Ok, so I’ve heard that Ireland doesn’t even make corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day! So how did this become a tradition? Please comment and let me know!
My hubby is Irish and though he’s never been to Ireland, his family has always prepared corned beef and cabbage on March 17th, every year. So while I had no idea that this was going to be my thing to do each year, I embraced it because 1) it made my hubby happy and 2) it was freakin good! Eventually a third reason …..my kids loved the tradition too, especially my youngest.
So – here I go, buying the corned beef in the grocery store that had all the seasonings in the packaged meat, not even really paying attention to what was actually in the packets, how they brined the meat and/or where the meat came from! Luckily for us, traditions are important so we never ate this meal other than March 17th and a few days after with any leftovers we had on hand. While I am choosing to brine my own brisket, I don’t judge those who grab the prepackaged corned beef because it really is convenient and good.
Brining isn’t hard to do. I was always intimidated and I don’t know why. Maybe just the unknown …who knows? But it was super easy and the end result was amazing!!! I got my brisket from Buy Ranch Direct – grass fed and finished so I feel good about eating all the corned beef I want! You can head over to the site here ….and if you don’t see what you’re looking for, shoot them an email with what you’d like and they’ll get back to you quickly! Promise!
So whether or not you choose to make this meal for St. Patrick’s Day or any other day of the year, you will not be disappointed with the outcome! It’s delicious and quite frankly, goes too quickly in our home! We love using some of the corned beef in a hash for breakfast ….with eggs. Okay, okay – now I’m hungry! Scroll on down and get the recipe and again, if you know – please let me know how this corned beef and cabbage tradition came about. I’m so curious!
- 4 lb grass-fed brisket
- 2 quarts of filtered water
- 3/4 cup sea salt
- 4 large garlic cloves, cut into 1/4's
- 1/2 coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 tbsp mustard seeds
- 2 tsp allspice
- 8 whole cloves
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/3 cup Farmhouse Culture Gut Shot Ginger Beet Juice
- Place a big pot on the stove and heat the water and all spices except Gut Shot until the salt and coconut sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.
- Let the liquid cool completely (it must be cold before putting meat in with it).
- Once the brine is cold, add the Gut Shot ...then add it and the brisket to a large glass dish or bowl. The meat should be covered by the brine completely. I used a couple of freezer packs to hold the meat down. Using cling wrap (or lid if you have one), tightly seal the bowl and place into refrigerator.
- Let this sit in fridge for 5 days - taking out once daily to turn meat over.
- Once the brining process is over, cook the brisket your favorite way!*
- *Crockpot: Add corned beef to the crockpot with about 2-3 cups of water (it should be just covering meat). Sprinkle a shake of black peppercorns, mustard seeds and allspice onto meat. Top w/2 white sweet potatoes, 2 red sweet potatoes cut into 1/4's. Set on low for 8 hours. At 7 hour mark, add sliced cabbage and continue cooking for the remaining time.
- Edit: I recently omitted the potatoes and added cauliflower to the crockpot with the cabbage and it turned out great! Just cut the head of cauliflower into larger chunks and set on top of meat w/cabbage at the 7 hour cooking mark. When cooking time is up - take the beef out and set on platter and let the cauliflower sit in the cooking juices in the crockpot for a few minutes!
