Wonderful recipe! The corned beef was so tender and delcicious! My husband had bought two 11-pound pieces of brisket on sale (you know, buy one, get one free) not realizing that the bigger pieces of brisket are much more tough than say, an 8-pound brisket. After smoking one brisket and finding it excessively chewy and unappetizing, I decided to corn the remaining monster. I used pickling salt (this doesn't have iodine in it and so you wont get a funky, bitter after taste) as well as some Penzey's corning spices in the salt brine. Target has some wonderful glass pickle jars that come with lids - and the large one (it's around $12.99) held this 11-pound brisket, cut into 2 pieces, with no problem. In fact, I had to make more salt brine to cover it all and the pickle jar held the huge hunk of meat along with 1 1/2 gallons of brine easily. We have eaten the corned beef with the caggage, potatoes, etc as well as made some killer Reuben sandwhiches! Even though we just ate all this corned beef in February, my family is already clamoring for it to be made and served again for St. Patrick's Day! PS If the beef is too tender and falls apart when you slice it for sandwhiches, just chill the meat really well and it then holds together nicely.

Great recipe. Scales down well. Although not specifically stated, I think the meat needs to be lightly rinsed instead of just draining the brine. Any load of vegetables in pot are delectable.

Thank God for big zip lock bags! You can corn anything in them with less brine and just turn over afew times in your vegetable compartment. You must remember to check that temp stays in mid 30's to low 40's or things won't cure. Also remember that cured meat does not hold in freezer very long, because of salt content. I use Morton's TenderQuick, some jared pickling spices and brown sugar--just adjusting for fish, venison,chicken, pork or beef.

Very lacking in flavor. Best recipe on this site is the 'Slow cooked Corned Beef for Sandwiches' on this site. Once you tried it you won't need any other recipe.

Great stuff! We went to a parade in town, so to avoid having to "watch the pot", I used a crock pot -- 4.5 hrs. on "high", which was probably too long, but that's not the recipe's fault (it started as a 4 lb. brisket, that I trimmed probably a pound of fat off of, and then "corned" myself using these instructions, and also cut it in two so that it would fit in the crock pot; it probably should have cooked for 3.5 - 4 hrs. on high). I put in the bay leaves, peppercorns, etc. in the morning (I used the amount specified, even though I was using a smaller piece of meat), and then put in the potatoes and onions right before we left for the parade - I think a little over an hour before it's finished would be perfect. I cooked the cabbage separately, but next time I think I'll add it at the same time as the potatoes and onions. I also forgot to pick up a turnip and the cilantro, but it really turned out great anyway! I'm really looking forward to trying this again next year (and might not wait)!

First let me admit that I did use a pre-seasoned brisket from the grocery store. And I threw it in the crock pot for the day. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. My whole family absolutely loved it, even the baby who never eats meat. My husband told me beforehand that he hates boiled cabbage but guess who had a second helping of it. I especially loved the cilantro.

My first attempt at cornbeef and cabbage and it was great. I only soaked the cornbeef for about 5 hours prior to cooking it, I have talked to others about that and they said it really wasnt necessary. It came out really good - Thanks

You only need to corn the brisket if you didn't buy a corned beef brisket. I have a hard time in my area finding corned beef brisket, so this recipe has allowed me to enjoy one of my all time favorite recipes!

my bf ' mom is an iris. she normally took the corned beef out of the pot after simmering w/ the vegetables then put it on baking sheet & put a nice packed of brown sugar on top of it (the amount of sugar depends on how much u like), then broil it for a couple mins. u can c it turn to be like a caramel on top of the corned beef. then she took it out & serve. u always do it like that & it was a big hit everytime i cooked. i hope this help ! :-)

It smelled like corn beef, but the flavor just wasn't there. Not sure what went wrong...