Sit down to a dinner of tender, slow oven-cooked Guinness Braised Corned Beef. Makes the perfect addition to your St. Patrick’s Day dinner!
Without fail at the beginning of March every year I start getting a hankering for corned beef. I know it has to do with the mounds of St. Patrick’s Day recipes floating around Pinterest and grocery stores suddenly increasing the amount of corned beef they keep in stock. While I know it’s the marketing strategies that bring on the craving, my stomach says otherwise and sitting down to a corned beef dinner has become a yearly tradition in our household.
We aren’t Irish, not even a little bit but last time I checked corned beef and cabbage was never a traditional dish to be cooked in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day anyway. The Irish population started to consuming corned beef when they immigrated to America and it became the more affordable option. Not surprisingly if you are one of those people that think of corned beef as a Kosher deli food than an Irish one, you are correct! The Irish population settled near the Jewish communities in New York City and purchased their briskets from the Kosher butchers. This is how it came to be beloved by all of us!
For years I used to boil my corned beef for hours until it was tender, just the way my mom would cook it. Until I realized that braising your corned beef in the oven was the way to go.
For starters it takes significantly less time than boiling and you can impart more flavor into the meat than just boiling water. Not to mention this is a set it and forget it situation! To make it a little more festive and “Irish” I went ahead and braised it with a good amount of Guinness which seeps into the beef as it cooks for a nice malty, bready taste. In the final moments the corned beef is topped with a spicy brown sugar mustard for a glaze that’s simply irresistible. I of course couldn’t resist tossing my Jewish roots just a little into the mix and added some potatoes to the pot as it cooked – our traditional way of cooking a brisket!
Pair it with some braised cabbage and dinner is good to go! Bonus, I highly suggest using the braising liquid from the corned beef to cook the cabbage!
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 3-4lb cured corned beef
- 2 cups Guinness Extra Stout
- 1 cup low-sodium beef stock
- 1 tablespoon pickling spice
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 large or 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 300 degrees F.
- Remove the corned beef from the packaging and rinse well with cold water. If it contains a package of pickling spices save for later.
- Place the corned beef in an oven safe braising dish or dutch oven and arrange the potatoes around the sides of the corned beef.
- Pour in the Guinness and beef stock so that it reaches to just the top of the corned beef, it does not have to cover it.
- Sprinkle the pickling spices over the top (either from the reserved packaging or your own) and place in the oven covered to braise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until fork tender.
- In a small bowl whisk together the mustard, brown sugar, honey and cayenne pepper and set aside.
- Remove the corned beef from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.
- Brush the glaze on top of the corned beef and place back in the oven uncovered for 15-20 or until the glaze has browned slightly.
- Remove and sit for about 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.
- While the corned beef is resting you can use the braising liquid to make braised corned beef or if desired reduce the liquid down in a medium pot for a gravy to drizzle over the top.
