Just in time for Saint Paddy’s Day, here’s a repeat of one of our favorite takes on corned beef; slow cooked in stout, then slowly roasted on a bed of sliced sweet potatoes and slathered in barbecue sauce.
If you’re lookin’ to do the whole ‘corned beef and cabbage’ thing, might I suggest this zippy coleslaw, or this honey mustard version as side dishes. And what CB&C dinner would be complete without a freshly baked loaf of Aunt Beezy’s Soda Bread on the sideboard?
Note: this is a wicked good dinner, but one that takes a while (like, about six hours) to come together. Fortunately, most of that time is spent with the corned beef just minding its own business in a slow cooker and then the oven, so you’ll be free to enjoy the rest of the day’s festivities with just a few trips into the kitchen for more ice for the cocktails and to mebbe check on the beef.
INGREDIENTS
Slow Cooker:
•1 (3-1/2 lb) corned beef
•2 sweet onions, coarsely chopped
•1 bottle oatmeal stout
•Gateway to the North Maple Garlic Seasoning – or your preferred steak seasoning
•Black pepper
•Dried parsley
•Dried chives
•Freeze dried shallots
Barbecue Sauce:
•1 cup ‘sup! – or ketchup or barbecue sauce
•1 can cherry cola
•1/4 cup cherry jam
•1/2 cup brown sugar
•1 tsp mustard powder
•2 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce – or your preferred hot sauce
Oven:
•2 sweet potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
•Gateway to the North Maple Garlic Seasoning – or your preferred steak seasoning
•Barbecue sauce
Arrange the sliced sweet onion over the bottom of a slow cooker, then place the corned beef on top. Add the seasonings (just toss the packet that came with your corned beef, this’ll be so much better), then pour the oatmeal stout over all, cover, and cook on Low for four hours.
While the corned beef is in the slow cooker, you’ll have more than enough time to make a really nice barbecue sauce by combining the ‘sup (spicy barbecue sauce is nice here, too) with the other ingredients in a two quart pan.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the sauce is nicely thickened and the flavors have blended. Set aside to cool.
Once the corned beef is ready from the slow cooker, heat your oven to 250º, and arrange the sweet potato slices over the bottom of a covered roasting pan.
Season the potatoes with the Gateway to the North (or other steak) Seasoning, then place the corned beef on top, cover, and cook for 90 minutes.
Remove the cover, slather the corned beef with the barbecue sauce, then return to the oven, uncovered, for 30 or 40 minutes, until the sauce has nicely glazed the beef and mebbe drizzled over the sweet potatoes, too.
There you have it, a dinner to make old Saint Paddy proud, or, as we say around here: “Erin Go Barbecue.”