Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

This is the result of my first ever attempt at corned beef and cabbage. I think it turned out really well. I used a slow cooker recipe because my daughter has gymnastics on Thursday evenings and I have no time to make dinner. I found this recipe on Food.com.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. corned beef brisket

7+ onion, chopped

¼ cup cider vinegar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 medium head of cabbage, cut into wedges

1 apple, sliced

¼ - ½ tsp caraway seeds (optional)

12 oz. dark beer

Directions:

Place corned beef brisket and any seasonings included in your slow cooker. Top with onion. Whisk together the vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, and cloves and pour over top. Add the cabbage wedges and apple slices and caraway seeds if using them. Pour beer over top.

Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours or high for about 4-5 hours.

Makes 6 servings.

It turned out really well. Since I had never made corned beef before, I had no idea how to know when it was done, especially since it is red even when fully cooked. I put mine on high because I didn't get it into the slow cooker until around noon. I checked it at 4:00 and the cabbage was in good shape (cooked, but with a little bite left to it), but I had no idea if the beef was done or not. So I turned it down to low and it cooked another 2 hours that way. At 6:00 the cabbage was slightly more done than I like it, but still edible. And the corned beef was perfect.

I didn't have the caraway seeds so I left them out.

This is the beer I used. It was super dark, and I don't like beer, so I honestly thought that I wasn't going to like this dish. But it didn't taste like beer at all. I was really surprised.

I heard that it's traditional to serve corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, but I didn't really know how to prepare them. I peeled them and cut them into large chunks and boiled them. Then on the serving platter, I poured some of the liquid from the slow cooker over them. That worked out well.

After Lena went to bed, Jim and I rounded out the day with Irish Cream Brownies.

I'm sure I'll be making this again next St. Patrick's Day!