Aunt Val’s New England Corned-Beef Dinner
This classic recipe for New England Corned-Beef Dinner is a St. Patrick’s Day favorite. The extra-flavorful broth gives the meat a richer, clearer flavor.
By Yankee Magazine|Apr 08 2022|
Aunt Val's Corned Beef Dinner
Photo Credit: Michael PiazzaThis classic recipe for New England Corned-Beef Dinner from Yankee “Best Cook” Valencia Menard is a St. Patrick’s Day favorite. The extra-flavorful broth gives the meat a richer, clearer flavor.
Note: This recipe serves about 12, but it can be easily reduced. Simply use the same seasonings, a smaller piece of meat, and fewer vegetables.
Yield
12 servings
Total Time
25 minutes
For the beef:
Ingredients
7 – 8 pounds corned-beef brisket (one large or two smaller briskets)
1 large onion, roughly chopped
6 large garlic cloves, smashed
6 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 celery rib, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
Garnishes: mustard, horseradish
Instructions
Put beef in a large Dutch oven or stockpot and cover with water by 2 inches. Add onion, garlic, herbs, celery, and carrot. Turn heat to high and bring water to a boil; then reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is fork-tender, 4-1/2 to 5 hours, depending on thickness.
Remove beef to a large heated platter, cover with foil, and keep warm in a low oven.
For the vegetables:
Ingredients
14 “new” potatoes or 16 fingerling potatoes, unpeeled
14 large carrots, peeled
10 turnips, peeled
2 large heads green cabbage, quartered
Instructions
Strain liquid from pot to remove solids; then return liquid to pot and add potatoes, carrots, turnips, and cabbage.
Bring to a boil over high heat; then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Drain vegetables.
Slice meat against the grain into 1/4-inch-thick pieces; then arrange drained vegetables around it. Pass the mustard and horseradish.
I cook the corned beef two hours then add the carrots, cabbage, potatoes, onion
and cook for two more hours. The cabbage gives everything in the pot a great
flavor so I don’t find a need for all those other spices so the meal has a great
natural flavor rather than covered up with a lot of unnecessary flavorings.
that is essentially how i cook it, although i prefer cooking the meat for 3 hours and the other items for one hour or so. also, although savoy cabbage in costly, i prefer its texture and flavor to the usual green cabbage. both styles are winners.
I read turnips as ingredients but not listed as to quantity in the list of vegetable ingredients in the article. Please let me know what Val would cook up and serve. Thanks.
Hi Paul. Good catch! We’re sorry for the error. There should be 10 turnips. We’ve updated the recipe to show the correct list of ingredients. Thanks!
Are the 6 whole cloves listed, garlic or cloves?
Hi there. It should say “6 large cloves of garlic” — we will update the recipe. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
You want the best and easiest way to cook corned beef? Use a crock pot. Do NOT add water, the corned beef will make its own Trust me on this. Although you cannot overcook the beef, it should not take more than 6 or 8 hours , and you can add the carrots, potatoes, and if you want them, beets and the small white turnips to the crock pot at the 4 hour mark. Try Brussel Sprouts instead of cabbage. Yes, you can use the spice mixture packet that comes with the corned beef but I suggest washing the beef first to get rid of some of the salt. The beauty of this method is that you don’t wind up with “corned beef soup” that most of the liquid get thrown down the sink and you keep more flavor in the beef. And there will be plenty of liquid in the crock pot after, so do NOT add liquid. You do not need to float the corned beef in a swimming pool. You can even use the lesser amount of liquid from this method to quickly cook the vegetables if you don’t want to put them in with the corned beef. Once you try this easy walk away, go to work method you will not want to use the dutch oven, pressure cooker method ever again. Again, TRUST ME on this.
Oh yes, onions and garlic, too, and if you want to get fancy you can select the smaller potatoes, boiler onions, and baby carrots of relatively the same size with the Brussel sprouts. Hey, have fun with it.
I now use my instapot to make corned beef. Cuts cooking time down to 60-70 minutes for the meat, uses 1 cup of water. My son recently used the same recipe- we are both converts to this new method. No more all afternoon cooking!
For the best cut of corn-beef used a flat cut, less fat more tastey.
When cooking corn beef in a large stock pot do you have to keep adding water as it boils or should you just let it be while it’s simmering
Love corned beef and cabbage. Such an easy meal to make.
My favorite meal!! My mother always used a pressure cooker. Super tender and the whole house smelled great.