with cloves, slathered with honey mustard and baked – not cooked – and then served with sautéed cabbage.
One day we cooked corned beef and cabbage both ways, boiled and baked. The winner?
But traditions die hard. So here we present you with both versions, a corned beef and cabbage in the oven with honey and mustard (blanched first to extract some excess salt) and a cooked version. Also, we show two ways to cook the cabbage, boiled or sautéed.
Which corned beef to buy
By the way, when buying corned beef you have the choice between “flat cut” and “point cut”. Both cuts will work with these methods.
The point cut has more fat marbling throughout the meat, making it a tastier cut, but due to the fat shedding from the meat, it shrinks more so you need more to get the same amount of cooked meat. The flat cut is a leaner cut of corned beef.
- Would you like to make your own? Here’s how to cure your own corned beef.
Have fun and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Looking for more St. Patrick’s Day recipes?
- Corned Beef Hash – for your corned beef leftovers!
- Irish soda bread
- Guinness Chocolate Brownies
- Colcannon
- Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Stew
Corned beef and cabbage
Corned beef is cured in a salt mixture, so it can be very salty depending on the source. We recommend boiling the corned beef in plain water first and discarding the water (repeat for less salt) before proceeding with the baked version.
ingredients
Corned Beef (Baked)
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3 lb Corned beef brisket
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10 whole cloves
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1/4 Cup hot cute Honey mustard
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2 tablespoon Brown sugar
Corned Beef (cooked)
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3 lb Corned beef brisket (including spice pack, if available)
cabbage (sautéed)
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Extra virgin olive oil and butter
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1 Middle yellow onionchopped
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1 clove garlicchopped
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1 big head cabbagecut into 3/8-inch to 1/2-inch slices
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Salt
cabbage (cooked)
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1 big head cabbagecut into 3/8-inch to 1/2-inch slices
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Extra veggies like a few carrots (cut into 1-inch chunks) or several new potatoes (quartered)
method
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Cook lightly to remove excess salt:
Remove the corned beef from the packet and discard the spice packet. Note that one side of the roast should have a layer of fat, the other side should have distinct lines showing the grain of the beef.
Corned beef can be very salty, especially when it’s baked. To remove some salt before cooking, place it in a saucepan, fat-side up. Cover with water, bring to a boil and discard the water. Repeat the process to remove more salt.
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Top with cloves, honey mustard, brown sugar:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the corned beef, fat-side up, on a large piece of heavy-duty, wide aluminum foil (you may need to get creative with the way you wrap the beef if your foil isn’t wide enough).
Space the cloves evenly on top of the corned beef platter. Spread the top with the hot sweet honey mustard. Sprinkle brown sugar on top.
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Wrap in foil and bake:
Wrap the corned beef in foil, leaving some space at the top between the corned beef and the foil to create a container to catch the juices. Place the foil wrapped corned beef in a shallow skillet and bake at 350F for 2 hours.
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Add more honey mustard, grill:
Open the foil wrapper, spread some more honey mustard on top of the corned beef and grill until the top is blistered and lightly browned, 2-3 minutes.
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Disc:
Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then place on a cutting board. Pull out and discard cloves.
Pick up the corned beef to see the direction of the meat grain. Then cut the meat diagonally across the grain of the meat into 1/2 inch thick slices.
Serve immediately.
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Add the beef and seasoning packet to the pot:
Place the corned beef in a large (6 to 8 quart) saucepan. Cover the beef with an inch of water. Add the contents of the spice pack to the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer.
Simmer for 2-3 hours until the corned beef is tender. Removed
from the pot to the cutting board. (Reserve the cooking liquid for boiling
Cabbage if you want to cook the cabbage and not sauté it.)Slice across the grain into 1/2 inch thick slices. Surcharge.
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Sauté onions and garlic:
In a large, wide saucepan (8 quarts if you have one) or large, deep-sided skillet, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil (enough to cover the pan well) over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions, cook for a few minutes, then add garlic.
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Fry cabbage:
Add a third of the chopped cabbage to the pan. Sprinkle with a little salt and stir, brush with oil and mix with onions.
Spread the cabbage evenly over the bottom of the pan and don’t stir until it begins to brown. If the heat is high enough, this should happen quickly. The trick is to have the burner hot enough to lightly brown the cabbage, but not so hot that it easily burns.
When the underside of the cabbage is nicely browned, lift it up with a metal spatula and turn it over, scraping off the browned bits as you go.
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Finish and serve:
Once the cabbage is browned within a few turns in the pan, add another third of the cabbage to the pan. Mix well, then spread the cabbage and repeat. Add some butter to the pan for flavor and to keep the cabbage from sticking too much to the pan. Once this batch is a little cooked down and browned, add the remaining 1/3 of the cabbage and repeat the process.
Serve with the corned beef. Serve with boiled new potatoes. Can be pre-cooked and reheated.
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Add the cabbage to the corned beef cooking water:
After removing the corned beef from the pot, add the cabbage and any other vegetables (carrots, new potatoes) to the pot. Taste the liquid. If it’s too salty, add more water to the pot. Increase the heat until the liquid is simmering. Simmer for 15-30 minutes until the cabbage and other vegetables are cooked through.
Place vegetables in a serving bowl, pour some of the cooking liquid into the bowl.
Links:
Home cured corned beef here on Simply Recipes
Colcannon here on Simply Recipes
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 1276 | calories |
| 93g | Fat |
| 22g | carbohydrates |
| 85g | protein |
