This coming Monday is St. Patrick’s Day and I thought I would mark the occasion with something ‘not’ traditionally Irish. Supermarkets over here in Washington are fully stocked with huge cuts of corned beef wrapped in packaging emblazoned with smiling leprechauns. It is commonly thought here in America that all Irish people eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s day, but that’s really not true at all. Don’t get me wrong, I love corned beef, but it’s not all that popular in Ireland – perhaps in the past, but not anymore. I do love the fact that St. Patrick’s is celebrated and embraced in so many American towns and cities. Plus I do really like corned beef, so I decided I should at least learn how to make my own corned beef from scratch.
I cooked my corned beef sous vide, as this slow and gentle method of cooking would give me the best results for a tender and succulent corned beef. The brining process takes 5 days, so apologies if you were planning to make this recipe for St. Patrick’s day. This corned beef tastes great any day though, so you don’t need St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse to make it. Rather than serve my corned beef with cabbage, I made a Reuben sandwich instead. We get great Reubens over here in Seattle in a small deli called Stopskys and I really wanted to try and recreate them.
To go with my Reuben, I made some quick home-made sauerkraut which was the perfect vinegary partner for the tender and sweet corned beef. This corned beef sandwich is served with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing, and grilled on both sides. It’s not traditionally Irish, but I’ll happily make this sandwich my new St. Patrick’s tradition over here in Washington.
Ingredients
Beef
- 1 kilo / 2.5 lbs of brisket (topside / silverside)
Brine
- 950 mls of water
- ½ tablespoon of black pepper corns
- 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard seeds
- ½ tablespoon of coriander seeds
- ½ tablespoon of allspice berries
- 3 cloves
- 4 juniper berries
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 50g of salt
- 1 teaspoon of saltpeter
- 15g of brown sugar
Method
- Pour the water into a saucepan that is large enough to contain your piece of brisket.
- Using a mortar and pestle, lightly crush the garlic and spices. The spices don’t need to be crushed into powder; they just need to be slightly crushed.
- Add the crushed spices, the sugar, salt and saltpeter to the water.
- Heat over a medium high heat and allow to simmer until the sugar and salt has dissolved.
- Take off the heat and allow the brine to cool completely. I put mine in the fridge after cooling, to make sure it was fully cold.
- Place the brisket in a large bowl, and cover with the cooled brine.
- Cover with cling wrap and place the brined brisket into the fridge, ensuring the meat is fully submerged. Allow to brine for 5 days.
- After the 5 days, remove the brisket from the brine and rinse well with cold water.
- Dry the meat paper towels.
- Preheat a water oven (SousVide Supreme) to 134ºF/56ºC
- Seal the meat in a vacuum seal bag.
- Submerge the corned beef in the water bath and cook for 24 hrs.
Ingredients
Quick Sauerkraut
Traditional sauerkraut is made differently and fermented for several days before serving. This is just my version of quick sauerkraut that can be made in thirty minutes.
- ½ tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 small onion, peeled and sliced thinly
- 10 oz of shredded cabbage
- 300ml of apple juice
- 60mls of apple cider vinegar
- Salt and a pepper to taste
- pinch of sugar
Method
Put the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook until they are soft and translucent. Add the shredded cabbage, apple juice and cider vinegar. Cook for about 30 minutes over a low to a medium heat. Taste, and season with salt and pepper. Add a pinch of sugar if needed.
The Reuben sandwich is traditionally served on rye bread with corned beef, sauerkraut Swiss cheese and Russian dressing and then grilled.
