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Corned Beef Our Favorite Way

Here's how you make Corned Beef Our Favorite Way
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  • Servings: 8
  • Prep: 20m
  • Cook: 4m
    • The following recipe serves 8 people.

Ingredients

The ingredients are:
  • 1 (4 pound) cured corned beef brisket, trimmed of some of the visible top fat (being careful not to remove too much as it provides flavor)
  • Water (enough to cover corned beef)
  • Kosher or sea salt, to taste
  • 2 large onions, peeled and cut into large pieces (halves or quarters, can also chop into smaller pieces)
  • 1 whole garlic bulb, minced
  • 2-3 tablespoons hot sauce (Portuguese pimenta moida preferred or use Louisiana hot sauce. It's not meant to be spicy hot, it's a background heat and provides flavor. The amount is a guestimate and note that it gets diluted in the water, therefore, you may need to make adjustments)
  • 3-4 bay leaves
  • 1 - 2 Portuguese chourico (optional)
  • 1 large collard green bunch, ribs removed, leaves left whole (Can use either collards or cabbage or both)
  • 1 medium to large head cabbage, quartered, core intact (Can use either collards or cabbage or both)
  • 2-3 medium carrots, peeled, left whole
  • 2-3 parsnips, peeled, left whole (optional)
  • 2-3 large russet potatoes, peeled and left whole
  • 2-3 large Japanese white fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and left whole (batata sweet potato variety can also be used)
We recommend you get your ingredients ready before you start cooking. Once you're ready, here are the steps to making this delicious recipe

How to Make

  • Step 1: Rinse the corned beef, place in a large pot. Fill with water to fully cover. Add enough salt to the water. The water should taste slightly salty (sort of like what water should taste when cooking rice).

  • Step 2: Add onions, garlic, hot sauce, and bay leaves. If your corned beef comes with a seasoning packet; add that too.

  • Step 3: Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, immediately reduce it to a low simmer. Cover and simmer for about 3-4 hours or until fork tender (should easily pierce through the meat, but should not be falling apart).

  • Step 4: If using the Portuguese chourico, add it whole to the last 15-20 or so minutes.

  • Step 5: While the corned beef is cooking and if your pot is large enough, you may want to add your vegetables into the water along with the corned beef. Take in mind that each veggie will take a certain amount of time and should not all be added at the same time. For example: collard greens (depending on how mature they are) can take up to 45ish minutes to come to tender, so they can be added 45ish minutes just before the corned beef is done. Therefore, each veggie should be added to the water at proportionate times, that's if you wish everything to cook together. OR:

  • Step 6: Once corned beef is done, remove it from the pot and place in a strainer and remove any aromatics that may be stuck to the meat. Place on a platter (if you haven't removed a lot of the fat, here's were you want to remove any big fat chunks); cover the beef with aluminum foil. Proceed cooking your veggies in the corned beef flavored water (they're so good cooked in that luscious water).

  • Step 7: Place the veggies on the platter alongside the corned beef; cut the veggies and potatoes to desired size pieces just prior to serving.

We hope you enjoy this recipe!

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