CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE.
Corned beef is not all that difficult to make, albeit
many think it a major operation. Irma Rombauer, in her “Joy of Cooking”,
one of the best and practical cookbooks of American origin in my
collection, tells us that the name “Corned” comes from the kind of salt
used in the old days in England. The grains were as big as the English
“Corn” (not to be confused with “Maize”) and called “Corn Salt”. Irma
places a piece of beef brisket or flank in a brine solution of four
quarts of hot water (a quart is an archaic measurement abandoned by most
civilised countries, equivalent to 0.9469 Litre) with 1 ½ pound (one
pound (avoir dupois) is 0.454 kg.) of salt and ½ pound of sugar. Let it
cool first before adding it to the meat. Weigh the meat with a heavy
object like a stone or a stone mortar, so that it will be submerged.
Cover, refrigerate but do not freeze and it will be ready in 48 eight
hours. Another cookbook of mine, British this time, places the beef in
brine for one week and does not weigh it down. They may have forgotten
to mention this.
My own way to make pickled beef is not with brine but with coarse sea
salt, a teaspoon of powdered saltpetre (Din Passeeau), coarsely pounded
black pepper and coriander seeds, and a little bit of sugar. I rub this
mixture into the meat, sprinkle the rest on top of it, place it a
plastic bag in the cooler and leave it for at least three weeks turning
it every two or three days. The salt will extract moisture out of the
meat and there will soon be some liquid around it.
When the corned beef is ready, I smoke it and use it for sauces, soups,
etc., but if you just want to make a “New England Boiled dinner”, hold
the meat under the tap and wash off the excess salt. Cover with water
and cook slowly for a couple of hours until done. The gristle should be
soft. Remove the meat from the pot, add water if too salty and add some
cut up carrots and ditto turnips to the delicious stock. Let this simmer
for about ten minutes, add a few cut up onions and quartered potatoes.
Simmer until the potatoes are almost done and add a whole head of
cabbage. When the potatoes are done add the meat back to the broth and
when hot again, slice the beef in slabs, place these on a large platter
surrounded by cabbage leaves, potatoes and the other vegetables.
Traditionally, according to my books, boiled beets are served on the
side. I suggest to make a beet-root salad of cold boiled beets instead.
I made this a couple of times and found it much to my satisfaction.
