Friday 11 February 2011

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE WITH BEETS



Novel Food hosted by Simona from Briciole is an online book club with the following concept: Cook something that has been inspired by a published literary work you've read, then create a post about it. I love to read and I love to cook so there was no doubt that I would join Novel Food as soon as I found out about it! 

I had a month until the posting deadline, plenty of time to prepare, or so I thought. Here I am, rushing to finish. Anyway, I've been reading "Cleopatra, A Life," by Stacy Schiff. Although I am charmed by this book, thinking about it does not give me any culinary inspiration. But which book and which author should I tackle for Novel Food? James Joyce came to mind, and in particular Joyce's "Dubliners," which holds a special place in my heart. Published in 1914, "Dubliners," is a collection of 15 short stories written in realistic detail and filled with everyday scenes of middle-class Dublin, Ireland. The characters live ordinary lives, but as their stories unfold the reader becomes aware of intensely personal and often tragic revelations about them. It’s the glimpse into their emotional lives courtesy of Joyce and his poignant narrative that has always had a profound effect on me. One of the short stories, in particular, moves me to tears every time I read it. The title of that story is “A Painful Case.”

James Joyce as photographed by Berenice Abbott in 1926 (National Portrait Gallery, London). The author had problems with his eyesight throughout his life.

“A Painful Case,” is a story about isolation. It concerns the brief intermingling of the lives of Mrs Sinico, a married woman who feels unfulfilled, and Mr Duffy, a bank cashier who leads a solitary and meticulously orderly life. The two are acquaintances who eventually grow close and develop a deep friendship. One day Mrs Sinico impulsively takes Mr Duffy’s hand and places it on her cheek. He is taken aback by her action and ends their relationship. At a farewell meeting, Mrs Sinico seems distraught and unwilling to say goodbye. Four years go by, during which Mr Duffy resumes his previous orderly routine. One evening, while eating a dinner of corned beef and cabbage at his usual restaurant, he reads a newspaper article entitled “A Painful Case.” The article details the death of Mrs Sinico, who was hit by a train at a Dublin station. A coroner’s inquest revealed that Mrs Sinico had taken to drinking during her last years, and it is inferred from the narrative that her death may have been a suicide. Slowly, Mr Duffy begins to feel remorse. He believes that by having rejected her he condemned her to loneliness and eventual death. He reflects on his own solitary life which has been devoid of her companionship and realises that he has lost his only chance for happiness. He will remain isolated from "life’s feast" because he lacks the courage to pursue happiness. 
Corned beef and cabbage—plain food, not something served at a feast—is briefly mentioned in "A Painful Case," but it's mentioned at the moment when Mr Duffy is about to undergo a significant psychological change. It's the moment when his epiphany begins, that moment when he begins to realise how emotionally paralysed he has become. Joyce's epiphanies are rare and momentous occasions during which an awareness floods a character's conscience and he or she gains a profound understanding of a particular situation. Epiphanies are recurrent themes in the "Dubliners." In part, Joyce uses them to symbolise the colonisation of Ireland: A defeated and powerless nation as Ireland was at the time, is juxtaposed with defeated and powerless individuals. Not much ever changes in Joyce's Dublin, something which has a devastating effect on the human spirit.

Well, we've covered food, literature, politics, emotional isolation ... What should we tackle next? How about if we read some of Joyce's astonishingly beautiful and incisive language in the form of quotes from "A Painful Case?" Here are Mr Duffy and Mrs Sinico together:

"Her companionship was like a warm soil about an exotic. Many times she allowed the dark to fall upon them, refraining from lighting the lamp. The dark discreet room, their isolation, the music that still vibrated in their ears united them. This union exalted him, wore away the rough edges of his character, emotionalised his mental life."

Mr Duffy reads of Mrs Sinico's Death:

"One evening as he was about to put a morsel of corned beef and cabbage into his mouth his hand stopped. His eyes fixed themselves on a paragraph in the evening paper which he had propped against the water-carafe. He replaced the morsel of food on his plate and read the paragraph attentively. Then he drank a glass of water, pushed his plate to one side, doubled the paper down before him between his elbows and read the paragraph over and over again. The cabbage began to deposit a cold white grease on his plate. The girl came over to him to ask was his dinner not properly cooked. He said it was very good and ate a few mouthfuls of it with difficulty. Then he paid his bill and went out."

