Susie’s Meanderings, Part 2

Breakfast was oatmeal ( very nice oatmeal with figs and apricots and a little splash of cream), but I forgot to take a picture before I devoured it.
Dinner was a result of absolute serendipity. I wandered into Savenor’s on Charles street, having noticed that I had just missed the T rumbling overhead, and they had duck! (also Wagyu beef hot dogs, but that just seemed silly…) So I got some nice fresh long island duck legs; having seen a recipe for quick duck confit that has been percolating at the back of my mind. (Once again, Simply Recipes, thank you for another excellent dinner). Let me just say, this turned out better than my wildest expectations. The crispiest skin imaginable, melting duck fat, tender meat. I utterly ignored the pleas of my cat and picked the bones clean. I also used a little of the duck fat to saute some cabbage with a little onion (and a splash of apple cider vinegar). Divine.

If you’re wondering why the corned beef isn’t pink, the only corned beef available at my store was nitrate free, which is a good thing, I guess, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to like beef corned without nitrates.     I really think my corned beef should be pink. Or I used to.  It turns out pink isn’t a flavor.

Inspired by one of my favorite food blogs (Simply  Recipes), I cut my brisket in half and baked one half with a brown sugar/mustard rub, and cooked the other in my slow cooker (my usual habit). The baked one wins hands down. These two little pieces were all that was left of the pound and a half that went into the oven, and it took all my willpower not to eat them as they went into the refrigerator.  I might have to learn how to corn my own beef, now that I know it doesn’t have to be pink.

Nitrate / Nitrite free corned beef