Boiled Dinner Suggestions/Help, Please.

[KilgoreTrout]

Google schmoogle. Just purchased a hefty 7 LB corned brisket for consumption tomorrow as the centerpiece of a boiled dinner. I've never made one of these before, so please, loungers, hit me with your tips.

It's a gray corned beef - "no" color added.

Serving time is anytime after 8:00 tomorrow night but must be before 10:00. 12-14 people, but there are other things to eat, too. The occassion is St. Patrick's day and the first grand prix of the 2007 Formula One season. Half of my guests are British.

I know I'm supposed to soak the brisket in water for some period of time to release some salt, but I'm not sure how long. If possible, I'd like to incorporate beer into the cooking - something stout would be nice, say a Murph's or Guinness.

So I rinse it, empty my big-ass pot, add the beer (cover the beef or not?) and herbs and simmer for several hours. Then about 40 minutes before serving I add the parsnips, carrots, taters, onion, etc. Cabbage goes in last. This is all I know.

Please suggest ways to diminish the likelihood that I mess this up, or, if you have tricks or recipes that you like, let's hear 'em.

[Toro]

Wait a minute. You and the warden are both Irish and don't know how to cook it?

I cook it for my wife who is half Irish once a year. I don't do anything special and it comes out fine. I've heard about the rinsing but have never done it.

I usually cook the beef for about 3 to 4 hours. Carrots go in next, give them an hour or two, cabbage a little while after the carrotts and potatoes last about half an hour.

It varies every time I do it and always tastes about the same. You really can't screw it up imo.

[Colt McCoy]

[ QUOTE ]
You really can't screw it up imo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Whatever you do, don't add a bunch of salt. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[jfk]

About twenty minutes or so before you judge the beef to be done, pull it out of the liquid.

Make a paste of brown sugar, Coleman's dried mustard (if you have it), a tiny bit of cracked black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, anise, ginger (this is basically the composition of Chinese five spice which can be found as a specific item) and a couple of drops of soy sauce (ideally, black soy) or Lea & Perrins. Rub that all over the corned beef and then finish it in a 275 degree oven for about twenty minutes. This results in a spectacular glaze and it firms up the meat well for carving.

If you want to get very bold (perhaps with a future effort) you can substitute a faint amount of curry, corriander, cumin, (and perhaps tumeric and paprika) for the Chinese five spice mix. Curry has had an underrated role in some circles of Irish cooking and it works well with corned beef though it is a clear deviation from tradition.

If doing this, let the beef rest a good ten minutes or so before carving. You'll get more of a pastrami type texture this way. It seems to improve color as well.

[ QUOTE ]
So I rinse it, empty my big-ass pot, add the beer (cover the beef or not?) and herbs and simmer for several hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, that's pretty much it.

In addition to your vegetable list, some like carrots added. Unlike Toro's advice, I put the carrots in very late, sometimes after the cabbage. This leaves a lot of life in them and they're firm. The cabbage and carrots go in after I've pulled the meat (after pulling the meat, I sometime skim the fatty/meaty froth from the top of the liquid as this can improve the aesthetic on the cabbage.) Five to ten minutes can be plenty of cooking time for each. Pearl onions are also a tradition for some and can add some nice life to the flavor of the beef.

One bottle of stout is plenty to go into the pot.

Yes, cover the meat as much as you can with the liquid when simmering. Keeping the pot covered is best.

Last note: when glazing with the Chinese five spice mix, I often include star anise in the water while the water is simmering. In addition to the beer or stout I may add a touch of black currant liqueur or pomegranate juice to add a little brightness to the meat. If doing this I rinse the meat very, very well to minimize the traditional bay, tarragon, thyme type theme of a traditional brine.

Happy St. Paddy's.

[Toro]

Well, how did it go? I added the beer as suggested but really couldn't tell any difference. Was real good though, I could have boiled dinner up to once a year.

[KilgoreTrout]

Rinsed in cold water for 1 hour. Removed beef from the water, discarded water.

Poured 2 Guinness into the pot, put the beef back in the pot, added 4 more guinness to the pot.

Added white pepper, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, thyme, oregano. Covered pot and set heat to 5 (medium). Let it simmer for 3 hours.

Removed the pot from the heat. Skimmed the nasties off the top.

Added parsnips, carrots, onion. Return to medium heat for 45 min.

Added taters. Return to heat for 45 min.

Added cabbage. Return to heat for 30 min.

Came out okay. The parsnips and onion pretty much disintegrated (I had cut the parsnips length-wise - bad idea - but had quartered the onions). Rest was good. Could really taste the guinness.

Overall I give myself a score of 2 out of 5. It was edible and moist but just wasn't like mom used to make.

Added the parsnips and carrots first