Corned Beef and Cabbage with Mustard Sauce.
St. Patrick’s Day has to be my favorite food holiday, after Thanksgiving. In both cases the feasting is centered on a dish which can be repurposed in various ways for several days. As a bonus, there are usually store discounts that make you feel clever as you gorge yourself. In the current celebration that would be cabbage, which was 39 cents per pound or better than half off the usual price. It lasts months under refrigeration so the only limitation on my shopping was refrigerator space. Three huge heads will give me cole slaw and other cruciferous delights for weeks.
Corned beef is certainly not on sale with rising beef prices, but I had frozen a point and a flat in previous years and cooked up a classic corned beef and cabbage. It would be very hard to mess up this dish other than taking it off the stove before tender (or neglecting to take the spices out of the little envelope they come in, I guess). Add the brisket and the contents of the seasoning packet to a stewpot, cover with water and simmer away for maybe 3 hours, adding cut up potatoes and carrots the last half hour then removing everything and cooking the cabbage in the seasoned salty water at the end. I wanted to enjoy a tangy sauce made with Coleman-style dried mustard and tried this from an AI search:
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon sugar (white or brown)
1 cup corned beef cooking liquid (stock)
¼ cup vinegar (cider or malt)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method: beat egg in a small saucepan and whisk in sugar, then mustard, flour, salt and pepper. Whisk in corned beef cooking liquid and vinegar and heat over low flame till it begins to thicken, 5 minutes or so, stirring constantly.
Verdict: this wasn’t what I was looking for, but I know how to fix it: more mustard powder and less (or no) sugar next time.
Today’s corned beef and swiss on rye.
Today I had a classic corned beef and swiss on rye, with yellow mustard and a bit of horseradish, toasted to warm the beef and melt the cheese. Could not be improved on except maybe by baking my own bread; I used deli rye from Rock Hill Bakehouse, a local brand.
What’s next? Using the same sandwich ingredients plus sauerkraut and sauce to produce a Rueben. Corned beef hash, of course. And when the meat is gone I still have the tub of vegetables cooked in its liquid which I can heat up and enjoy with a splash of A-1 (not AI). Slåinte!
