You know that corned beef they sell in the stores around St. Patrick’s day? Well, after the holiday it goes on sale and I have seen it go as low as 1.99 a pound. I will typically pick up a couple of them when they’re that cheap and put them in the freezer or cook them up within a week or so (they’re pretty well cured so if you look at the expiration dates, they’re usually pretty far out).
There’s a restaurant that we like to go to for breakfast and lunch, called McBob’s. If you’re ever in Milwaukee, check it out. Anyway, love their food but the place is a zoo on the weekends, and typically the kids get a little antsy while waiting for food.
One of the best things on their menu is the corned beef…hash, eggs McBenedict (made with rye toast and corned beef rather than English muffins and Canadian bacon) and Reuben sandwiches. I’ve tried to make their corned beef my way (the easy way) and this is what I’ve come up with.
Add a bottle of beer to a slow cooker. I guess any kind of beer will do, I like to use Henry Weinhardt’s.
Add your corned beef, fat side up. Throw away the spice packet!
On top of the corned beef add about a T. each of black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. It will look like this…
Add a couple of garlic cloves to the beer.
Cook on high for at least 10 hours. It seems like a long time at a high temperature, but I have tried several temps and it does really need to be on high.
This is where you can pause…at this point the beef can either be finished, or you can cool it down and save it for some other time. This is convenient for brunches or parties.
If you’re going on…remove the corned beef from the liquid and slice. How you slice it is up to you. I prefer thinner for sandwiches or thicker for corned beef hash.
For corned beef hash…
Add some olive or other cooking oil to a pan and heat to medium. If you like potatoes in your corned beef hash, slice or dice some potatoes that have been either par-boiled or microwaved until semi-soft. I used Yukon Gold in this case.
Give the meat and potatoes a nice sear in the pan, add eggs if you like ‘em, and voila. Breakfast a la McBobs.
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