How to Cook Corned Beef and Cabbage
If you didn’t have time to make my Stout Cure Corned Beef recipe, this page will teach you how to cook a prepared corned beef from your local butcher | grocery store and still use beer as a cooking medium. There are many different ways to cook Corned Beef. This recipe | cooking page will teach you 4 culinary techniques on how to cook Corned Beef and Cabbage: The classic boil in a pot method on the stovetop, sous vide, beer-braised in an oven, or using a slow cooker to transform this corned brisket into a delicious, tender, and satisfying meal. Here are some of my cooking experience and how to best cook Corned Beef.
How to Cook Corned Beef and Cabbage: Sous Vide
Sous vide style cooking (cooking in a (French for under pressure) vacuum-sealed bag, and in this case filled with corned beef, spices plus stout and then placed into a temperature-controlled water bath) is a great way to cook corned beef. It keeps the temperature low and consistent, giving the corned brisket time to break down the different meat fibers | muscles | connective tissue, resulting in a tender corned beef. Depending on how much time you have, cooking sous vide can take 3 days (72 hours) at 136°F | 57.7°C or cooking at a higher temperature of 180°F | 82°C in just 8 – 10 hours. The higher temperature of the water bath, the less moisture will be in the final product, as the increased temperature tightens the muscle, resulting in the meat squeezing out the moisture from the meat. You’ll also see that cooking at a lower temperature takes the meat protein more time to break down the sinuses tissue and collagen. The goal is to find a sweet spot, that produces well-textured meat, that has that ‘ham’ flavor, spiced well, is tender, moist, and juicy all at the same time. My rationale for cooking at a low 136°F | 57.7°C was to make a medium rare Corned Beef. This temperature yielded a pretty tender, medium-rare corned beef, but not falling apart tender, even after 3 days of cooking. This Sous Vide Corned beef sliced well and was even more tender the thinner it was sliced, yet the texture was not like corned beef that I’ve had before. I personally like the cooking results of 160°F | 71°C for 48 hours (or 2 days). I like the results of all three temperatures but found the texture of the meat to be juicy, tender, and flavorful at 160°F | 71°C.
A note on vacuum sealing the corned beef: if you have a seal-a-meal style vacuum sealer, it is tricky to seal bags with liquid. A good trick that I’ve learned is to freeze the beer in an ice cube tray the night before. Add the beer ice cubes to the bag, with pickling spices, to prevent liquid from getting into the sealer. Another way to seal the corned beef is to add the prepared corned beef, spices, and beer into a gallon-size zip-lock bag, placing it into a pot of water, to have the water squeeze the air out of the bag, then seal.
How to Cook Corned Beef and Cabbage: Slow Cooker
Another cooking medium, that is similar to sous vide, is using a slow cooker. Most slow cookers operate between a temperature range of 185°F | 85°C -190°F | 88°C. This is just a tad higher temperature than the top end of cooking sous vide. In about 6 hours of cooking time, the resulting slow cooker | crockpot corned beef will be tender, moist, and juicy. This is a good option if you have not invested in any sous vide equipment. The key is to have enough stout beer (and water if needed) to cover the corned beef. The meat should be fully submerged for optimum cooking.
How to Cook Corned Beef and Cabbage: Beer Braise
Using a Dutch oven and an oven is also a great technique for cooking corned beef and cabbage. Whether you don’t have a sous vide machine or a slow cooker, this is a great technique. The slow consistent heat is similar to using a slow cooker, as the cooking liquid inside the pot will not exceed 212°F | 100°F. This will prevent the corned beef from being tough or chewy. The sinuous tissues break down at 205°F | 96°C, making the beef tender and juicy.
