I am taking the liberty of re-posting this awesome grilled corned beef from a couple years ago… It’s still delicious. Happy St. Paddy’s Day! ~ Jeff

Sometime in the 17th century, the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland made St. Patrick’s Day an official feast day to commemorate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.   Sometime between the early 1900’s (when it was made an official holiday) and now, it has gradually become more of a celebration of all things Irish.  In addition to wearing green, parades, shamrocks, and drinking green beer, a boiled dinner of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes has become tradition in the US and Canada.

I tweaked the traditional dinner because I actually really love corned beef.  The “corned” part of corned beef refers to the size of the salt used to cure the meat (yep, the salt was the size of a corn kernel). One of the benefits of the traditional boiled dinner, is that it helped to pull some of the salt back out of the meat.  In other words, if you tried to grill corned beef the same way you would a brisket, you end up with a pretty salty dinner.

The day before I wanted to grill the corned beef, I poached it for a bit, not to cook it through but to pull some of the salt out.  Afterward, I cooled the corned beef and then rest in the refrigerator overnight.  The result after grilling was a perfectly seasoned, juicy and tender corned beef.  The idea for the mustard plaster came from eating corned beef in Jewish delis where there is always a bottle of Gulden’s spicy brown mustard on the table. 🙂

Corned Beef with Mustard Plaster

serves eight to ten

For corned beef brisket:
1 (3 1/2 to 4 1/2) corned beef brisket
1/3 cup spicy brown mustard
1 Tablespoon prepared horseradish (not cream style)
2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Extras:
Heavy-duty aluminum foil
Instant read digital thermometer

For serving:
Grilled Tri-Colored Potatoes
Emerald City Slaw

Grilling method: Indirect

Remove corned beef from package and place it, any accumulated package juices, and pickling spice package into a large pot or Dutch oven. Cover brisket with water up to 1-inch above the brisket. Place a small plate on top of the meat to keep it submerged. Bring to a low simmer around 165°F to 170°F for 90 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest in water while it cools to room temperature – this will help to leech some of the salt from the meat. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest refrigerated overnight. Reserve the poaching liquid.

Remove corned beef from refrigerator an hour or so before you want to start grilling. Meanwhile, stir together remaining ingredients. Tear off a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (or two pieces of regular foil) big enough to wrap corned beef. Completely coat the corned beef with the mustard plaster and place in the middle or the foil. Bring up the sides of the foil, crimp and roll down; roll in the ends tightly.

Set up grill for indirect cooking (no need for a drip pan) and stabilize the temperature around 300°F to 325°F. Place foil-wrapped corned beef on the grill (not over the heat) and close the grill cover. Cook until the internal temperature of the meat is 180°F to 185°F.

Remove from grill and let rest before slicing.

For serving: Use the poaching liquid to boil and flavor tri-colored new potatoes for Grilled Tri-Colored Potatoes.  Serve sliced corned beef and grilled potatoes with a heaping side of my Emerald City Slaw and let’s skip the green beer and hoist a Guinness (or two).

Cheers and Happy Grilling!

Jeff