Beer Braised Corned Beef for a Deconstructed Corned Beef Hash

Well this is a first for A Wicked Scoff as I'm actually posting a slow cooker recipe. I don't have anything personal against slow cookers, but I just very rarely use mine. I see the value of them, and the whole set'em and forget'em philosophy, but I prefer being hands on in the kitchen. If I want to cook something low and slow, I like to brown it in my Dutch oven and cook it at 300 for 3-4 hours. As I'm finding out however slow cookers can be a indispensable kitchen tool especially if you are on a busy schedule such as working parents with a table full of hungry mouths that need feeding at the end of the day. After the success I had the other weekend with a slow cooker braised corned beef brisket, I'll be thinking up some new ways to utilize my slow cooker, which I no longer consider a wedding gift dust collector.

Deconstructed Corned Beef Hash Brunch

As you know, a couple of weeks ago was St. Patrick's Day, and to celebrate the holiday weekend, some friends and family came into town and we went out to a nearby Irish bar and restaurant for dinner and some live Irish music. We had a great time...a real scuff and a scoff! Since our guests were spending the night, I wanted to make a nice hearty brunch that would fit with the theme of the weekend as well as cure any ill effects from the night before. The plan was to make a deconstructed corned beef hash, whereby I would take the elements of traditional corned beef hash and serve them individually on the plate. People could eat them components as they liked, one by one, or all on the same forkful, thus reassembling the hash one bite at a time.

Since we would be getting home late I decided to cook the corned beef in the slow cooker and let it braise nice and slow overnight. I also cooked some cabbage in the pot with the brisket and to put a Newfoundland/Wicked Scoff spin on the whole thing, I added a bottle of Quid Vidi Brewing Company's award winning Eric's Red Cream Ale to the cooking liquid. The result was out of this world tender and flavorful corned beef. Move over bacon, this is my new breakfast meat staple! Also forget the alarm clock as the smells going through the house had everyone and feeling hungry bright and early.

I served the sliced corned beef along with some caramelized onions mixed with the braised cabbage, poached eggs, Habitant brand mustard pickles, rye bread toast and some homemade hash browns, seasoned with summer savory. Here are a few pictures of this delicious brunch, along with how I made the components and put it together.

Beer Braised Corned Beef Brisket

Beer Braised Corned Beef Brisket...in the slow cooker!
Add the following ingredients to your slow cooker. Set on LOW and cook for 7-8 hours. Remove from pot and let rest, covered with foil for about 15 minutes. To serve, cut thick slices against the grain.

• 1-4 pound corned beef brisket
• brisket seasoning pack f pickling spice
• 1 head of green cabbage, quartered
• 1 bottle of beer (Eric's Red Cream Ale), followed by 2 bottles of water
• 2 bay leaves

 Caramelized Onions with Cabbage

• 1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced fine
• 1 Tbsp each of oil and butter
• sliced braised cabbage

In a saute pan, heat the butter and oil over a medium heat. Add sliced onion, and cook in the butter and oil, siring occasionally for about15-20 minutes. Add a little salt and pepper. Once the onions have browned add the cooked cabbage, combine well and keep warm.

Savory Hash Browned Potatoes

Savory Hash Browns (serves 4-6)

• 6 medium potatoes, rough cut into 1 inch dice, washed and drained
• 4 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Tbsp dried summer savory
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt
• kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok pan. Add the diced potatoes, toss in the oil to coat and cook over a medium heat. I like to cover the pan and let the potatoes kind of steam/fry until they become tender, about 10-15 minutes (stir occasionally). Once the spuds become a little tender and can be easily pierced with a knife, remove the cover and amp up the heat to medium high. Here I season the potatoes with the seasoning salt and garlic powder and begin to crisp the hash browns. Once they are nearly cooked and are crispy all over I add the savory, pepper and taste for salt. That's it, they're ready for brunch.

