Corned Beef

Still winter up here. Neighbor boys playing hockey. 

It’s not too soon to think about your big St. Patrick’s Day menu. If corned beef is something you want to include, I highly, highly suggest this method of preparing it. It never fails. My son came home from college last weekend and requested it. I served it with huge twiced baked potatoes and fresh green beans.

I have served this many times – my kids often request it for their birthdays and that can be a problem, because I can’t always find a corned beef in the middle of November. But you sure can get a nice corned beef at this time of year. That’s the first secret…..find a great, high quality corned beef.

I’m actually thinking about hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party (it’s my birthday!) But my party will have a special twist….vegan. That means NO corned beef. Can people enjoy a black and tan with quinoa stuffed peppers? Hmmmm. Still thinking about this one. I’ll let you know.

Here’s what you do:

Purchase a high quality corned beef, rinse it off, throw away that little spice packet. Place the meat, fat side up, in a crock pot and cover with beer (3 cans of cheap beer is fine; no ‘fancy’ flavored beers). Cook on low for about 6 hours. Remove and discard beer. While the meat is warm, remove all the fat.

 Place in an oven proof pan and slather with a glaze made from equal parts ketchup, mustard and brown sugar. Place about 1/2 cup of water in the pan and bake for about 30 minutes, slathering on more glaze every so often.

This slices like a dream and is perfect in sandwiches! No fatty, greasy hunks of meat. It’s great straight from the oven and even better the next day. We love to eat it cold. Think “The King of Reubens.”