Blarney to Rest

St Patrick's Day has come and gone. Just because it was on a weekday, a Monday!, didn't deter the Dr. At 4:00 AM, two of the three corned beef briskets were finishing in the oven. They started at 325 degrees F for an hour, then the temp was turned down to 250 degrees F for two hours. One brisket was presented to the folks who build printed circuit boards at Collins Printed Circuits, and the other was presented to the mighty Maintenance Crew at CPC. These folks do a fine job, working hard every day. So a portion of smoked corned beef seemed perfect for them all.

The reception of the smoked corned beef was everything the Dr. could have asked. Several folks commented that they had never had better corned beef. The briskets disappeared by 9:30AM. So the Dr. was definitely loooking forward to St. Patrick's day dinner at the Sullivan household.

Lovely Linda Sullivan had agreed to make boiled corned beef plus potatos and cabbage. So when the Dr. got home, the Irish aroma was wafting through the house. A real plus was that the cabbage cores had been left for munching. This is a real treat. Pick a piece of cabbage core, salt and much...fabulous!

The third corned beef brisket was quickly put into the oven for the same treatment as the other two; one hour at 325 degrees F plus two hours at 250 degrees F. Everything was ready for dinner at 7PM. Our guests were the Murrys, Dale, Michelle and Brandon fresh up to Iowa from southwest Missouri. This winte has been a shock for them, yet they still find ways to get out of the house and go through the snow.

St. Patrick's dinner was a smashing success! The contrast between smoked corned beef brisket and boiled corned beef brisket was interesting and delicious. Both briskets had much to commend them, and each should be tried.

Here is the smokede corneed beef.

Here is the boiled corned beef.

Enjoy that Irish fare!

Blarney's A Smokin'!

The corned beef is in the Big Drum Smoker. I made a mustard slather containing 1/2 cup of yellow mustard and 1/4 cup of Dijon mustard. The dry spices include Corriander, Black Pepper and Garlic Powder. Everything rubbed in and placed into the smoker. The smoking wood is Oak. This is some fabulous taste.

The Blarney's Arisin'

What a great year! St. Patrick's Day is the Spring Equinox this year. The Dr. is smoking corned beef. I bought 4 corned beef briskets, all square cut. Three of these are going to be smoked and one is going to the Lovely Linda for boiled corned beef and cabbage. Monday, St. Patrick's Day, is when the corned beef reign's supreme. One brisket goes to those fine hard working men of Collins Printed Circuits' facilities maintenance. The next goes for sampling by the folks at Collins Printed Circuits (basically, I'm taking it into work). The third stays at home for St. Pat's dinner.

So, for the three briskets for smoking, it was time to get the salt out of the corned beef. Corned beef is made to be preserved by salt. This is wonderful for boiled corned beef and cabbage because the cabbage absorbes the salt from the corned beef when the two are boiled together. I love boiled corned beef and cabbage, especially made by Lovely Linda. However, smoking intensivizes salt flavor, so we soak corned beef to leach out the salt. I soaked the three briskets in cold water for four hours, changing out the water every hour.

Then, it was time to marinate. I chose my favorite this time, Guiness. The corned beef briskets come with a spice packet, so I put those in the marinade. The briskets are large, so two Guiness per briskets was just right. Everything is ready for a long smoke tomorrow.