Even though, in a previous post, I expressed some misgivings about our nation’s beef supply, the fact remains that I already had a corned beef brisket in the freezer, and I’d already cooked it before that bit of news. That said, I want to tell you a little about why I like corned beef.

Besides tasting wonderful, a home cooked corned beef brisket is economical. The price is good for a fairly large cut of meat, and buying the flat cut brisket means you get a lot of great slices from it with very little fat. I can trim off the wee bit of fat along one edge, and have lean slices to eat.

Corned beef brisket comes with a little packet of seasonings and spices. I only use half the packet so it’s not so overpowering. By itself, the beef actually has plenty of flavor. I put the corned beef into my crock pot with carrots, unpeeled red skin potatoes, and onion halves. I let it cook for at least 8 hours. Ten hours is better. Corned beef doesn’t fall apart like some roasts do, so you have fork-tender beef that you can still slice nicely.

Leftover corned beef goes into home made corned beef hash (which I made yesterday) or into sandwiches. It’s delicious eaten cold. As you can see by my sandwich plate picture, you get beautiful slices from flat cut corned beef brisket. I trimmed off only about 1/4 inch or less of fat from these, so it worked out really nicely. The sandwich is made from honey wheat bread, spread with spicy brown mustard, and layered with romaine lettuce and sliced mushrooms. The grape tomatoes added a nice taste and texture when eaten out-of-hand with the sandwich.

There is still enough of the brisket left to make several more sandwiches or another round of hash!

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