Corned Beef and Cabbage (twi ways)

Now we come to the Corned Beef and Cabbage. For years we did it this way—the boiled method:

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Horseradish Sauce

1 onion
4 whole cloves
4-lb. Corned beef
2 sprigs parsley
8 whole peppercorns
1 head cabbage, 2½ to 3 lbs.
1 cup sour cream
1 T prepared horseradish

Peel onion and stick with cloves. Put corned beef, onion, parsley and peppercorns in a large pot and cover with water. Cover, bring to a simmer and cook gently until tender, 2½ to 3 hours. Cut cabbage into wedges and core. Add to the pot, cover and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Combine sour cream with horseradish. Serve the meat and cabbage with some of the broth ladled over all the horseradish sauce on the side.

But this year, I tried a baked corned beef and sautéed cabbage recipe. It’s a slight variation from one posted on simplyrecipes.com, which did a great job comparing boiled and baked/sautéed. We really liked it, and I think we’ll be making a permanent switch.

Corned Beef (baked)
Corned beef (in package)
10 whole cloves

Mustard topping
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 T yellow mustard
2 T honey
Pepper
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300°F. Drain the corned beef from the package and discard the spice packet. Line a 13x9 baking pan with foil. Put in the corned beef, fat side up. Poke cloves into the top of the meat—I needed to pierce it with a sharp knife first, then the cloves would go in. Spread half of the mustard topping on top of the meat. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top.

Take another piece of foil and tent it over the top and seal the sides. Try to leave space between the top of the meat and the foil. Bake 1 hour per pound of meat.

Remove from oven and move rack up and turn to Broil. Take off the top piece of foil (or just tear it off) and spread the rest of the mustard (or however much you want) on top. Broil for 2-3 minutes, until the top is bubbly and lightly browned. Rest 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Cabbage (Sautéed)

1 T Olive oil
1 T butter
½ Vidalia onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
½ head cabbage, thinly sliced, then chopped to bite-size pieces
Salt

In a large sauté pan, on medium high heat, heat the oil and butter and cook the onions for about 5 minutes (don’t let it brown). Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add a third of the cabbage, sprinkle with salt, mix well. When the cabbage begins to brown, add another third of the cabbage, sprinkle with salt, mix well. When it again begins to brown, add the last batch of cabbage, sprinkle with salt, let it brown a little, and then you’re good to go. Add more olive oil if it gets things get sticky.