A beef about corned beef

The perennial favorite - corned beef and cabbage and all the good things that go along with it - is one of my all-time beloved dishes. Unnaturally pink slabs of fatty brisket, flavor laden chunks of root vegetables, succulent wedges of cabbage all served with a healthy dollop of spicy stone-ground mustard and a slice or two of warm, tender and crispy Irish soda bread – delectable. Homemade corned beef hash made from the leftovers – even better. Pesky pickling spices lying low like nasty little landmines just waiting for unexpecting teeth to chomp down - not good – not good at all. While I love mustard seeds in my mustard, I loathe biting into them in my boiled dinner. Ka-Boom!

My grandmother made the best corned beef and cabbage. My parents made good stuff too. Even the Navy made a mean carrot, cabbage and brisket lunch that packed the galley each and every St. Paddy’s Day. All…with…SEEDS! Try as I might to pick out all the peppercorns and friends, inevitably one or two or a few would escape detection by hiding in the folds of the beef or wedging into a potato chunk. What to do? What to do...

My eventual easy answer came from Japan. In fact, it sat it my gadget drawer largely unused for years without me even realizing the key to my dilemma was only a few feet away. I speak of the little empty tea bags used for loose tea. Yes, yes…one could put the spices in a square of cheesecloth or muslin and tie the little hobo bag shut before dropping the seasonings in the pot, but these little, single use bags work like a champ. I never cook with whole spices without them anymore. They keep the bay leaves at bay, the cloves cloistered, the allspice enshrined and pepper imprisioned in my adobo, lamb stew, beef and barley and more.  Oh, and they are of course also a wiz-bang at brewing tea...