The phrase "the cabbage began to deposit a cold grease on his plate." is rather startling. It prepares one for the upcoming chilling events. Here is the quote where Mr Duffy realizes what Mrs Sinico's death means for him:

"Why had he withheld life from her? Why had he sentenced her to death? He felt his moral nature falling to pieces... He gnawed the rectitude of his life; he felt that he had been outcast from life's feast. One human being had seemed to love him and he had denied her life and happiness: he had sentenced her to ignominy, a death of shame... No one wanted him; he was outcast from life's feast. He turned his eyes to the grey gleaming river, winding along towards Dublin ... He waited for some minutes listening. He could hear nothing: the night was perfectly silent. He listened again: perfectly silent. He felt that he was alone."

Chilling. Insightful. Powerful. Masterful. James Joyce!

Besides the connection with Joyce, why did I decide on corned beef and cabbage? Well, St. Patrick's Day is around the corner, and I have lots of Irish neighbours. Corned beef and cabbage will be on many dinner tables around here. I've never made it, but I have always wanted to. This way I can brag about it to my Irish friends, and especially to Leslie, who lives across the street. No doubt about it, corned beef and cabbage is comfort food and like all such food, it's delicious!  

I made corned beef and cabbage with a recipe based on one I found on the Food Network website. It includes beets served alongside the corned beef, and because I am Greek, and considering that beets are kind of popular in Greek cooking, I thought the beets would introduce a Greek twist to an Irish dish! 

Ingredients:
  • A 3-pound piece of corned beef
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 25 black peppercorns
  • 9 garlic cloves peeled
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1-quart chicken broth
  • 5 carrots, peeled and cut into 3" pieces
  • 2 small turnips peeled and quartered
  • 4 shallots peeled and left whole. Ouch! We are having such a bad winter here that shallots cost one shallot for $1.99!
  • 4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 1/2 head cabbage, cut into wedges
  • 3 beets, peeled and sliced
  • chopped parsley for garnish
  • a little salt and pepper, a little lemon juice, a little olive oil and a negligible amount of oregano and garlic powder

Directions:
  • Corned beef is made by brining beef brisket in a mixture of spices. It comes with a thick fat layer that should be trimmed and discarded. Once that job is done, the corned beef should be washed really well so as to remove some of the brine. For this recipe, discard the spice packet that comes with the corned beef.
  • In a large heavy pot, combine the corned beef, 2 bay leaves, 15 peppercorns, 6 garlic cloves cut in half, and a pinch of ground cloves.
  • Add water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 hours, low and slow as they say. Remove the meat from the pot and reserve it on a plate, keeping it warm. 
  • While the meat is cooking, prepare the beets: Line an ovenproof pot with aluminium foil and place the beets inside. Season them with salt and pepper, a slight amount of olive oil, some lemon juice and just a bit of garlic powder and oregano. Close the aluminium foil around the beets and bake them in a 350° F oven for about 45 minutes, until they are soft.
  • You can also boil the beets, but remember not to add them in with the corned beef or vegetables, because they will turn everything red.
  • Let's get back to the pot where the meat was cooked: I tasted the liquid and I found that it was very salty. Extremely salty. Now, most recipes call for boiling the vegetables in that liquid, but I couldn't in good conscience submerge my vegetables in what was essentially a brine. So I discarded the liquid, washed the pot and started over. I added a quart of low sodium chicken broth. I added seasonings: 3 garlic cloves cut in half, about 10 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, and a pinch of ground cloves.
  • When the broth came to a boil I added the turnips and carrots, lowered the heat and simmered for 20 minutes.
  • Then I added the onions and potatoes. By now I had a layer of vegetables covering the whole surface of the pot. I placed the cabbage on top of the vegetables, covered the pot and cooked for an additional 30 minutes.
  • The cabbage was steamed by the aromatic broth, and the turnips absorbed so much flavour that they were the best turnips I had ever tasted. That's saying a lot, because I am not the world's greatest turnip fan!
  • If the meat is cold, put it back in the pot next to the cabbage and give it a steam bath until it warms up.
  • And that's it. Mission accomplished. Slice the meat and serve warm, accompanied by the broth which is really tasty, and the vegetables.
  • You can serve the beets alongside the other vegetables, or better yet, you can present them separately as a salad.



This post is my contribution to the 12th edition of Novel Food.