Corned Beef for Senior Lunch

I do love cooking for a crowd.

OK, I know it's a little warped.   And I probably don't know enough to be scared of cooking for a bunch of people.

What I do know is, I can take my own home recipes, and make them so they taste good even when I make a lot.

I made some Corned Beef and Cabbage in honor of St. Paddy's Day a couple of weeks ago and people really liked it.

Most had never tried Corned Beef my way before and were very happy to eat it.

First off...

I simmered the Corned Beef for a couple of hours in some water with the pickling spices.  I pulled the beef out, (all 50 pounds), placed them in two deep pans, slathered them with some of my 'special sauce'.  I also put a little of the corned liquid in with them, covered with foil, and baked for another couple of hours.  I then removed the foil and let them brown a little so that the 'special sauce' glazed a little.

We chopped up 8 heads of cabbage.  

Beef in the pan, ready to be glazed with sauce. 

 Special Sauce.   Equal amounts of brown sugar and yellow mustard.   









We did cook the potatoes, carrots and cabbage in the reserved liquid.  But because I was doing so much, I was able to cook each of the veggies separately.
And of course  I had to make some Soda Bread.

We also had lots of dessert.

All in all,  a great meal.

Ummm, did I mention I started cooking this meal at 5 am?   I did.   Only way to get the Corned Beef tender and flavourful in time to eat at noon. 

I did go home and take a nap BTW when I was done.    And as usual, had some great volunteers helping along the way, along with a very generous donation of strawberries and pineapple bites for the dessert table.