Server the corned beef sliced along side the onions and cabbage, hash browns and your favorite style of eggs and toast. With some refreshing juice and good quality coffee and you'll be in brunch heaven.  Enjoy.

Wicked Good Hash

For my parents, and for generations before them, particular meals in Newfoundland were synonymous with a certain day of the week. Which meal and on what day undoubtedly varied from region to region, town to town and even between families in the same town for sure, but there was a custom and tradition to the whole thing, based around the seasons, and available ingredients. For instance, my mother tells me that in her household in Trinity Bay in the 1950s they had Jigg's Dinner every Tuesday and Thursday, no exceptions. Some times they would have straight up Jiggs, while other times there was a roast and gravy, usually wild game such as moose or rabbit. Fridays were likely fish (even though they were Protestant), Saturday was a soup day (either vegetable and rice or pea), and the rest of the week was either fresh fish, boiled beans (white beans, onions and salt meat) and likely another soup day. Lunches consisted of leftovers from the night before, fried potatoes, bread and of course fish, which could be cod, trout, salmon or capelin. I'm sure many of you reading will have your own memories of what your family ate on what day.

Growing up in rural Newfoundland when I did in the 1980s and 1990s, we didn't have a set or traditional menu for every night of the week like it used to be, with one exception. Every Sunday, and I mean every Sunday we had what we would call "Sunday dinner" or "cooked dinner" (of course it was cooked right) and nine times out of ten we had it for lunch, not supper/dinner, even though most Newfoundlanders call lunch dinner, but that's another story. Every Sunday Mom would have the full spread of potatoes, carrots, cabbage and turnip boiled with salt beef or salt spare ribs, peas pudding and all. In the oven there would be a roast of some kind, either a stuffed chicken, a chuck roast or a pork roast, and of course there was gravy to be smothered over the works of it. Making the gravy was actually one of my first jobs in the kitchen at home.

Finished plate of hash

You really can't beat a meal like this, and ask any Newfoundlander and I am sure they will tell you the same thing. One of the great bonuses of having a great meal like this were the leftovers. Mom always cooked more than we could eat on Sunday with the sole purpose of having "hash" on Monday for supper. If we had any meat and gravy leftover to go with it that was grand, but if not we were happy enough to have some fried bologna (bolonie). Cooked in the cast iron skillet and served with the bologna and sides of ketchup, gravy, mustard pickles and pickled beets, it was a fine supper indeed. Growing up in my own little world around the bay, I thought hash was a Newfoundland thing, but apparently cultures all over the world do a similar thing with leftovers, and more often then not it includes left overs from a boiled or roasted dinner, or something similar. In the US there is corned beef hash, a diner menu staple of fried (pre-boiled) potatoes, onion and minced corned beef. The British have "bubble and squeak", apparently named for the sound it makes while cooking. Bubble and squeak is very much like Newfoundland hash in that the leftover vegetables from a roast dinner are fried crisp in a shallow pan and served with pickles. In Denmark there is "biksemad:, Scandinavia has "pyttipanna", and my favorite of all is Scotland which has "rumbledethumps"! I really think I have to come up with a more catchy name for our version besides just plain Jane boring "hash". 

Since I moved away from Newfoundland I certainly do not have "cooked dinner" on a weekly basis, however I do try and make it with corned beef (which I love like you wouldn't believe) once every month or two (not enough I know). Last Sunday we did just that and had a huge scoff of boiled dinner with a roast turkey. The dinner was absolutely delicious and was enjoyed by my seven in-laws (one of which is a Newfoundlander herself - my wife's brother's wife) and my wife and I. Luckily there were plenty of leftovers as I was dying for some hash the next day.

While I love my mom's hash, even at a young age I would tinker with mine to make it the way I loved it. My family would be sat down to the table eating away and I'd have my hash slid back into the fry pan trying to get it crispier. Eventually I started making the family hash, and would start off by sauteing some onion, and adding herbs. What I was going for was good texture and flavor throughout the hash. I wasn't looking to just warm up some leftovers, I wanted to get tender onions, crispy potato pieces, caramelized bits of cabbage and carrots, and juicy morsels of meat. With a little bit of TLC it isn't hard to do.

