Monday, March 19, 2012

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this past weekend, I thought it would be fun to make Corned Beef and Cabbage to ring in the holiday on Friday night. Preparing the roast in the slow cooker was so easy, and it was fantastic to come home Friday night to a dinner almost completely ready. I decided to make my cabbage separately, because I was worried it would become too mushy in the slow cooker after eight hours.  The cabbage only took about 15-20 minutes to prepare when I returned home from work on Friday night.



The "cast of characters" involved in this dish are pictured above. I wanted to use Guinness to get ultra Irish, but I'm sure you could substitute beef broth and reduce the brown sugar by one tablespoon. I forgot to include olive oil and brown sugar in the photo above, which I choose to blame on the early AM prep. Besides this minor mishap we have, 2 bottles of Guinness, 5 red skin potatoes, a yellow onion, a head of cabbage, a 3.5 lb corned beef brisket, pickling spice, and baby carrots.

I woke up in the morning and had everything in the slow cooker in about 15 minutes. If you want to get it ready even faster, then I would suggest chopping up the potatoes the night before and soaking them in water to prevent them from browning in the refrigerator over night.

Begin by washing and chopping up 5-6 red skin potatoes:


Add the chopped potatoes to the bottom of your crock pot:


Next dice up a half of a yellow onion and add it to the slow cooker with the potatoes:

You're also going to want to add two or three handfuls of baby carrots to the slow cooker at this time, but I forgot to snap a photo.

Remove the corned beef from the packaging. Rinse the roast and pat dry before adding it to the slow cooker on top of the vegetables, fat side up.


Next, get your Guinness ready!


Pour two bottles of Guinness directly on top of your corned beef, like so:


Marvel at the beer foam.


Next we're going to add a tablespoon of pickling spice. The corned beef came with a seasoning packet, which was pretty small given the size of the roast. For this reason, I would recommend buying your own pickling spice, instead of what comes with the roast.


After adding the pickling spice, we want to add in three tablespoons of light brown sugar:


Stir around the seasoning and veggies, making sure the roast is mostly submerged in the cooking liquid. There are the carrots!


Cover your crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. Go about your day and come home to the smell of cloves and other goodies!


Now the cabbage.  Begin by washing and drying your cabbage.


Chop that sucker in half.


Continue to show the cabbage who's boss and chop it into eight wedges.


Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the wedges to the pot, you can probably only fit four at a time.


Flip the wedges ensuring you get a slight char on both sides. Remove the charred wedges and repeat this process until you have charred all eight wedges.


Add all of the cabbage back to the pot with two cups of cooking liquid directly from your slow cooker.


Cover and allow the cabbage to cook down for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The finished cabbage should still be slightly crisp. You can allow it to cook to your preference.


Marvel at your cooked corned beef.


Remove the corned beef to a plate and thinly slice.


After smacking your boyfriend's hand out of the way, serve the corned beef with the cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and a roll for sopping up all the delicious cooking liquid. I like to add a little apple cider vinegar on top of my cabbage and horseradish on top of the corned beef. It was also excellent on its own, covered in extra cooking liquid, and a Guinness on the side.


Chow time!


This really was so simple and a great St. Patrick's Day meal. Chris said he would want me to make it again just on a random evening when it wasn't St. Patrick's Day, he liked it so much. The leftover corned beef made 5-star Reuben sandwiches!



Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage   Print this Recipe!

Serves 2 (with leftovers), or 4 

For the Corned Beef
1 3.5 lb corned beef brisket
5-6 red skin potatoes, cut into chunks
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2-3 handfuls baby carrots
2 bottles of Guinness beer
1 Tbsp pickling spice
3 Tbsp light brown sugar

For the Cabbage
1 head cabbage
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups of corned beef cooking liquid from the crock pot

horseradish and apple cider vinegar for serving, if you so desire.

Wash and dry 5-6 red skin potatoes. Chop the potatoes into chunks and add to the bottom of your crock pot. Dice half of a yellow onion and add it to the slow cooker with the potatoes. Add 2-3 handfuls of baby carrots into the slow cooker with the potatoes and onion.

Remove corned beef from packaging. Rinse well and pat dry. Add the corned beef to the slow cooker, fat side up. Pour two bottles of Guinness beer into the slow cooker on top of the corned beef and vegetables. Add 1 tablespoon of pickling spice and 3 tablespoons of light brown sugar. Stir the vegetables and liquid around in the slow cooker, making sure the majority of the corned beef is covered with cooking liquid. Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

Wash and dry a head of cabbage. Cut the cabbage into 8 wedges. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage to the stock pot in batches, about 4 pieces at a time, allowing to slightly char before flipping. Once all 8 wedges have been charred, add all of the cabbage to the pot along with 2 cups of corned beef cooking liquid. Cover and allow to cook over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the corned beef from the slow cooker and thinly slice. Serve corned beef with cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and rolls. Add additional cooking liquid, apple cider vinegar, and horseradish if you like.

Enjoy!

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1 comment:

  1. Looks delicious. I can't wait to try this sandwich!

    ReplyDelete