Chef John's Corned Beef and Cabbage

The seasoning packets in corned beef is basically just pepper corns, mustard seeds and bits of bay leaves, maybe a little dried onion & garlic, but you can use "Pickling Spice" as well. I have been cooking Corned Beef for about 40 years now and one of the tricks I have found over the years for cooking it is to start out by putting your beef in COLD water and slowly heating it up to a simmer only in the spices. Never BOIL the meat, just simmer it or else the meat will be tough.

The perfect corned beef & cabbage recipe. What I do after I've following Chef John's recipe to the letter and have let it rest for 10-15 minutes is mix up some brown sugar with dejon mustard and coat the top of the brisket and stick it under the broiler for about 3-5 minutes until the sugar & mustard have "carmelized". Just that little bit of sweetness adds that extra "surprise" with each bite. My family & friends love it...thanks to Chef John!

What my Irish mother would do after the meat has cooked and rested a while, would combine some brown sugar and English mustard powder and spread over the top of the meat. She would then run it under the broiler for a few minutes to make a sweet/spicy crust on the meat. De-Lish.

Suggestion: Add the spice packet AFTER you skim the foam.

After reading several reviews and reviewing my own previous receipe - I made a couple additions. Used a 1.5# corned beef roast (there are only 2 of us), added an additional 1 Tbl. pickling spices (packet had 1 Tbl.), and added 2 bay leaves, omitted the salt and pepper. Also substituted 12 ounces of water for light beer. Cooked the large carrots in with the beef and removed them when fork tender about the 2-hour mark. Added the Potatoes and cabbage wedges for the last hour. Put the carrots back in the pot to reheat when I took the meat out to rest. Best Corned beef dinner ever!

Good base recipe. I Sautéed one yellow onion in EVO. Added a 3 stalks of chopped celery and a few baby carrots. Substituted 1 bottle Heineken and 1 box Swanson's Beef Broth for the water. Market only had 2.5lb packages of Corned Beef so I got 2 and used both spice packets. Rinsed off the Beef (and it was still salty). Simmered in Dutch Oven on stove for 5 hours. Checked at 3.5 hours which was the 50 minutes per pound but decided longer would be more tender.Corned Beef sliced perfectly. The broth was rich and flavorful. Added Baby Gold Potatoes for 1 hour, Carrots for 30 minutes and Cabbage 15 at very end. DELICIOUS!!!!!! I ate it for 4 days straight. Corned Beef Hash & Eggs, Made Reuben's -YUM! and a Soup. Next time I'll use Guiness & water in a Multi-cooker.

As corned beef recipes go this is one of the best and easiest I have ever made. I used a 5.5 qt. dutch oven and a 2.5 lb. corned beef. Even with a small head of cabbage it was a tight fit for all the ingredients. So the next time the only thing that I would do different. Is to start earlier giving myself plenty of time. Now cooking wise let the corned beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, cook to fork tender and done. Once fork tender done remove the corned beef,potatoes, onions and carrots aside. Now add the cabbage into the liquid cook cabbage till done. Also by doing this you can now adjust the cabbage to your taste if you like it spicy or sweet or just let it cook in the liquid till done. Overall a winner and a keeper recipe. Thanks Chef John for another great recipe!!!!

A group of tourists were visiting a small village in Ireland and stopped for lunch. They came across a 95 year old man sitting on a bench in the Town Square. He claimed to have never been more that a few miles away from the area and a young woman asked "Is it true that you've lived here all your life"? "Not yet", he replied. Added a couple of Parsnip cut to 1" pieces with the cabbage. I bet a lot of different root vegs can be added.

I made some changes and loved the result. Used a bottle of Guinness beer and water, added all of the vegetables (except the cabbage) at the same time, used cheesecloth and some spices (peppercorns, mustard seeds, bay leaves) into a bundle. My corned beef didn't come with a spice packet. The flavors were incredible! I plan to make corned beef this way again...next St. Patrick's Day. :-)

It was fantastic, however I couldnt follow the directions because it has you keeping carrots in the pot. Well before it was even time to add the potatoes they were complete mush and same with potatoes.. when it was time to pit in the cabbage my potatoes were total mush. So I made it again. I had to corned beef briskets I got on sale for St. Pattys Day. The next day when I made the 2nd batch I took the carrots amd potatoes out of the pot when they worked both cooked and tender. I moved them to a covered bowl to keep warm. Then when the cabbage was done I moved them back to the pot for 2 minutes. This time everything was perfect! Both times the meat was so tender it just fell apart with your fork. Delicious! We are making it again on the actual day for company.

Good receipe. I did add Guinness beer and a couple bay leaves. I didn't put my carrot or potatoes in until last 1hr 10 min. I used the pkg also. I did crock pot and only took 3.5. I also added 1 tbl spoon of brown sugar.

Super Simple Goodness

I've noted in my saved copy to give the corned beef a good two+ hours head start before adding the carrots and root veggies or when a fork can push through the meat . Carrots turn to mush after three-four hours of cooking,. I'm also going to oven braise to keep my dutch oven a little more consistent with the temperature. I added a small chunked rutabaga with the potatoes and cabbage goes in last per the recipe n

Great recipe! Tasted wonderful!

Easy prep, succulent meal and leftovers for days.

No offense but a tiny spice packet and some salt would perhaps be authentic but rather plain. I added garlic, fresh sage and dried herbs such as thyme and tarragon, plus a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. That took it up to 4.8 stars ;-)

The meat was perfect, however if you follow the instructions for adding the vegetables, it is far too long a cooking time and the cabbage, potatoes and carrots come out mushy (unless you are having dental issues). Add these vegetables 15min or so from taking the meat out and they will be cooked and somewhat firm.

Totally nailed the flavors.

Followed it to a T. I happened to buy Snake River Farms Wagyu corned beef... Wow!!! It was tremendous! The flavor was excellent. I don't know how anyone can go wrong with ANY kind of corned beef, but this Wagyu was over and above-board!!! Chef John's recipes are always spot on!!!!

Absolutely heavenly 😍