New England Boiled Dinner
Braised corned beef with red potatoes, cabbage, onions and spices.

Recipe by Paul Mayville

Boiled dinners were always served once a week from early fall until late spring, with Mondays or Wednesdays favored for serving the dish. The cabbage often went into a netted cotton bag and came from the kettle with the quarters whole. A boiled dinner is a very old version of a perfect one pot meal. The point, of course, is that almost everything had to be made in one pot anyway.

The meal is similar to corned beef and cabbage. But where the boiled dinner has potatoes, onions, and sometimes carrots, turnips and even beets, corned beef and cabbage has only the corned beef and, ah... cabbage, duh.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds corned beef brisket
• 4 quarts cold water (16 cups)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
• 4 whole allspice berries
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 head green cabbage, cored and quartered
• 1 1/2 pounds red potatoes, halved or quartered, depending on size
• 1 pound boiler onions, peeled
• black pepper, to taste

Place the corned beef in a large Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid; add the water, bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice, and cloves. Bring to a boil, uncovered, and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 4 hours.

In last half hour, remove the brisket and add the vegatables to the cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, return brisket to pot (on top of vegatables) and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

Remove the brisket to a cutting board. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cabbage to a large platter. Slice the corned beef 1/2 inch thick across the grain. Lay the slices over the cabbage and surround it with the rest of the vegatables. Ladle some of the hot cooking liquid over the corned beef and season with pepper. Serve immediately with whole grain mustard.

Serves 4