Ingredients:
- vegetable oil

Leftover turnip, carrot and cabbage ready to get hashed

- onion, diced
- Leftover- vegetables from boiled dinner (aka Sunday Dinner, Jigg's Dinner, Cooked Supper, Corned Beef and Cabbage), including: potatoes, cabbage, carrots and turnip.
- Leftover meat, such as: salt beef, corned beef, roast chicken or turkey, pork roast or roast beef.
- Herbs (dried savory, fresh parsley or whatever you like)
- Salt and pepper
- Poached or fried eggs for on top (optional)
- Sides, such as pickled beets, mustard pickled, bread and butter pickles.

Directions:

You can cook your hash almost however you like and I'm sure it will come out very well. What I'd like to share is how I think you can maximize the flavor potential of your hash and get the best tasting hash you've ever had. Instead of throwing everything is a skillet at once and letting it heat through or get fried on one side, I stage the process to ensure that everything gets well crisped and certain things don't overcook. I like to use a large cast iron skillet to make hash in, but a non stick fry pan will also work great. I'm not giving amounts here, as you have to use whatever leftovers you have. Use the amount of onion according to how much hash you want to make and how much you like fried onions.

Crispy hash, just waiting for a fried egg

Heat some oil in the skillet over a medium heat and add diced onion. Cook for a couple of minutes, increase the heat to medium high and add chopped potatoes. You can't beat fried spuds so I think it is imperative to get a crisp going on these. Add a little more oil if necessary. Once the potatoes have started to brown, add the cabbage. I never knew how much I liked cabbage until I had left over cabbage rolls reheated in a skillet. The cabbage got all browned and caramelized on the  bottom and the taste was out of this world. I try and recreate that taste with my hash, so I add it at this stage so it will get a chance to crisp along side the potatoes. I also add my diced corned beef or salt meat if I have any left, as it gives off a little of its fat, which the spuds and cabbage love. Once these have browned and are crisp I add the chopped carrots, and whatever meat I have (the picture from my hash the other night had turkey), mix it through, and then add the turnip. I usually season with salt and pepper and some dried savory at this point and continue to cook for a couple of minutes until everything is hot. I love this hash for breakfast, lunch or supper, and I love having a runny fried egg on top as well. I certainly enjoyed eating my hash cooked this way, and I hope you will too. I just have to come up with a catchy name for it. Any suggestions?

Jiggs Dinner and New England Boiled Dinner...Part II

As promised...here it is, my version of Jiggs Dinner and Corned Beef and Cabbage. Since I love roasted meat and gravy, I always include it when I make this meal. This past weekend it was a whole roasted chicken, minus the stuffing (I had a lot going on, plus I ran out of savory at my in laws house). I trussed the chicken, seasoned it entirely with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted it uncovered with one chopped onion for about 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees, basting every 10 minutes for the last 30 minutes of cooking. At the end I sprinkled a little fresh rosemary from my herb garden. Besides the wonderful taste of the roasted meat, and the bonus of rich tasty gravy, the addition of a roast allows the corned beef to go farther, thus leaving some for leftovers.

With that being said I also cooked a corned beef brisket (flat cut). I purchased a 4 lb brisket and cooked it on a low simmer for 3 hours. I place the corned beef in a large stock pot and cover it with water. I watch it for the first 10 minutes or so to get the simmer just right. A rolling boil will not do any kindness to the corned beef. Low and slow is the way to go for this cut of meat. Once I had it just right, I went off for a 90 minute bike ride and came back in time to pop the chicken in the oven and start my veggies.

