I accidentally made Jigg’s dinner for St. Patrick’s Day. First time ever. Husband comes home with groceries: “look what I found, beef 50% off.” Beef in brine, the package said. What’s that?
It was pieces, so didn’t look like corned beef. Big pieces, so not like salt beef I’d seen before. And it was not in a pail. Too bad, because a pail would probably the only thing we were going to get from this ‘bargain’!
No cooking directions on the package. Tony’s Meats website had the package of beef in brine, alongside pails of salt beef. No recipes, but at least I knew they were two different things. Googling introduced me to a whole world of brining meat. But precious little on what to do with it once it’s brined. From my reading, I figured out a tactic. It worked, so here’s my surprisingly easy sort-of Jigg’s dinner.
Beef in Brine Jigg’s Dinner
Take beef out of the package and put in a bowl of cold water. Soak it, changing the water a couple of times. I did it for 10 minutes. You could soak it longer, but that worked fine.
Rinse beef and put in a large pot. (Leave the fat on. It will largely cook away.) Cover with water or water and beer. Recipes called for a bottle of dark beer. I used Alpine lager.
Bring to the boiling point and let simmer an hour. Skim off froth as needed.
Add chunks of potatoes, carrots and onions. Turnip too, but I didn’t have any. Simmer for half an hour.
Add chunks of cabbage and let simmer another half hour. I added no seasonings – certainly no salt! And that’s it.
Put the meat on a platter to slice (across the grain). Scoop the vegetables into a big bowl. And serve. Mustard or mustard pickle goes really well with it.
I froze the liquid for use as beef stock. But remember, it’s already salty.
I’m happy that I have finally cooked salt beef. It’s a cooking hurdle that I never would have taken on if I’d known that’s what I was doing! So I’ll try it again. And next time, I’ll make pease pudding with it. Then it would be a real Newfoundland Jigg’s dinner.
