Of course, in the US, we tend to think of corned beef on a St. Patrick's Day menu. Ah, but that's not what the Irish do. In fact, when we lived in Ireland we were never served corned beef, nor did we find it on a restaurant menu. Corned beef was used to substitute bacon by the Irish immigrants in this country in the late 1800s. There's the connection. Corned beef is good anytime!
There are two cuts of corned beef - the flat cut that has a more consistent thickness or the point which has lots of inter-muscular fat or marbling. Then again, you can buy the whole brisket with both types in one piece.
I chose a hardy package of the flat. I popped it into my crockpot on low with a quart of chicken stock and left it to slow-cook for about 12 hours. I turned it over a few times before it was done; I took the entire piece out and sliced it into what were very tender cubes of stringed corned beef. I cut up about six peeled carrots, sliced half a cabbage and cut them into 1-inch pieces, and added about eight Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled. I added a quart of beef bone broth, some chopped onion, celery and mustard seeds, parsley and chives with bay leaves, salt and pepper and cooked it all until it was tender. I added the beef and cooked all of it on low for a few hours before serving. I wish I'd had caraway seeds to toss in, but I didn't. It was yummy anyway.