While I often make pease pudding (yellow split peas are easy to find here, and I have a couple of pudding bags), I opted out this time. My loss I know! What I did do was cook rutabaga for a mashed rutabaga side dish, carrots, new baby white and red potatoes, cabbage, and some onions. When my mom makes Sunday Dinner, she has a time chart of when everything goes in the pot as for it all to be ready at the same time. This method is so affective that even my father is able to cook this meal from start to finish all by himself, as long as he follows the directions EXACTLY. He is culinaryly challenged to say the least! For me however, I do things a little differently. I don't enjoy the "rush" of having everything ready at the same time. I like to get the turnip/rutabaga done a bit early so I can get em mashed up and put aside in a covered casserole dish. I also like to get the roast/chicken done a bit early so: A) I can turn the oven to low; B) I can let the meat rest before slicing; and C) so I can spend quality time making some really good gravy. Not only does cooking a few things early cause less mayhem at the end, it also assures that your veggies don't get horribly overcooked and fall apart. Here's how I do the veggies and gravy, one by one:

Mashed Turnip/Rutabaga

For the rutabaga, I cook them in a second stock pot. I add some tap water and a number of ladle fulls of the stock from the corned beef. To prep the rutabaga, using a heavy chefs knife I cut it in half, and then lay each half on the flat side and cut 1/2 inch thick half moon shaped slices. I then peel on the rind and that's it. I drop the rutabaga in the pot, bring it to a boil, and reduce the heat to simmer. At this time, I also add two yellow onions, peeled and halved. The onions makes a nice addition to the meal.

The rutabagas will take some time, up to 30 minutes. Check then regularly with a fork until done. I add them to a casserole dish, with a tsp of fresh cracked black pepper, 2 Tbsp of butter, and mash them until well incorporated. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. Then top with fresh parsley.

Potatoes and Carrots

This is the easiest part of the meal. For the carrots I just peel'em, cut them in half, and cut the thick part in half again, so they are all about the same size. For the new baby potatoes, I just give them a wash under cold water. The carrots and spuds get added to the pot of turnip/rutabaga and will take about 20 minutes. Check them with a fork and once tender, put them on a platter and keep in the warm oven.

Cabbage

Well maybe the cabbage is the easiest part. All you have to do is quarter it and give it a wash. I cook it directly with the corned beef. The New England recipes seem to call for a quick 10 minute cooking time, while I've seen recipes for Jigs where the cabbage is the first vegetable added. I like to go in between, and give the cabbage about 25 minutes, so it is tender, but not falling apart too much.

Chicken and Gravy

As I already mentioned, it's a good idea to have the chicken finished a bit early. Once it is done (use a thermometer if you are not sure...160 in the breast, 175 in the thigh) and transfer to a platter, and keep warm in the oven. The rich chicken drippings, and the chopped onion make a great base. I add 4-5 cups of pot liquor (stock) from the corned beef and some water or canned chicken broth, depending on how much I need to make. I place the roasting pan on the stove top over a medium-high heat. Using a wooden spatula or whisk I scrape all the browned bits away from the pan, as this adds major flavor to the gravy. To thicken the gravy, I use a combination of flour and corn starch. I add 2 heaping Tbsp of each to a small mason jar and add a little water. Give it a good shake as to make it lump free and you have a "slurry" that will thicken your gravy. Once the gravy liquid is at a rolling boil, begin whisking in the slurry, until it reaches desired thickness. Reduce heat to low and add gravy browning to get the color right. Taste for salt and pepper. The key here is to let the gravy cook on low for about 10 minutes. This cooks off any of the raw flour taste and lets the flavors meld. and the thickness to get just right.
All in all this meal was a huge success. My in laws love it, and they're glad they have the opportunity to having such a feast on more than St. Patrick's Day. For me, this is a part of who I am. Jiggs Dinner or Sunday Dinner is a profound element of Newfoundland culture and food lore. This is my way of making a connection of where I come from through the food I eat, and a way to have one of my favorite meals a little more often.