The Connealy Angus logo features a shamrock, our bull sale catalog is covered in them, and my grandma lives on Irish Lane. My late grandfather could tell a story like no one you've ever heard, and the song "Danny Boy" brought tears to his eyes.
We're proud to be Irish, but know it only really qualifies us to comment on no more than three items:
1) Guinness, 2) tall tales, and 3) corned beef.
Corned beef is a staple of St. Patrick's Day whether it's served boiled, with cabbage, or in a reuben. And while most choose to buy corned beef as corned beef, making it is not difficult and yields a flavor that will send you over the rainbow!
The basic concept of homemade corned beef is to make a brine with water, salt, sugar, and pickling spices, let the brisket soak for 5-7 days, and then boil it for a few hours until it is fork tender - not as complicated as you might have thought!
How Leprechauns Make Corned Beef
Ingredients
4-5lb brisket
Brine
12 cups water
1.5 cups kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons pink salt (sodium nitrite)*
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp pickling spice (or make your own,see below)
2 gold fillings**
1 Tbsp rainbow dust**
3 butterfly wings**
Homemade Pickling Spice (will make more than this recipe calls for)
1 Tbsp whole allspice berries
1 Tbsp whole mustard seeds
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp whole cloves
1 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
9 whole cardamom pods
6 large bay leaves, crumbled
2 Tsp ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick, cut into pieces
To Cook Cured Brisket
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 onion, quartered
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp pickling spices
Instructions
In a large pot, combine all ingredients for brine. Bring to a boil, and simmer until salt and sugar have dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool in ice bath or refrigerator until chilled.
Place brisket in brine. You may do this by placing everything in a 2.5 quart ziplock bag or any container large enough to hold both - a whole drawer in your refrigerator, even!
Let brisket cure for 5-7 days, occasionally flipping to make sure the brisket is cured evenly.
That's it for the curing!
Right before you're ready to serve (either the same day or the night before), cook the cured brisket:
Place chopped carrot, onion, celery, and spices in a pot large enough to hold the brisket.
Remove brisket from brine, rinse, and place in pot on top of chopped vegetables & spices.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until brisket is fork tender, about 3 hours, adding water if needed to cover brisket.
And there you have it - homemade corned beef! Slicethinlyagainst the grainand serve warm in any way you desire.
Erin go Bragh!
*Pink Salt (sodium nitrite) is optional, but it is critical if you want your corned beef to have that nice pink coloring as opposed to gray-brown. It can be found at large supermarkets, or I found it on Amazon in a reasonable amounthere. It is a preservative, but rest assured that your homemade corned beef will still have far fewer preservatives than store-bought.
** jk! unless you have them, then probably wouldn't hurt to throw them in!
1 cup sugar 3/4 cup Chinese oyster sauce 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup sake (Japanese rice wine), Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 piece (1 inch) peeled fresh ginger, minced 2 scallions, white parts minced, green parts thinly sliced 3-4 pounds bone-in individual beef short ribs
PREPARATION
1. Place the sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sake, garlic, ginger, and scallion whites in a large, nonreactive mixing bowl and whisk to mix. Stir in the short ribs. Cover the bowl and let the ribs marinate in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium (325° to 350°F)
3. When ready to cook, brown the ribs on both sides directly over the fire before moving them to the center of the grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat, and covering the grill. The ribs will be tender and cooked through after 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If the ribs start to brown too much halfway through cooking, wrap them in aluminum foil.
4. Transfer the ribs to a platter or plates, sprinkle the scallion greens on top, and serve.
In a large bowl, combine beef, onion, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and eggs. Mix well then shape into balls about an inch in diameter. Place them, evenly spaced, on a 15x10-inch baking sheet. Bake 25-30 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.
While meatballs are baking, place chili sauce and cranberry sauce in a three-quart saucepan. Bring ingredients to a simmer and cook about five minutes, stirring often.
When meatballs are finished baking, add them to the sauce, stirring to coat. Cook an additional five minutes, stirring occasionally.
