Corned Beef and Cabbage

What's Irish and stays out all winter?  Paddy O'Furniture!  HAHAHAHA!

It's my favorite St. Patrick's Day joke!  No kidding!  I tell it to SOMEONE every single year.

I have heard about our Irish side of the family all of my life, but I remember few "Irish" meals growing up.  The exception is corned beef and cabbage.  I really love a good corned beef and cabbage.  Sadly, most that I find have little flavor because I believe that too many cooks boil it all in too much water.  My mother made hers in a CrockPot.  It was "hit and miss" on flavor.  This is how I make Corned Beef and Cabbage.  I feel that the flavor always comes through.

With a name like "O'Donnell", it had to be good!

First, find a good corned beef that has a small layer of fat along the top.  (I like the point cut over the brisket because I think it holds moisture better.)  I find that 3 pounds is about right for a few nights of healthy-sized meals.  Remove the corned beef and rinse.  Place it in a Dutch oven with the fat side up.  Rinse the bag out with a half-cup to cup of water and pour it over the Corned beef. 

Corned Beef rinsed and water added.  Oh, what is that little packet?

Many dump the spice packet in with the water.  I like to wrap mine in a cheesecloth "bag" so I don't bite in to the spices during dinner.  It's easy to make. 

Spices from the Corned Beef package.

Cut a piece of cheesecloth, wrap the spices in it and tie off with string.  Then drop the packet in the water next to Corned Beef.

Almost like a teabag of spices.

Cover the Dutch oven and bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.  (I generally estimate the time to fully cooked as an hour per pound for it to be fork-tender.)

Now it is time for choices.  You could par-boil your carrots, potatoes and lightly steam your cabbage so that they are nearly cooked before you add them to the liquid while your Corned Beef rests prior to serving.  OR you can add them all in about 60 to 90 minutes prior to the Corned Beef being cooked and save a step.  (60 minutes if you cut it small, 90 minutes for bigger veggie pieces.) 

Potatoes and Carrots on the bottom.  Top with Corned Beef, and Cabbage Wedges on Top.

For this 3 pound Corned Beef, I added about 1.5 pounds of baby potatoes, a pound of baby carrots, and 1/2 head of cabbage cut into six pieces.  Cover and continue to bake until the beef is fork tender.

Now it may be that the veggies are not quite done to your liking at this point.  If they need to cook more, pull the Corned Beef so it can rest, discard the spice packet, and put the Dutch oven on the stove top, and then simmer until done.  (If overdone, make note of the time you put them in and adjust the next time you make it.)

To serve, plate it and pour a bit of the cooking liquid over the top. 

Ready for Dinner!

When your leftovers get down to nearly nothing, dice whatever is left over and create an Irish "bubble and squeak."  (To make this, dice a small onion and saute in a chunk of butter.  Add everything leftover after dicing it up.  Think of it like a twist on Corned Beef hash.)

Delicious and hearty.  May the luck of the Irish follow you until you land in heaven days before the devil knows you are gone!

Granny's Potato Soup

I call this "Granny's Potato Soup", but I think all of the "moms" in her lineage made it. I've mentioned a few times that I view my mother as part-Momma/part-WitchDoctor.  It's true. She always had some kind of concoction that could help anything.  One of them is this potato soup recipe.  Now, it is not simply potato soup: It's an amazing elixir that can cure anything. Yes, you heard me right. It. Cures. Anything. Sickness. Heartbreak. Life Disappointments.  All will be better after eating a bowl of this delicious potato soup.  I promise.

No worries, Miranda. When she is older, you will fix Claire right up with this soup just like your grandma did for me!

I've been sick with some sort of sinus madness for over a week. Antibiotics and decongestants have resulted in limited improvement, so I felt that I needed to pull out the big guns and make potato soup.

The ingredients are simple: Butter, salt, pepper, onions, potatoes, flour and milk.  For the love of family history, use real butter and whole milk, because you are not going to cure sickness or heartbreak with skim milk or oleo. Personally, I prefer starchier potatoes for this recipe but I only had some baby Yukon Gold new potatoes on-hand today.  They work well-enough.  Plus, since they are baby potatoes, I did not bother to peel them.  If buying potatoes, I'd likely go with Russet potatoes and peel them.

Onions, butter, salt and pepper

For ratios, I'd estimate a small-medium onion for a pound of potatoes. A teaspoon of finely-ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons salt, 3 tablespoons of butter, a third-cup of flour, and half to whole cup of milk.

With potatoes and water

Peel and dice your onion. I like a smaller dice, but the dice is up to you.  Peel potatoes, if needed, and dice them to spoon-sized pieces.  Rinse again after cutting the potatoes.  Add the onions and potatoes to a pot with the pepper, salt, and butter.  Add water until the potatoes are barely covered. Bring to a boil and simmer until the onions and potatoes are soft, which takes about 30 minutes.  Stir from time to time - more if the potatoes are starchy.

Flour and Milk

Make a slurry of flour and milk.  Whisk it so that it is very smooth.  Slowly pour it into the simmering soup while stirring constantly.  Once it thickens to the point that you want, keep stirring for another full minute.  (If too thick, add more milk and stir for a minute.  If not thick enough, add more slurry and cook a full minute after it reaches the desired thickness.)  Adjust salt and pepper.  Do not fear either, but keep in mind that salt can dissolve to overly-salty very quickly.

Soup!

Serve with saltines, if desired.



Variations: Cheese, bacon, and scallions are nice to add....but it is no longer Granny's soup.  I cannot vouch for its healing properties.

If you add no onions and make it thicker, it is essentially your grandmother's "creamed potato" recipe. She often made creamed potatoes as a side to go with fried fish (usually ocean perch) in the winter.  She also made scalded bread with it.  Delicious!

Potato soup can be made in advance, but will develop a skin on the top.  It will melt away when you stir it in.  Add milk to thin it, if needed.

Your grandmother would make this to help us "break a fever" when we were small.  It's actually pretty good for that purpose.  Also, it will get congestion moving.