Corned beef with pickled cabbage and cheese sauce
- Prepare
- overnight
- Cook
- over 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Pregnancy-friendly
This homemade corned beef is slowly cooked in an aromatic stock and then served with a rich cheese sauce, pickled cabbage and dill pickles.
Ingredients
For the cabbage
- ¼ red cabbage, finely shredded on a mandolin
- 6 baby pickled onions
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- salt
For the corned beef
- 1.5kg/3lb 5oz pre-brined corned beef
- 2 onions, halved
- 4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and split
- 2 heads of garlic, halved
- 1 star anise
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 small bunch fresh thyme, roughly chopped
For the cheese sauce
- 200ml/7fl oz full-fat milk
- 20g/¾oz unsalted butter
- 200g/7oz Gruyère cheese, grated
- 5 free-range egg yolks
- Worcestershire sauce, to taste
For the mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp American mustard
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Tabasco smoky chipotle sauce, to taste
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
Method
To make the cabbage, lightly salt the cabbage and leave in a colander for 30 minutes. Put the cabbage and onions in a large bowl. Warm the vinegar, caraway and sugar in a saucepan and pour over the cabbage and onions. Leave to pickle for a few hours or overnight.
To make the corned beef, place the beef, vegetables, herbs and spices in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water, place on the hob and simmer for 3–4 hours until tender. Leave to cool in the stock.
To make the cheese sauce, place the milk and butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the cheese and whisk until melted, then remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and Worcestershire sauce, to taste. Keep warm.
To make the mayonnaise, mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
To serve, remove the beef from the cooled stock and slice thinly. Spoon some of the mayonnaise onto a large serving plate and build layers of the sliced beef, pickled cabbage, dill pickles and cheese sauce. Garnish with dill sprigs and rye crispbreads.
