Low-Carb Un-Corned Beef with Pan-Browned Winter Vegetables Recipe (2024)

Ingredients

Units Scale

For Un-Corned Beef

• 2 1/2 pounds chuck roast
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/8 cup Dijon mustard
• 4 cloves garlic—peeled and crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves—crumbled
• 2 cups water
• 1 large onion

Pan-Browned Winter Vegetables

• 3/4 pounds cabbage, quartered
• 2 small turnips, quartered
• 1/3 pound rutabaga, quartered
• 2 tablespoons beef fat, skimmed from roast

Garnish (Optional)

• 1/2 cup Horseradish Dip
• 1/3 cup Country-style Mustard

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1. Coat both sides of brisket in mustard. Measure out spices and mix together in a small bowl. Liberally coat both sides of the brisket with spice mixture and rub into the meat, making sure it adheres. Top with dried thyme of 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme. Bruise the thyme by gently hitting with a heavy spatula. Don’t worry about over-seasoning, most of the spices will come off while cooking.
2. Place meat in a large zip tight bag. Squeeze out as much air as you can. Place plastic bag in a pan to catch any drippings if the bag leaks. Park it in the icebox for a few hours or up to 24 hours to marinate.
3. Preheat oven to 225°. Remove meat from bag. Discard any liquid that accumulated while it marinated. Place meat on a bed of sliced onion or on top of a bag of boiler onions. Add water and seal tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 225° for 5-6 hours or until meat is tender.
4. 30 minutes before removing from oven, remove 1 cup of braising liquid from pan. Place in bottom of medium saucepan and add a steamer basket. Layer rutabagas in the bottom layer and top with turnips. Place the cabbage on top and cover with lid. Steam veggies for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender. Remove from heat. Reserve steaming liquid and reserve veggies until meat is done and you’re ready to serve. You will brown the veggies in beef fat before servings.
5. Prior to serving, skim 2 tablespoons of beef fat from meat pan. Place in large non-stick skillet over high heat. Heat fat and add veggies. Allow veggies to brown on each side. Remove from pan.
6. Reserve onion and garlic cloves and serve with beef. Strain beef drippings from Un-Corned Beef pan and from the liquid used to steam the veggies. Serve 1 or 2 tablespoons of pan juices over beef.

Serving Ideas: Serve with coarse-grain mustard, or make a horseradish sauce if desired. It’s great on its own!

SUSIE T’s NOTES:
You can use the cut of beef that is on sale! I used chuck pot roast on sale for $1.88/lb to make this recipe. I’ve used brisket, chuck arm roast, sirloin, sirloin cap, eye of round, and bottom round with equal success. Also, you can cook Un-corned Beef up to two days ahead and refrigerate. Retain the liquid and re-warm the meat in its own liquid on serving day. Making it a day ahead is great because the flavors develop, then you can use a little of the fat rendered during cooking to saute and glaze steamed cabbage and root veggies.

Forget about the potatoes and try adventure! Turnips and Rutabagas are wonderful when steamed in part of the cooking broth from the un-corned beef. They’re even better when sautéed in a little of the brisket fat. Rutabagas are a higher carb item but give a very potato-esque mouthfeel, so a tiny bit on your plate won’t send the carb count through the roof!