Hickory-Smoked Corned Beef from the Weber Grill Restaurant

This time of year we celebrate all things Irish, and at the Weber Grill Restaurant we wanted to celebrate the holiday with our own take on a traditional favorite, the corned beef and cabbage platter. To make our version, we combined the classic corned beef flavors with the smoky deliciousness of a hickory smoked brisket. Use a good quality brisket for this, and allow for enough time to soak in the water before cooking, or it will be too salty. Plan ahead, give the brisket enough time to smoke in the smoker and you can create your own holiday tradition to share with your family. In the restaurant, we serve this with roasted potatoes, grilled carrots, cabbage and horseradish sauce. A St Patrick’s Day staple, updated on a Weber Smoker!

If you'd rather have one of the Weber Grill Restaurant chefs do the work, be sure to visit any of our locations where we will be serving this dish during the entire month of March! 

Serves: 6-8 people

Prep Time: 15 minutes (overnight for the soak in water)

Cook Time: 8-9 hours (smoked brisket)

                    25 minutes (grilled vegetable sides)

Special Equipment:

Weber Smoky Mountain

Hickory wood chunks

Vegetable grill basket

Heavy duty aluminum foil

Ingredients:

Smoked Beef:  

1 corned beef, raw – about 14 lbs (make sure the brisket has both parts on it, the “point” and the “flat”)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

4 Tbsp black pepper, ground

Vegetables:      

2 pounds small red potatoes

6 Tbsp olive oil

3 pounds carrots, peeled, cut into large chunks

1 head green cabbage

Salt and Pepper

Sauce:                  

½ cup prepared horseradish

1 cup sour cream

1 ½ Tbsp chives, minced                            

Directions:

1) Remove the corned beef from the package and discard the spice packet. Place the brisket into a large container and cover it with fresh water. Make sure the container is large enough to hold the brisket with enough room to float. Store this in a refrigerator and let it soak for 24 hours. This step is really important, this is the step that helps remove the extra salt from the brisket. Once the brisket has soaked 24 hours, remove it from the water and pat it dry with paper towels.

2) Trim the fat on the brisket to ¼” all over, and cut out any large sections of fat, if necessary.

3) Once the brisket is trimmed, rub it with the sugar and the black pepper. Rub as much as you can on all sides, as evenly as possible.

4) Set up the smoker for low temperature smoking and stud the charcoal with the hickory chunks.

5) When the smoker is ready, position the seasoned brisket in the center of the smoker. Cook this around 250F for 8-9 hours.

6) Check the brisket after 2 hours, and load more hickory chunks, if necessary. Repeat every 2 hours, as needed.

7) To check if the brisket is cooked through, check the temperature in the larger piece (the bottom piece) in at least 2 places. You are looking for a temperature of 185F. It should also be somewhat soft when pushing the thermometer into it.

8) When the brisket has been cooked to temperature, remove it from the smoker and wrap with foil, 2 times, all around. Place this in your oven (turned off!) to rest.

9) While the brisket rests, set up your grill (gas or charcoal) for direct, medium cooking (about 400F).

10) Cut the head of cabbage in half. Rub a little olive oil all over the cabbage and season lightly with the salt and pepper. Wrap with foil tightly. Place this on the grill and let roast for 25 minutes, or until soft.

11) Toss the carrots and potatoes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Use a vegetable grill basket to roast them on the grill until cooked through.

12) Make the sauce by combining the prepared horseradish, sour cream and chives together. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste.

13) Slice the smoked corned brisket against the grain, for best results.

Keep the Coals Hot!