This past Sunday was a really nice day outside, and as such called for more outdoor cookery before the temps turned cold again.
Last Saturday's cook was chicken thighs in the Dutch over in the fire pit. Sunday I decided to give the Dutch oven a go over actual coals, Kingsford blue. Found a handy online coal count calculator that helped out a lot, though I did not follow it exactly. As I get better at using the coals I am sure I will become more confident in Dutch oven cooking.
What was cooked up was a simple corned beef and cabbage. Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day for sure.
Once again this is a write up on the method used for this cook. True Dutch oven folks would have way better methods, though I am really enjoying this tasty learning curve.
Out back I laid out a layer of fire bricks and added a few around the sides for a wind break. I used a propane burner for lighting the charcoal in a chimney, only lighting as much as I needed to get going then more as I needed to change out the coals.
The Dutch oven is a 12" with a lid which can take coals, I also have a rack that keeps food 1 inch off the bottom when needed, like for this cook. I have another 14" dutch oven with a rounded lid, which sometimes makes no sense to me.
Here is what when down on Sunday.
Irish Whiskey & Tango Verde
Corned Beef & Cabbage
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| Very Tasty Dinner For Sure! |
1 2.5 Pound Corned Beef Brisket / rinsed and patted dry
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
3 tsp Tango Spice Tango Verde
1 1/4 Cup Irish Mist Whiskey
1 Small Head Cabbage / cored & halved
Blend the brown sugar and Tango Verde in a small bowl, set aside.
In the morning I placed the corned beef in a container of cold water, let it sit for 20 minutes then drained it. Repeated this once more.
Patted the beef dry then coated it with the brown sugar mix. Reserved 1/4 cup.
Placed the corned beef fat side down on a rack in the Dutch oven. I used the rack because I wanted the meat to steam rather than boil in the liquid.
On either side of the beef I placed half a head of cabbage, cut side up. It all fit nicely.
The remaining 1/4 cup of Verde brown sugar was divided between the two halves of the cabbage as a topping.
Into the Dutch oven I poured the Irish Mist, drizzling a little on the beef and each half head of cabbage. Ready to cook.
For the coal count it was 12 on the bottom and 24 on the top.
Every 20 minutes I rotated the oven 1/4 turn clockwise and the lid 1/4 turn counter clockwise. Keeping an eye on the coals as well, replenishing them as they neared exhaustion. After the first hour, after hearing the bubbling liquid I peeked in and was treated to a wafting cloud of very aromatic steam. Oh wow this smelled GOOD!
Kept this up for about one more hour. I think all totaled the cook time was just under 2 1/2 hours. I will be doing this again and will fine tune the coal count and the times.
The beef as very flavorful and moist, the cabbage was sweet and tender, with just a few pieces of crunchy goodness where it got just a hint of char.
As Always, Thank You For Reading!
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| Cabbage, Mist & Tango Verde! |
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| Getting Hungry Already! |
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| Verde Sugared Beef! |
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| Add The Two Halves Of The Cabbage! |
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| Topped Cabbage - Irish Mist On The Verde Beef! |
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| Let's Cook! |
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| Getting Close! |
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| Closer! |
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| The Aroma Was Amazing! |
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| Beef Perfection! |
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| Look At The Color! |
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| Time To Dig In! |
Perfect! I`d suggest some radial carving into the cabbage`s halfs for more moisture and spice influence ;) K
ReplyDeleteHi Happy, thank you for taking a look here.
DeleteI was surprised at how loose the inner leaves of this cabbage was when I sliced it in half. Maybe because it was so small. Lucky for me that the Irish Mist and the spiced brown sugar really worked and made the leaves fall apart.
Will surely be makin this again soon.
OH MY!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt sure was yummy!
Delete