Irish Entree
SIMPLE CORNED BEEF
INGREDIENTS
1 4-to-5 pound ready-to-cook corned beef brisket
6 russet potatoes
3 large carrots
1 large white onion
1/2 head cabbage
water
SPECIAL UTENSIL
crock pot
PREPARATION
Put ready-to-cook corned beef brisket in crock pot. Add water to crock pot until it covers the brisket. You may need to cut the brisket into smaller pieces depending on the size of your crock pot. If using low setting on crock pot, cook for 10-to-14 hours, possibly overnight If using high setting, cook for 5-to-7 hours. Either way, cook until brisket is tender.
Now that you have lots of time, let’s play tic-tac-toe.
Clean potatoes and carrots. Cut potatoes carrots, onions, and cabbages in slices no thicker than 1/2 inch and add them to the crock pot. Add water until it covers the brisket and vegetables. Cook on low setting for about 2 hours or until vegetables are tender. Serve to adoring guests.
This is an astoundingly versatile dish. See the following two recipes for delightful meals made out of this recipe’s leftovers.
Tell your spellbound guests corned-beef takes 10 days to prepare. This, of course, is the do-it-yourself corned-beef version. You used ready-to-eat corned beef brisket. But you needn’t tell them that.
TIDBITS
1) Potatoes make great French fries.
2) They’re nutritious and a great source of calories too.
3) They grow in the ground where they can’t be seen by hungry, foraging armies marching back and forth across peasants’ fields.
4) On July 14, 1689 Madame Farine du Blé of Poulet sur Marne noticed invading Bavarians ransacking the granary of her neighbors, the Herbes, while leaving her own field of potatoes untouched.
5) This fact kinda excited the peasantry of France who relied almost exclusively on food for eating.
6) Frederick the Great of Prussia noticed this fact as well. He insisted that all the Prussian peasants plant potatoes.
7) And boy, those peasants were glad they did. Massive French, Austrian, and Russian armies crisscrossed the Prussian kingdom from 1756 to 1763 carting off all the wheat they could find. But the Prussian peasants didn’t starve.
8) Why? These farmers simply waited for the invading soldiers to leave, dug up their potatoes, and cooked them. And if the peasants also had the proper spices and deep fryers, they dined on papas rellena, Peruvian stuffed potatoes.
9) When individual peasants don’t starve, the country as a whole doesn’t starve. A well-fed nation can afford to feed its armies in the field. And those Prussian armies did really well earning both victory and survival at the end of the Seven Years War.
10) Prussia united Germany in 1871. A united Germany caused World War I. A united Germany caused World War II. Both wars were unarguably unpleasant.
11) So think about that when you are asked, “Do you want fries with that?”
– Chef Paul
Please check out Paul De Lancey’s books on Amazon.com.
or visit his website www.lordsoffun.com for signed copies.
The dependence upon potatoes also brought the Irish to America — giving us a ready supply of policemen and priests!