Preheat your oven to 300°F | 149°C. Place a Dutch oven over medium heat and add the sliced onion, garlic cloves, and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Sauté for 8-10 minutes until they start to turn a light color brown. Add the rinsed corned beef, store-bought or homemade version, with the fat cap facing up. Then pour in the beer (see cooking beer suggestions below) and either enough water or beef | vegetable stock to just cover the corned beef. Bring the liquid to almost a boil, cover with a lid, and place into the center of the oven. Set a time for 5 hours. Remove the pot from the oven, and add the prepared cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. Cover with the lid and place the pot back in the oven for another 45 minutes.
How to Cook Corned Beef and Cabbage: Boiling on the Stove Top
The fourth option for cooking corned beef is gently simmering the meat in a pot, over a burner for about 3 – 4 hours. This is my least favorite way to cook corned beef.
Place the rinsed corned beef into a large pot, adding the sliced onion, garlic, spices, and top with cooking beer (see below) and enough water to cover the beef. Place the pot over a burner and bring the liquid to a boil. Once the liquid is bubbling, adjust the heat to create a simmer. After 3 hours, add the prepared cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. Add additional water if needed, to keep the corned beef submerged. Cook for another 30-45 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Best Way to Carve Corned Beef:
Remove the cooked corned beef from its cooking liquid. Slice the corned beef against the grain of the meat, as thin as possible. A sharp knife in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other to hold it.
Corned Beef Cooking Beer Suggestions:
The Corned Beef can be cooked ahead, using all four different cooking techniques. Below the recipe, describing how to cook Corned Beef with 4 different techniques.
If you are looking for more Irish Menu Ideas, take a look at my menu.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 1 Large Corned Beef | 20 minute |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 2 1/2 hour | 5 - 8 days |
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Even though the true traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage was more for royalty in Ireland (Irish Bacon and Cabbage was more historic for the commoners), this dish has become a celebrated dish in the US for St. Patrick's Day. This will teach you how to cook Corned Beef, resulting in a better technique to make a tender, well seasoned, moist and juicy meat.
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- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns whole
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds whole
- 1 teaspoon cloves whole
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed black or yellow
- 1 teaspoon Grains of Paradise whole
- 2 pints Stout Style Ale, such as Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout or Guiness
- 3 - 5 pound corned beef, store bought or my Stout Cured Corned Beef
- water enough to cover the meat by 2 inches
- 6 - 8 each potatoes, red bliss or Yukon gold washed and peeled
- 5 each carrots, large peeled and quartered
- 5 each garlic, cloves peeled and sliced
- 1 each onions, yellow peeled and sliced
- 2 each cabbage, green, heads quartered
- 1 cup butter, clarified (optional)
- 1 recipe Mustard Ale Sauce recipe HERE
- 1 recipe Horseradish Ale Sauce recipe HERE
- In a sauté pan over medium heat, add peppercorns, coriander, cloves, mustard seed and grains of paradise. Stir the spices until they start to pop and become very aromatic, about 3 minutes. Add the toasted spices to a bowl to cool.
- Place the corned beef into a large bag, or split the corned beef into pieces that will fit into your size bags (even individual serving sizes). If you have a chamber style vacuum sealer, add enough stout beer to barely cover the meat, then add the spices, dividing among the number of bags. Seal on high.
- If you have a 'seal a meal' style vacuum sealer, first freeze the stout beer in ice cube trays over night. Then add the ice cubes with the cured meat and divided amount of spices and seal. This will keep the beer in the bag and not be sucked out into the machine when sealing.
- Set the Water bath Temperature: 136°F | 57.7°C for 72 hours 160°F | 71°C for 48 hours 180°F | 82°C for 8 hours 180°F | 82.2°C for 8 hours Place the sealed corned beef into the water bath and set the timer for that cooking temperature. I have experimented with other temperatures and cooking times, trying to achieve the most tender corned beef.
