Recipe: Saint Patrick's Day Corned Beef by Chef Jeff Butler

The multi-day process will leave you with satisfying results to impress your family and friends on St. Paddy’s day and beyond.  You won’t need the luck of the Irish to complete this recipe, although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt! Watch the video of the full process below, and view the step-by-step procedure.

Recipe

How to make corned beef for Saint Patrick's day

Ingredients

• 3 kilo of water
• 60 grams pickling spice mix
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 15 grams black peppercorns whole
• 288 grams kosher salt
• 12 grams Instacure #1 or DQ #1 curing salt
• 60 grams granulated sugar
• 1 beef brisket, 12-14 lb (5-6 kilo)
• 200 ml white wine vinegar
• 1 bottle lager beer
• 5 bay leaves
• 10 grams pickling spices
• 5 grams black peppercorns
• 5 cloves garlic peeled
• 6 boiler onions, peeled and left whole
• 6 carrots, peeled and left whole
• 6 stalks celery left whole
• 1 green cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
• 10-12 red bliss potatoes

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil and remove from flame and put in the pickling spice, garlic and black pepper corns and allow infusing off flame for 1 hour, then strain and reserve leftover spices.
2. Chill the infused water down to below 40 F.
3. Weigh the water; you will need to have exactly 3 kilos of water in total. If you have lost water due to evaporation then supplement the difference with cold tap water.
4. Thoroughly mix in kosher salt, Instacure #1 and sugar into the 3 kilos of water to create the brine.
5. Pump the brine into the brisket spacing apart injections in a pattern with approximately 1 inch spacing.
6. Submerge the meat in a plastic container with the remaining brine and add the reserved spices and garlic from step 1.
7. Let meat sit 3-5 days in the brine. Flip the meat daily in the brine so that it gets evenly cured.
8. Remove the meat from the brine, wipe off spices and discard brine.
9. Put brisket in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring up to a simmer.
10. Make a cheese cloth sachet (spice bag) of bay leaves, pickling spice, garlic, and black peppercorn.
11. When the water begins to simmer, skim off the foam that floats to the top. Then add the beer, vinegar and the sachet to the poaching liquid.
12. Gently simmer the meat for 1 hour. Check tenderness of the meat, if it slides easily off of your meat fork it is done. Check tenderness of meat every 15 minutes.
13. Add the carrots, celery and onions to the pot and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
14. Check the tenderness of the meat if it is tender then remove the brisket, cooked carrots, celery and onions from the broth and allow to rest covered.
15. While the meat is resting add the cabbage and potatoes to liquid in the pot.  Cook until tender. Remove and discard the sachet.
16. Slice the brisket across the grain and warm in some of the broth. Cut the carrots, onions, and celery into servable chunks and warm in the broth.
17. Serve the warmed cooked corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and vegetables with good mustard and prepared horse radish.

This recipe was originally published by the International Culinary Center (ICC), founded as The French Culinary Institute (FCI). In 2020, ICE and ICC came together on one strong and dynamic national platform at ICE's campuses in New York City and Los Angeles. Explore your culinary education where the legacy lives on.