For my St. Patrick’s day feast, can I skip the traditional boiled dinner with the odiferous cabbage and the water-logged potatoes and carrots? I’d rather have this tender and flavorful corned beef, slowly simmered on the stove until it’s falling apart, then finished off in the oven, painted with a jewel-toned, sweet and tangy, mustard-laced glaze so the top gets crusty and sticky and glossy.
I’ve just never liked cooked cabbage, and for years that stopped me from enjoying corned beef – as if that’s the only way to make it. As if corned beef and cabbage are joined in some kind of burgers-and-fries, peanut-butter-and-jelly sort of symbiosis. It isn’t true – you really can have one without the other.
This Ruby Glazed Corned Beef is adapted from the recipe with the same name from the great New Basics cookbook by Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins of Silver Palate fame.
In my version, I started by downsizing the proportions (what army were they feeding with 10 pounds of corned beef?). Corned beef brisket is a fatty cut that shrinks considerably during cooking, so plan on about ½ to ¾ pound per serving. The cut shown in these photos weighed 3 pounds; John and I had it for dinner one night and enjoyed leftovers for two more meals.
I’ve also significantly simplified the sauce and the whole process for the topping. Omitting the lemon juice and zest makes the sauce taste sweeter, so you can skip the brown sugar that was sprinkled on top in the original recipe. I cook the sauce down to a glossy glaze that does a better job of clinging to the beef instead of running down the sides. And instead of spreading on a separate layer of mustard underneath the glaze, I make it one step and stir the mustard right into the glaze.
After the corned beef comes out of the oven, let it sit for 10 minutes to firm up for neater slices. Serve some of the reserved ruby red sauce on the side for drizzling, and zingy whole grain mustard for the mustard lovers at your table. In place of the usual boiled potatoes, I like cheesy Au Gratin potatoes made with sharp Cheddar and lots of sour cream.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- Ruby Glazed Corned Beef can be made ahead. To reheat, slice the beef and lay the slices in a baking dish, overlapping slightly. Drizzle with a little bit of chicken broth, cover the dish with foil, and reheat at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through. Transfer the beef to plates, discarding the chicken broth. Drizzle with the red currant sauce before serving.
- Make the leftovers into a Reuben if you like, or try a simpler grilled cheese with just the corned beef, melted Swiss, and a schmear of the red currant sauce as a condiment. Or chop the meat into a hash with potatoes and peppers and top it with a couple of fried eggs.
Ruby Glazed Corned Beef
This recipe is adapted from the New Basics cookbook by Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins.
Ingredients
- One corned beef brisket, 3 to 4 pounds
- 1 large shallot
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut in half
- 1 celery stalk, trimmed and cut in half
- 6 whole peppercorns
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup ruby port
- One 12-ounce jar (1 cup) red currant jelly
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste or grated fresh ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or 1/8 teaspoon Morton’s
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard, plus additional for serving
Directions
- Step 1 If your corned beef came with a seasoning packet, discard it. Rinse the beef under cold water, then place it in a heavy pot just large enough to hold it with a bit of wiggle room, such as a 4½ quart Le Creuset Dutch oven. Peel the shallot and cut it in half through the stem. Set one half aside for later. Stud the other half with the three cloves and add it to the pot with the beef, along with the carrot, celery and peppercorns. Pour in enough water to just cover the beef. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 3 hours, turning the beef over once every hour.
- Step 2 While the beef simmers, make the sauce. Finely mince the other half of the shallot and measure out 2 tablespoons. If your shallot is large and yields more than 2 tablespoons, reserve the remainder for another use. Put the shallot in a small saucepan along with the orange juice and port. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Stir in the red currant jelly, ginger, salt and pepper. Whisk until the jelly is melted, let the mixture come to a boil again, then reduce the heat to medium and cook the sauce at a vigorous simmer until it’s slightly reduced, thick and glossy, another 10 minutes. Pour the sauce into a liquid measuring cup – you should have about 1 cup. Let the sauce cool to room temperature, then chill until cold..
- Step 3 Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a small baking sheet with foil. After the beef has simmered for 3 hours, transfer it to the baking sheet with the fat side up. Use a sharp carving knife to trim off the layer of fat from the top and discard it. Divide the red currant sauce in two, transferring half of the sauce to a serving bowl for the table. To the other half of the sauce, add the Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of the whole grain mustard, and stir until smooth. Spoon 1/3 of the glaze over the corned beef. Bake the corned beef for 30 minutes, spooning on another 1/3 of the glaze after 10 minutes and the last 1/3 after 20 minutes.
- Step 4 Let the corned beef sit for 10 minutes before slicing it across the grain. Serve with the reserved red currant sauce and additional whole grain mustard on the side.
