Cookies Preferences
It's St. Patrick's Day on Thursday and I don't often write about my own family's mixed Northern European heritage because it feels so diluted and distant, but I've most definitely got more than a bit of Irish in me. Growing up it felt like it was mostly an excuse to drink heavily and wear bright green (getting pinched at school if you weren't wearing any). It meant shamrocks painted on girls' cheeks and green bows tying up their ponytails, parades down Main Streets across America, bag pipes wailing into the gray mid-March skies. The city of Chicago even goes so far as to dye the Chicago River green.
But more than anything for me it's an excuse to make my Grandma Elma's Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner. It's might be my favorite meal and I used to request it for my birthdays well into college. While we lived in the Middle East you couldn't find pre-corned briskets at the butchers, so I brined my own a couple of times, but am rarely organized enough to think a month in advance and before I knew it it was too late to start one in time for the holiday.
On my first trip to a proper butcher here in Joberg I spotted bags of corned beef and could not have been more thrilled. I still add my own pickling spices to the water for cooking, but most of the work is done making this an easy, impromptu dinner.As I made this to photograph it for you all, I did come to the conclusion that boiling the vegetables as my Grandmother did and as this recipe traditionally calls for, is not, let's say, showcasing them in their best light. Going forward I think I'll roast the carrots with a bit of zhug, sautee the cabbage in butter, and make crispy roast potatoes, but this is the original recipe and it's worth having just so you can decide how you'd like to change things up.
for the spice mixture:
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
10 whole cloves
4 green cardamom pods
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
for the main event:
3 pound corned beef brisket
6 carrots, peeled and quartered lengthwise
12 baby potatoes left whole
12 baby onions, peeled and halved through core
2 baby green cabbages cut into wedges
8 baby turnips (optional)
for the horseradish cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup prepared horseradish
zest of one lemon
pinch each of salt and black pepper
First make the spice mixture by placing the mustard seeds, peppercorns, fennel seeds, cardamom pods, and bay leaves in a heavy saute pan. Cook over medium heat until just becoming fragrant and the mustard seeds begin to pop. Remove to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and blend with the remaining coriander and chili flakes.
Place the corned beef in a large heavy pot that has a lid and cover it with water. Add the spice mixture you just made and allow it to come to a boil over high heat. Now reduce the heat, you really don't want it to boil to hard or it will become tough! Let it simmer partly covered for at least 4 hours, topping up with water as necessary.
For the horseradish cream, whip the cream to soft peaks and then add the remaining ingredients.
Once the meat is soft and starting to fall apart, remove it from the pot and add the vegetables. Cover the pot and let them boil for at least 20 minutes. Check the potatoes with a pairing knife - they should be soft.
Remove the corned beef and cut into slices as best you can, arranging them on your platter. Now arrange the vegetables around it. Keep the cooking liquid on the side to serve alongside with the horseradish cream.
