Gimme a holiday where the brisket sits front and center and I’ll show you a post. I do enjoy some corned beef. Breakfast? Corned Beef Hash reigns supreme. A nice corned beef/pastrami sandwich is hard to beat. Up until today, I’ve never really done a real corned beef post. There was the corned beef boxty I made with the “Buy-A-Corned-Beef” pack, but I never truly made one for y’all. And sure, search for Pastrami on here cause I’ve made that a couple times. But real corned beef. Let’s do it.
The Prep Table
Fascinating how difficult it was to find a brisket flat around St. Patrick’s Day. There was the pre-brined tiny flats as far as the eye can see, but nowhere at any of my local shops did they have a brisket flat. Nor a full packer. Not your big box Costco’s.. not your local grocers. I was ready to give in when I found a lone brisket at Walmart. We’re going to make our own pickling spice, you see the prague powder on the right – traditional is what we’re going with.
As if doing a 6-day brined corned beef, with a plate of cabbage, carrots and potatoes wasn’t enough, let’s do an easy Irish Soda Bread as well. I know MrsForensicBBQ loves a good loaf, so she’ll at least eat this part of the meal.
I wanted to buy a brisket flat because I know it’d fit in the pot with a little bit of trimming. Ended up with a full packer where I get to make sure it’ll fit, but also pack the freezer with some meat. I don’t have very much freezer space, so it comes at a premium. Guess we’ll have to make some brisket-y items soon. Pretty decent trim on there. I got some goodies coming up to show you, so you know I’m saving all the trimmings I can.
Swallowed my pride and used the mustard seeds. We’re going seasoning heavy. I want fragrant, I want it to look and taste like it was homemade.
We’re going to let her go for six days. The household of ForensicBBQ has been pretty crazy this particular March, so I didn’t know if we were going to do a 4-day, an 8-day.. turned out to be six as I pushed through and enjoyed it on St. Patricks Day. And don’t worry, we won’t be brining that with the wing sticking out. I’ll get back to the headliner in a minute.. let’s knock this soda breat out.
The Process – Soda Bread
I’m not a baker – The closest thing I’ve made to bread was the Somali Flat Bread back when Bananas and Rice was a thing. So let’s continue with the baby steps and just mix up two bowls – wets and drys- and combine to a loaf. Used some of that Kerrygold to grease the pan and then into the RecTeq it went.
I mentioned the tumultuous March – wasn’t going to add anymore bad luck to the house, so we’re making sure the fairies stay happy. Cross the bread!
The Process – Corned Beef
Told ya I wasn’t going to let that wing stay unbrined. Let the plate sink and keep that brisket flat down, but I also flipped the meat every day to make sure we’re staying even. This thing was so heavy and took up so much space in the fridge. Really was hoping it’d be worth it.
It’s not very appetizing when it’s not submerged, so you’re not getting the brisket-in-the-nude picture. But what you will get is it starting it’s jacuzzi. We’re going for about 4-5 hours, so let’s prep up some veggies.
When we’re nearing the end of the cook, throw some potatoes and carrots in there. And when we’re really close to the end, we’ll add the cabbage.
Because I know we’ll be eating shortly, time to grab a Smithwick’s. Can’t help but order one when I visit an Irish Pub. Just seemed right.
The Result
Get all that stuff jammed in there. It’s not too often you get a primarily-kitchen post from me. At times, I want to buy an outdoor burner to stay outside and cook next to my other toys – but a Midwest March is either beautiful or ugly.. and it was ugly, so this sufficed. But I did outside at least to make that bread!
Didn’t turn out too bad! I defer to MrsForensicBBQ as I can usually take it or leave it with the bread – and if she liked it, big win. I told her to leave me a slice or two so I could at least show you a properly plated meal.
That’s about as Irish as I could make it. Corned Beef, Potato, Cabbage and Carrots.. Got the Kerrygold on the Soda Bread.. a little Smithwick’s/Jameson in the background and then some horseradish – not from Wexford, but Ohio. Not even Dublin, Ohio.. but Springfield. Hope you all had a festive St. Patrick’s Day and enjoyed this one. I still am!