Corned Beef Ham
This untraditional recipe for brisket comes to us from Ruth Reichl, one of the foodie legends who was editor of the now defunct Gourmet magazine and is the author of some truly wonderful food memoirs. It is her mother’s recipe and as Ruth explains, Miriam was not one of the kitchen greats. Miriam didn’t know what to do with brisket (a cut of meat that is the centerpiece of many Jewish holiday meals) so she decided to treat it like a ham. Of course, observing Jews don’t eat ham so the irony is certainly not lost.
This recipe for Corned Beef Ham and its source, pbsfood.com, was brought to my attention by my brother-in-law Doug. Doug lives in Vienna, Austria and we don’t see him often enough, so I made this brisket for our Hanukkah dinner as both a way to feel connected to Doug and an experiment because I always like a weird sounding recipe!
I’m guessing that brisket purists might not want to replace their traditional brisket with this version on their holiday table but it is a delicious alternative for corned beef lovers, ham lovers or just plain ole meat eaters. The cooking time is long but the preparation is incredibly simple. Christmas dinner, St. Patrick’s Day or Easter supper would all benefit from this delicious meat. So go ahead, throw skepticism to the wind and give Corned Beef Ham a try. Enjoy!
Corned Beef Ham
Ingredients
- 4 lbs whole corned beef brisket
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 Tbls prepared mustard
- ΒΌ c brown sugar
- Whole cloves
- 1 can spiced peaches*
Instructions
- Cover corned beef brisket with water in a large pot (if your brisket has a separate spice packet, be sure to add that, too).
- Add the bay leaves and onion.
- Cook over medium heat about 3 hours, until the meat is very tender.
- While the meat is cooking, mix the brown sugar and mustard. Preheat oven to 325.
- Take meat from water and remove all visible fat. Insert cloves, as if it were a ham.
- Cover meat with the mustard/sugar mixture and bake one hour, basting frequently with peach syrup.**
- Remove from the oven and let meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing it against the grain.
- Surround meat with spiced peaches and serve.
Notes
*I couldn't find spiced peaches, so I used regular canned peach slices. I am sure that this difference affected the final outcome but we liked the adjustment.
**I made the brisket a day in advance (which is always best with brisket) and surrounded the unsliced meat with the sliced peaches before refrigerating it overnight. When I reheated the brisket before slicing and serving, the peaches were warmed and softened.