Saint Patrick's day is one of my favorite holidays. Bring on the green beer and corned beef and cabbage! It's hard to imagine a St. Paddy's day without it. Although synonymous with Ireland, the origin of corned beef is actually unknown. It is thought to have originally come from ancient Europe and the Middle East many years ago. The salty but tender dish remains quite popular in the United Kingdom and is commonly used in sandwiches and corned beef hash or eaten with potatoes and pickles.
Corned beef is literally salt-pickled (brined) beef brisket. It is first set in a saltwater brine with sugar and spices for about five days. Then the brisket is traditionally simmered in water until it becomes tender. During this slow cooking process, the extra salt is released into the cooking liquid. The end result is a very flavorful, tender piece of preserved beef. In this classic corned beef and cabbage recipe, we skip the brining process and use prebrined corned beef, which you can usually find in the meat section of your grocery or butcher shop. You can serve this by itself, but I prefer to serve it as a sandwich. The special mustard sauce included in this recipe is the perfect accompaniment to the fatty and savory chunks of corned beef. Serve it all on your favorite rye bread for an AMAZING sandwich. And what beverage would you pair it with? Beer, of course!
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Cooktop Cove
Note: All slow cookers are a little bit different in temperature and calibration. This recipe was tested in Cooktop Cove's Test Kitchen using this slow cooker, which is available for purchase here.
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