- For the Vegetables: Vacuum seal (on high) the potatoes and carrots separately, adding a few tablespoons of butter, and seasoning with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and carrots bags to a 180°F | 82.2°C. The potatoes and carrots will take about an hour to fully cook. For the cabbage, first sauté the sliced onions in butter over medium heat, until they turn transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the sliced garlic and cook another minute. Then add the cabbage (slice for this version, removing the core) and stir to coat the cabbage in butter, and sauté until the cabbage turns a bright green color, about 4 - 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and it's ready to serve.
- Remove the now corned beef into your crock pot. Add the stout beer and enough water to just cover the corned beef. In a sauté pan over medium heat, add peppercorns, coriander, cloves, mustard seed and grains of paradise. Stir the spices until they start to pop and become very aromatic, about 3 minutes. Add the toasted spices to the brisket and cover with a lid.
- Most slow cooker | crock pots have two temperature settings. If set to the low setting, set the timer for 8 - 9 hours. The temperature for low (which varies depending on the brand and manufacturer can range from 190°F | 88°C - 200°F | 93°C. This is very similar to what temperature you would sous-vide brisket. The last 45 minutes of cooking, add the potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic. The last 20 minutes add the cabbage.
- For high temperature setting, 290°F | 143°C - 315°F | 157°C, the corned beef will take around 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours to be tender and fully cooked. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic and cabbage the last 30 minutes of cooking.
- In a large Dutch oven or pot, placed over medium heat, add the black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cloves, mustard seeds and grains of paradise. Stir the spices until they start to pop and become very aromatic, about 3 - 4 minutes. Add the stout beer, then the brisket and enough water to cover the brisket.
- Turn the heat to medium low, creating a gentle simmer, cover the pot with a lid and cook for about 3 hours or till the brisket is fork tender.
- Prep the potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic cloves. About 2 ½ hours into the cooking of the brisket, add these vegetables to the pot and recover, checking the level of the cooking liquid; making sure there is enough to fully cover the meat and vegetables. About 15 minutes later, add the cabbage, and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the brisket and vegetables are fork tender.
- When ready to serve, remove the corned beef from the cooking pot and transfer it to a large cutting board. Slice the meat across (perpendicular) to the grain of the meat, to make the corned beef more tender. If you cut the corned beef with the grain, it will be noticeably tougher. Place the sliced meat on a serving platter and add/arrange the strained vegetables. Use a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid to moisten the meat for presentation.
- To enhance this classic feast, serve the Stout Cured Corned Beef with clarified butter (made with a clove of peeled garlic, Mustard Ale Sauce and/or Horseradish Ale Sauce.
Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe Variations:
- Instead of just potatoes, mix up the root vegetables with turnips, rutabagas, parsnips and | or leeks
- Green cabbage is the go to cabbage, with this recipe. Yet trying Murdoc Cabbage, Savoy or Napa Cabbage will also work
Leftovers Corned Beef Ideas:
Stout Cured Corned Beef Hash
More Irish Beer Cuisine Recipes:
The times and temperatures in the actual recipe paragraph are wrong, I believe. The 72 hour and 8 hour temperatures are reversed.
Thanks for the comment. The times are correct for sous vide cooking: 180°F | 82.2°C for 8hrs or 136°F | 57.7°C and cooked for 72 hours. Longer it cooks, the lower the temperature so it can break down the connective tissue and make a tender, yet still hold together meat.
That’s not what it says:
Set the water bath temperature: 136°F/57.7°C for 8 hours 160°F/71°C for 48 hours 180°F/82.2°C for 72 hours Place the sealed corned beef into the water bath and set the timer for that cooking temperature. I have experimented with other temperatures and cooking times, trying to achieve the most tender corned beef.
We were looking at different pages Lester, apologize. The error has been fix. Thanks for pointing this out. Cheers
I took your advice and used my Ninja slow cooker on SPD.. it was hand’s down the best corned beef I’ve ever made.. I’ve done stove top and IP before.. Slow cooker made a huge difference. It was a 5lb Point cut (huge for that cut) and we actually had enough leftover to make hash!