Friday, March 18, 2011

Not Your Usual Soggy Plate

Corned beef for St. Pat's Day, of course. Extra special because we corned a local grass-fed brisket ourselves; five days in the brine and — perfection.
The traditional meal usually entails soggy cabbage and soggy potatoes, cooked in the meat-simmering water (where they pick up lots of salt). I have always dutifully re-created this uninspired meal, because... traditional.
But I recently had a dish of cream-braised cabbage that blew me away. So I decided that would be what we'd eat.
And the gates of freedom were thus breached. I could do the potatoes in some different way, too! Mashed, because leftover mashed potatoes make really good hash. (And because sad, boiled potato halves turn cold and sticky and gray on the plate so quickly.)
Cranky weighed in here with a great idea. We would make scalliony colcannon I mean champ from the mashed potatoes. How can ya get more Irish than that? (And it would be hella good in the hash.)
All resulting in this simple, pretty repast of food you actually wanted to eat.
A little buttery, I'll grant you. But the meat was very lean.

12 comments:

Zoomie said...

I was just reading about corning one's own beef - and here you've gone and done it! Huzzah!

cookiecrumb said...

Zooms: Yes, I think this is the third time we've done it, and it always works. Very satisfying. (My mom corned beef in the 60s -- once, I think -- without using pink salt. The meat comes out brown, not neon, but tastes just as good.)
May I add my vote to Chilebrown's? You can still pick up a corned beef in the market. Cranky and I were "denied" our usual Thanksgiving one year, visiting my parents. As soon as we arrived back in Mill Valley, before we even went home, we bought a still-fresh turkey and WHALED on that thing.

Nancy Ewart said...

WOW! That corned beef looks awesome. I got some generic store bought stuff which was OK but not great enough to write about. I wonder if it's worth it to corn beef for only one? But I guess I can always give the extra away. I have a couple of friends who like the cooking at Chez Namaste Nancy.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

I think what you call hash is what we call bubble & squeak!
That corned dog, what a beautiful colour!

cookiecrumb said...

Nancy: I've bought the generic stuff; tastes good, but sometimes the texture is too flabby, streaked with fat. This one was so precious, have to say.
So can you corn beef for one? I'm thinking your butcher might not want to cut a brisket in half (but you could ask). I'd cut it in half at home and freeze one. It's brisket! You can do a million things with it.
Don't forget the great leftovers, too: sandwiches, hash.
(Of course your friends want to eat chez you!)

Mouse: OMG, just Wiki'd it. It IS! I'd always wondered. (Got stuck on spotted dick.) I like the name bub and squee much better than hash.

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

It all looks mmm mmm good.

cookiecrumb said...

Denise: Thanks! And to think, some years I don't bother with holiday feasts. So glad we did this time.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

Bubble & Squeak is a wonderful name, no?

cookiecrumb said...

Mouse: Yes. Officially, it is now B&S at our house from now on. I'm so... Britty!
(Do you remember the time I accidentally invented Toad in the Hole? Ha.)

Greg said...

I just can't help but smile back at the happy face of Irish Food. Mashers! Good on ya.

Greg said...

I just can't help but smile back at the happy face of Irish Food. Mashers! Good on ya.

cookiecrumb said...

Greg: It is happy!. Guess what; I figured out why I like corned beef. It's almost pork!