Adventures in Corned Beef

Dave and I are not particularly festive when it comes to St. Patrick's Day (Dave didn't even wear green this year). However, when Harmon's had corned beef on sale this week, we decided to give it a whirl. After all, bargains are a good thing. I bought a slab during my weekly grocery shopping trip and used our favorite cooking site, www.allrecipes.com, to figure out how to cook it.

What you should know is that I am easily grossed out. Just the name "corned beef" makes me cringe a bit. So then when I discovered that the traditional way to cook corned beef is to boil it (I think the technical term is "braise"), I was even more skeptical. But, I thought that if we were going to try corned beef, we were going to try it the way it's meant to be.

So, I opened up the package and plopped the 2.5 pound roast into a big pot, sprinkled in the seasoning, and added water (a lot of water). And then I boiled it. About an hour or so into boiling, we added carrots and potatoes to the mix. I have to admit, it was a little disconcerting to see my beef bobbing around in the frothy water, but it smelled pretty good, so that helped dispel my fears.

After it had boiled for about 2 1/2 hours, we figured it was done. The pink color was a little unsettling, but when we tried it we were pleasantly surprised. And, the roast was big enough that we have leftover shredded corned beef to make sandwiches tomorrow. That means that for just over $7, we got a good dinner and two or three lunches. Not bad, I'd say.