To garnish, thread one cranberry per toothpick and stick in a meatball. Repeat for all meatballs.
Treat your best gal to a home-cooked meal on Mother's Day! We did the heavy lifting for you by creating a Mother's Day Menu below. Now all you need is to order her favorite steak, make a quick trip to the market, and follow the directions below!
Easy, and a wonderfully thoughtful gift. We promise we won't tell her the menu wasn't your idea ;)
**Don't forget to pick up flowers for a centerpiece!
Salt, pepper, and high heat. Depending on the cut, give it a nice sear for 2 minutes on each side, then cook until the desired internal temperature has been reached.
Side Dishes:
Grilled Corn on the Cob: just shuck and put on the grill, turning once you see a slight browning on the corn.
Spring Salad: Top a fresh green salad with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and mozzarella cheese. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, and ground black pepper, mix, and serve.
Watermelon: Cut and serve!
Dessert: Ice Cream Sundaes
Ingredients:
Her favorite flavor of ice cream or frozen yogurt
Toppings: assorted sprinkles, berries, maraschino cherries, chocolate and caramel sauce, chocolate chips, peanuts, crushed Oreos, granola, etc.
Bon Appetit recently described beef bone marrow in the most accurate way possible:
"It's the spreadable essence of everything there is to love about beef; the kind of thing that takes a perfectly reasonable meal down a rabbit hole of decadence."
Sounds about right.
Last weekend on a rainy Saturday I pulled marrow bones out of my freezer and happily prepared for the "rabbit hole of decadence."
And the beautiful part about roasting bones? After you've enjoyed scooping the marrow out of them, you can boil them for bone broth! Brilliant!
Roasted Bone Marrow
Step 1 is to secure 3-5lbs of marrow bones. Make sure they are marrow bones. Most bones will make fantastic bone broth and smell incredible as they roast, but only bones coming from the femur of the animal will yield marrow. Any butcher will know the difference.
We have marrow bones available here, or if you can find a butcher who does nose-to-tail retail, call and ask if they have any available.
Once you've secured marrow bones, you're most of the way there. Preheat your oven to 425 or 430 F, and lay them on a foil-lined baking sheet. Give them a good dusting of coarse salt or sea salt on both sides.
At this point, chop up a few stalks of celery, quarter a couple of onions (leave the skin on), a few carrots, and a couple of cloves of garlic. Scatter all of these around the pan, and stick them into the oven.
Roast for 20 minutes, flip the bones and roast for 20 more minutes. It should sound something like this:
During the final 20 minutes, I put 1/4" baguette slices in the oven with the bones to give the bone marrow a good toasted base.
When your timer beeps, remove everything from the oven. Place bones on a serving surface and save back veggies to boil with bones for bone broth. If you're not making bone broth, veggies can just be discarded.
That's it! You didn't know something so fancy was actually so simple, did you? This is a wonderful appetizer for a dinner - it's unusual, a great talking point, and delicious.
Bone Broth Recipe
Now, once all of the marrow has been enjoyed, fill a large stock pot with 12 cups of water. Add 2 bay leaves, 2 tbsp peppercorn, 1 tbsp cider vinegar, and roasted bones and veggies.
Let simmer for 8-24 hours with the lid mostly on (leave a little slit in the top). Drain through a fine-mesh sieve, discard veggies and bones, and store in refrigerator for up to 5 days (at which point it should become gelatinous until re-heated) or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Bone broth may be used as a base for a soup, or do it like the cool kids and drink it straight and warm.
This recipe was created by Kenny Polcari and shared on his financial blog, Morning Thoughts.
Braised Beef Short Ribs
Begin with 6 / 8 beef short ribs. season with s&p and then brown in a frying pan with a bit of Olive oil. Make sure to brown all sides being careful not to burn the meat. After you have browned them - place them in a large/deep baking pan. Lining them up on their sides.
