Corned Beef Brisket - Summer Style

The summer sale on corned beef brisket was too good to pass up. But with the July heat topping 108 on the patio, no one really wanted a heavy hot meal of meat, potatoes and cabbage. And I definitely didn't want to heat up the kitchen.

So I tracked down a recipe for Crock Pot Corned Beef. On the day before our scheduled luncheon I layered my -- cup slow cooker with carrots, onions and chunks of cabbage with the hunk of corned beef nestled in the middle of it all. I turned the knob to low then forgot about it for 12 hours. Yes, that's right, twelve whole hours. At 6, 8 and 10 hours the brisket was tough as a shoe. But late that night before crawling into bed, I transferred falling-apart succulent Corned Beef from the Crock Pot to the refrigerator. By noon the next day it was perfectly chilled and ready to slice for cold sandwiches.

But what to do with all the vegetables that had cooked along with the corned beef? Tender and flavorful , yes, but no one wants cold cooked carrots for lunch. So I took a hint from Mark Bittman, who turns vegetables into soups and sauces. The cooked carrots, onions and (not too much) cabbage went into the food processor along with generous amounts of mustard, horseradish and mayo. That made a bright orange sauce that was fabulous on the Corned Beef Sandwiches.

A red & green coleslaw rounded out the lunch menu along with a few good beers and strawberries for dessert.

Recipe: Corned Beef Brisket, Summer Version

Flavors mellow in the slow cooker, so it is best not to rinse off excess spices from the corned beef before cooking. Because of the long slow cooking time, choose large mature carrots and leave them whole.

1 2-3 lb. Corned Beef Brisket
5 or 6 large carrots, peeled
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
2 to 4 1" wedges of cabbage
1 c. apple juice
1/4 c. brown sugar
yellow or brown prepared mustard

Brush the slow cooker interior with oil. Cover the bottom of the pot with whole carrots and onion wedges. Add brisket and surround with more vegetables. Combine brown sugar and apple juice, pour over brisket. Spread top of meat with mustard, and top with cabbage wedges and onions. Cover and cook on low setting for 12 hours or until meat pulls apart easily with a fork.

Remove meat from cooker and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Refrigerate vegetables separately and use for Cold Vegetable Sauce, below.
Slice brisket or pull apart for sandwiches. Pile meat on rye bread or whole grain buns with plenty of mustard, horseradish and Cold Vegetable Sauce. Serve with Cole Slaw and/or Potato Salad

Recipe: Cold Vegetable Sauce
  

Cold cooked Vegetables: carrots, onions, cabbage
2 Tbs. brown or yellow prepared mustard
2 Tbs. horseradish
1/2 c. mayonnaise, or to taste
1/4 c. cider vinegar, as needed
S & P


Place cooled cooked vegetables - carrots, onions, cabbage - in bowl of food processor.
Add mustard, horseradish, and mayonnaise.
Process until very smooth.
Taste for seasonings; add cider vinegar for tartness to taste, salt and pepper as needed.