“Nothing goes better with a boiled dinner than a nice, cold beer.” – Chef Jamie Liberge

The St. Patrick’s Day Parade may have come and gone, but today marks the actual holiday. In case you missed the weekend’s festivities – or even if you didn’t – it’s not too late to celebrate by eating and drinking as the Irish do. To help you do just that, we asked Chef Jamie Liberge of M.J. O’Connor’s to send over the recipe for his favorite Irish dish: Corned Beef and Cabbage. A bit of advice from the chef? “Nothing goes better with a boiled dinner than a nice, cold beer.”

Ingredients:

12 lbs of raw corned beef (yields around 7 lbs with the fat trimmed off)

1.5 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped

1.5 lbs of turnips, peeled and chopped

2 lbs of Yukon potatoes, halved or quartered, depending on size

3 heads of cabbage, quartered

Seasoning for corned beef:

Bay leaves

All spice

Dill seed

Fennel seed

Star anise

Coriander

Juniper berries

Caraway seeds

Mustard seeds

For the mustard sauce:

1 quart of corned beef stock

1/4 cup of Dijon mustard

1/2 cup of whole grain mustard

3 oz of leeks, diced

1/2 oz of garlic, minced

1 cup of whiskey

2 cups of heavy cream

Directions:

For the mustard sauce. Note: mustard sauce can be made a day in advance.

1. Sautee minced garlic and diced leeks.

2. Deglaze the pan with the whiskey. Caution: remove the sauce pot from heat first so as to not light yourself on fire. Reduce the mixture by half.

3. Add the corned beef stock and reduce that by half.

4. Add the two mustards and heavy cream, and allow to simmer for 10 minutes

Corned beef and boil

1. Start by boiling the corned beef with seasoning. This takes about 6 hours. Do not add veggies until the end or they will turn mushy.

2. When the beef has about an hour left, add the carrots and turnips.

3. When the beef has about half an hour left, add the cabbage and potatoes.

4. Remove the beef from the stock and allow it to rest and cool before handling it.

5. When you think you can handle the beef, clean some of the fat off the meat. Clean less if you prefer the fat.

6. When slicing the beef, be sure to cut against the grain so it won’t fall apart when it reheats.

7. Finally, drizzle the warm whiskey mustard sauce on the plate.

Enjoy!

Image from MJ O’Connors