Some Corned Beef and Cabbage

I'm feeling well enough this weekend (not to be confused with feeling well...  I was just feeling well enough) to cook a larger than average meal today so we're having corned beef and cabbage today, St Patrick's Day.

I put the corned beef in the oven about an hour ago and it will be in the oven almost all afternoon.  The house is already smelling delicious!

Most recipes call for simmering corned beef on the stove but I'm not much a fan of boiled meats.  Back awhile ago, I tried a Dutch oven...  that was better than boiling but it still was lacking.  Besides, neither one of us likes cleaning the Dutch oven either!

Then I decided to slow cook the corned beef in the oven, covered, with spices and fresh onions and garlic.  I add a bit of liquid to this too (beef stock, watered down to cut the salt a bit) and then seal it up in foil.  It slow cooks for at least an hour per pound.

This is the same way I slow cook pork so I don't know why I didn't always cook my corned beef this way.  Slow cooking the corned beef makes it fork tender which is the way corned beef should be.

Most people also boil the cabbage, potatoes and carrots together with the meat.  I don't do that either.  Everything ends up tasting the same and I hate that.  Each of those things loses its own flavor and texture so I changed the way I cook these three parts of this meal also.  Now, each of these things gets cooked separately, seasoned appropriately, then buttered and some additional seasoning added afterward.  

I'll probably shoot more photos of the meal after it's plated.  We're both looking forward to this meal though!

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We just finished dinner and it was delicious!  I could eat good corned beef until I'm sick as a dog and I almost did that tonight.  I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow's lunch.