Time to Get Ready for St. Paddy's Day
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Time to Get Ready for St. Paddy's Day
Corned Brisket
Serves 6-8
All four-legged animals have a brisket, but most animal’s briskets aren’t meaty enough to corn. When we’re lucky enough to have a moose or elk in the freezer, they make nice brisket, and one year John shot a water buffalo in Texas, and that made an incredible corned brisket. But if you don’t have one of those big galoots in the freezer, just thaw out a deer or antelope’s shoulder or rump roast. They’ll corn just fine and, unless someone notices the grain isn’t quite as long, no one will know the difference. I've done this recipe with a beef brisket too. They're magically, you know, delicious.
PS: When I wrote this recipe up for Slice of the Wild: 100 Venison Recipes, the Canyon Ferry Brewery did not exist. Back then I used Lewis & Clark Tumbleweed IPA, but these days I’d use one from Canyon Ferry, or one of their full-bodied but not bitter stouts. They’ve had one on tap for the last couple of months.
The Brine Ingredients
7-10 days ahead
2 pound venison brisket
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon Morton’s Tender Quick
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons whole mustard seeds
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon whole allspice seeds
Combine all ingredients but the meat in a re-sealable plastic bag. Seal and shake until all is dissolved. Add the meat and refrigerate for 7-10 days, rotating the brisket every 2 days to be sure the meat is completely surrounded by brine, the brine ingredients stay well mixed.
The Rest of the Ingredients
12-ounce can India Pale Ale
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 pound carrots, in chunks
1 pound quartered potatoes
1 green cabbage, in eighths
Cooking
1. Drain the brine off the corned meat, and place the brisket in a 3 to 5-quart pot. Add enough water to cover the brisket and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and skim any foam from the top of the water. Do not change the water. (Called ‘refreshing’ the water, this is done with commercial corned beef to get rid of some of the excess salt. I find this brine not that salty.)
2. Add the IPA, onion, celery, and one of the carrots, diced, to the brisket pot. Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours or until tender. (The IPA quickens as well as flavors the cooking.)
3. Add the quartered potatoes, and the rest of the carrots about 40 minutes before you’re ready to eat, adding enough water and more IPA (in equal amounts) to cover the veggies if needed. Cover the pot and bring it back up to a slow, low boil. When you can, just barely stick a fork into the potatoes, arrange the cabbage on top of everything, cover, and cook for the last 15 minutes.
4. To serve, slice the brisket thickly, and arrange on a platter with the veggies. A good stone ground mustard for the brisket, butter for the veggies, and a bit more IPA for the cook and friends to finish the meal.
Need more of Eileen’s recipes? She has more: https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273.
Eileen Clarke
https://www.riflesandrecipes.com
406-521-0273
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PhotoCredit: Eileen Clark
Image 1 Caption: Corned Brisket
