Slow Cooker Corned Beef & Cabbage

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

(serve 8)

(Irish-American)

                                                                         prep time:    10 minutes

                                                                         cook time:    6 hours

                                                                         total time:     6 hours 10 minutes

Ingredient 

corned beef:

1 3 to 4 pound corned beef with seasoning packet
vegetables:
1 medium head of cabbage, cut into 4 to 6 wedges
2 to 3 large potatoes cut into wedges
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
8 ounces baby carrots
½ cup butter, cut into small cubes

condiments:

commercial horseradish sauce
prepared horseradish (to add to the usually bland commercial sauce to spice it up)

Preparation

the corned beef:

1.  Place the corned beef, fat side down, in the bowl of you slow cooker.

2.  Remove the seasoning from the seasoning packet and place them in your mortar and, using the pestle, slightly crush them.  Don’t completely grind them up you just want them crushed to release their essential oils.

3.  Sprinkle the crushed seasoning on the corned beef in the bowl.  Cover the beef and seasoning with cold water, place the cover on the crock pot and turn it to high.

4.  Cook the corned beef on high for the first hour, then continue cooking for 10-12 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high.

the vegetables:

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Arrange the cabbage wedges on the bottom of a baking dish and arrange the other vegetables over the wedges.  Distribute the butter cubes over the vegetables and  sprinkle with Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Bake until the potato wedges and carrots are tender and cooked through, about 30 minutes.

service:

Arrange the cooked vegetables on a service platter.  Shred or slice the corn beef and arrange it on the platter.  Serve accompanied by the horseradish sauce and the prepared horseradish for those that like the sauce spicier.

Marine Corps Style Corned Beef Hash

Marine Corps Style Corned Beef Hash

serves 4

(America)

As a young Marine I started almost every morning with one of the two Marine  Corps breakfast standbys corned beef hash or S.O.S. and eggs, and grits.  I came across this recipe a few years back and it reproduces the taste of good old Corps hash pretty well.  I've found  the best way to produce the look and taste of a Marine  breakfast is to divide the hash into serving sizes, vacuum seal the servings and freeze the portions.  When ready to eat the hash, thaw it out and fry it in 2 tablespoons of bacon  grease until the meat is slightly crispy, the potatoes are browned a little, and the whole thing is swimming in reddish tinged grease . . . hoo-rah now that's breakfast!  

Ingredients

2 cups shredded, cooked corned beef

2 cups peeled and cubed potatoes (small cubes)

2 cups ketchup or so (Just so everything is nice and goopy.)

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or so to taste

1 chopped onion

2 tablespoons of butter

1 small clove garlic, micro-planed

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1.  Place the cubed potatoes in a large pot, fill the pot with water and add 1/4 cup salt.  Boil the potatoes over high heat until they are just tender, drain and set aside. 

2.  Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat sauté the chopped onions and chopped garlic until they are translucent; DO NOT allow the garlic to brown.

3.  Pre-heat the oven to 325° F.

4.  In a large casserole dish combine the shredded corned beef, the cubed potatoes, the catsup, Tabasco, chopped onions and garlic; mix until all the ingredients are evenly distributed and adjust seasoning.  

5.  Place hash mixture in oven  and bake for  30-45 minutes or until heated thoroughly. Serve accompanied by fried eggs and toast for breakfast or with fried cabbage or coleslaw for dinner.