Make Honey-Dijon Corned Beef with Dilled Cabbage
An American Version of a St. Patrick's Day Classic Recipe
Mar 7, 2009
Most of the Ireland has been poor until the last couple of decades. The traditional dish for St. Patrick’s Day was cabbage soup flavored, if you could afford it, with some Irish bacon. For a traditional recipe see Irish Bacon and Cabbage Soup.
In the 1800’s Irish immigrants in New York City’s Lower East Side found American bacon nothing like their prized Irish bacon, and fortunately for all they found a substitute from their Jewish neighbors: corned beef.
If you travel to Ireland, you may indeed find Corned Beef and Cabbage on restaurant menus. Not for the local, but for American tourists!
In the spirit of fusion, of blending culinary traditions, here’s a recipe that gives the corned beef a honeyed Dijon zing. Dijon also spikes the separately cooked dilled cabbage.
Honey-Dijon Corned Beef with Dilled Cabbage
You will need: an oven safe Dutch oven (or pot large enough to hold the brisket) with a tight-fitting lid.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Corned Beef Ingredients:
- 2½ - 3½ pound boneless corned beef brisket (1.1-1.6 kg)
- ¼ cup honey (60 ml)
- 1 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
Dilled Cabbage Ingredients:
- 1 head cabbage, cut in 8 wedges
- 3 Tbsp butter, softened (45 ml)
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard (15 ml)
- 1½ dried dill (2.5 ml) –or- 1½ Tbsp fresh if you’re so fortunate (7.5ml)
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. (180° C).
- Place the brisket in the Dutch oven and add 2 cups (480 ml) water and the seasoning packet, if your brisket came with one. Over a medium flame, bring just to a simmer.
- Cover tightly and but it in the oven until tender, 2½ - 3½ hours depending on the size of the brisket.
- About 5 minutes before the brisket is done, steam the cabbage until tender, 3-5 minutes. Stir together the butter, dill and 1 Tbsp of the Dijon mustard. Spread on the hot cabbage.
- Make a glaze by whisking the honey with remaining1 Tbsp mustard.
- Remove the brisket, trim the fat and place it on the rack of a broiler pan. Adjust the rack so the brisket is 3-4 inches from the flame. Brush the brisket with half of the glaze. Broil 3 minutes. Brush with the remaining glaze and broil 2 minutes more.
- Carve the brisket in ¼-inch thick pieces and serve with the dilled cabbage.
Leftovers:
Refrigerate any leftover corned beef promptly -- within two hours of cooking or reheating. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or frozen, for up to 2 months.
About Corned Beef:
Corned beef has almost nothing to do with corn. It is a form of brining, salt-curing of the meat that, in the dark days before refrigeration, used salt pellets the size of corn kernels. The salt was rubbed onto the surface of the meat to keep it from spoiling. Today salt water is used to brine the meat, but the term “corned" beef persists. Typically peppercorns and bay leaf are include in the brining liquid.
References regarding the origin of Corned Beef and Cabbage: the History Channel.
Leftover Corned Beef: What a happy problem make a great Reuben Sandwich.
Another way to celebrate Irish ingredients would be Guiness Onion Soup with Cashel Blue Cheese.
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