Corned beef is a St. Patrick's Day tradition that's on menus of Irish pubs across the country — including Celtic Crossing in the Cooper-Young neighborhood of Midtown Memphis.
For St. Patrick’s Day, Celtic Crossing serves a classic corned beef dinner on its menu. Thickly-sliced, house-brined corned beef is served with boiled new potatoes, braised cabbage, carrots and a horseradish-mustard sauce.
So what exactly is corned beef?
Celtic Crossing owner D.J. Naylor explained that corned beef starts as a beef brisket. It’s how it is prepared that changes it to corned beef.
The brisket is brined for up to 10 days and then slow-cooked for two to three days, depending on the size of the cut of beef.
The brine is a primarily salt-based with ingredients like brown sugar, garlic, bay leaves, allspice berries, peppercorns and coriander seeds added for flavor.
Celtic Crossing has a corned beef sandwich on its everyday menu, but it also has had some fun with this Irish ingredient.
Irish Nachos is a dish DJ’s wife, Jamie, brought to the restaurant after a trip.
They start with a generous serving of hand-cut French fries that are then smothered in Dubliner white cheddar cheese. It’s all topped with tomatoes, scallions and, of course, corned beef.
And, you’ll need an Irish beer to wash it all down. Celtic Crossing offers a large selection of Irish and Memphis-brewed beers.
But DJ’s suggestion?
Corned beef can be served of course with any beer, but his preferred choice would be Guinness Irish Stout.
This is Jennifer Chandler with The Weekly Dish. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