Next - large Chop - 2 lg White Spanish Onions, 1 bunch of celery stalk, 1 bag of carrots. Smash 4 /5 cloves of garlic and add to the meat - making sure you disperse the garlic all around. Next add the chopped veggies right on top.
In the frying pan that you used to brown the meat - add: 1 can beef broth, 1 can tomato paste, and 1/4 to 1/2 bottle of red wine. mix well and let the broth come to a boil for a couple of min as you steam away some of the alcohol in the wine. Bathe the short ribs in this mixture and cover tightly. Place the baking dish in the oven - preheated to 350 degrees. Let cook for 4 hours - tightly covered.
The presentation: Remove the baking dish from the oven. Puree 1/2 the veggies in the food processor. On a warmed serving platter - pour the pureed veggies down the center of the platter. Arrange the short ribs on top of the pureed veggies and then place the balance of the cooked veggies around the meat.
Complement this meal with oven roasted red new potatoes. - Rinse the potatoes - toss in baking dish....season with s&p, add a bit of olive oil to coat the potatoes. mix well. Prior to putting in oven - add 1/2 stick of butter - cut into pieces and strategically place around the potatoes. Cover and roast at 400 degrees for 40 mins. Remove cover and lower heat to 350 degrees and roast for another 15 mins or so - ....check for doneness by piercing with a fork.
This recipe was originally shared by Kenny Polcari on the bottom end of his financial blog "Morning Thoughts."
We included the meat of the article below.
Super Bowl Burgers
These are crazy good.....they are a bit of work - but if you have the time and you really want to impress - go for it.
Refer back to the Short Rib recipe I gave you on January 26th. (here) .. Make 1/2 dozen ribs - the night before......cool and then shred the meat off of the bone....Now when ready....bring the shredded meat to room temp and then mix the cooked short rib meat with the ground chuck (now use real ground chuck - not lean hamburger meat...you want it to have the fat for flavor [FYI: Honest Beef Ground beef is 80% lean....it's got the fat :) ] season with s&p and form the burgers. Light the grill and let it get nice and hot and cook. Top with sautéed onions and Monterey jack to complete this burger.
While this is cooking - butter the Brioche buns and toast either on the grill or in a frying pan......Then place the cooked burger on your bun - with fresh lettuce and the sautéed onions. Mayo and Ketchup on the side. Outstanding.
Heat a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground beef and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.
Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chile peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.
Top this beauty with corn chips and cheddar cheese for the full-press effect!
Photo and recipe credit: mightypurdue22, allrecipes.com
Let me tell you something about this recipe: you cannot mess it up.
I tried. Not on purpose, of course, but when you host a party and forget about it, leaving it in the slow cooker for 12 hours instead of four, you kind of expect the worst when you remember you forgot it and sprint to its rescue.
Instead, I found the eye of round pieces in a perfect fall-apart state. The broccoli had absorbed both the sweet and the savory, and the peppers were soft but in no way mushy.
Recipes with real, whole ingredients are often forgiving, and a trusty crock pot will never steer you wrong. As much as I love to eat, I sometimes am just not the best of cooks.
Needless to say, my husband is grateful for recipes like this.
INGREDIENTS
3lbs Eye of Round (steak or roast), cut into 1" chunks
2 cups beef broth
1.5 cup low sodium soy sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar...or a little more ;)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
6 cups broccoli florets
3 cups red pepper, diced into large pieces
INSTRUCTIONS
Grease the inside of a slow cooker. Add steak, beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, and chili flakes. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low 6 hours (as I mentioned above, it's perfectly okay to leave it for a couple extra hours).
20-25 minutes before serving, add broccoli and red peppers. Cover and allow to cook.
You don't often see the words 'blueberry' and 'beef' in the same sentence, but believe us, this stew is a surprisingly delicious combination of sweet and savory.
This recipe for beef stroganoff requires just 15 minutes to prepare, cooks for 8 hours while you're at work, and contains no cream of 'x' soup - all real, whole ingredients. For what more could we ask?