New England Boiled Dinner
Corned beef brisket simmered for hours, then the root vegetables and cabbage staged into the same pot so everything finishes together. A fireplace dish from colonial New England — it wants no attention for most of its cooking time. From Back to Basics (Abigail Gehring).
Ingredients
- 5 lb corned beef brisket
- 1 large rutabaga, peeled and cut into 6 pieces
- 8 onions of uniform size, peeled
- 8 carrots, scraped
- 8 medium potatoes, peeled
- 1 medium green cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
- 10 beets of uniform size
- Cider vinegar
- Mustard
Instructions
Rinse the meat, put it in an 8-quart pot, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and skim off what collects on top. Cover and simmer 3 to 4 hours, until tender. Take the meat out.
About 1 ¼ hours before serving, start the vegetables. Bring the liquid back to a simmer as each goes in. Add the rutabaga. After 25 minutes add the onions and carrots. After another 25 minutes add the potatoes and cabbage. Simmer 20 minutes more, then return the meat to reheat for 5 minutes.
Keep the vegetables covered, adding water if needed. If any finish early, lift them out and return them at the end to reheat with the meat.
Cook the beets separately in salted water, then peel. Start them 1 to 1 ½ hours before serving.
Slice the brisket across the grain. Arrange the meat and vegetables on a platter, sprinkle the beets with cider vinegar, and serve with mustard.
Notes
The beets cook apart from everything else or they stain the whole pot.
Red flannel hash from the leftovers: cook 1/3 cup finely chopped onion in bacon fat 5 minutes. Add 3 cups diced leftover potatoes, 1 cup diced leftover beets, 2 cups finely chopped leftover beef, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Toss, then run the skillet under the broiler to brown. Spoon 2 tablespoons melted butter over the top. Serves four.