Snake River Farms Corned Beef Brisket – Great Dish Ideas
Last year I shared my St. Patrick’s Day barbecued corned beef brisket recipe. For an encore, I came up with a great dish idea this year of what to do with the leftovers after your traditional St. Patty’s Day dinner meal. Thanks to the kind folks at Snake River Farms, I was able to enjoy a twin-pack gourmet corned beef brisket. I totally agree with the SRF motto that the flavor and texture of American Style Kobe beef is unbeatable. It is truly comfort food with an upscale twist. SRF developed their corned beef from a signature recipe designed to showcase the special attributes of their Wagyu beef. As you can see from the picture below, the ultra premium corned beef brisket flat looked flavorful and succulent even while in the packaging.
PART A: Cooking the BBQ Corned Beef Brisket
I cooked the corn beef in my Weber Smokey Mountain using the Barbecued Corn Beef Brisket recipe I shared last year. Be aware that corn beef is usually very salty so a soak is needed. Instructions for a soak are in my prior article. For the SRF corned beef I cooked, I removed it from package and rinsed off all of the pickling spices. I soaked it in cold water in the fridge for 2 hours, then drained and replenished with fresh water for another 2 hours. The brisket flat was given a quick rinse and patted dry.
If you are not familiar with the saltiness of the corned beef you purchased, I suggest cut off a small slice after each soak and cook it on a saucepan to gauge for yourself. You will want the salt to leach out so you can apply a rub (I used SYD Hot Rub) to re-season the brisket before smoking it.
For Wagyu beef, it generally takes a bit longer and higher temps to fully render the fat to reach the meat’s full flavor and texture potential. So be prepared to cook it until it feels probe tender and don’t rely on your thermometer as it may show 205 to 215F before it feels tender. Even at these high temps, Wagyu will not dry out because the higher fat content and striations of fat embedded in the meat will have had an opportunity to render and the meat will be super delicious. 
The SRF corned beef brisket rubbed down.
After plastic wrap 4 hours in the fridge
My SRF corned beef brisket was smoked fat-side down in a WSM-18 with several tennis-sized chunks of pecan wood for flavoring. After about 3 hours, the surface crust had set and it was wrapped in foil fat side up with a cup of diluted beef broth and returned to the pit and cooked until probe tender tested using a thin bamboo skewer. The internal temp of my flat was 210F when done but yours will vary so don’t rely on my temp readings. I removed it from the pit and cut open the foil and loosely tented it until I could handle the brisket for slicing (about 150F internal temp). At this point, you can serve it as part of a traditional St Patrick’s Day dinner or refrigerate or freeze the leftovers. 
PART B: Utilizing the Leftover BBQ Corned Beef Brisket
Cottage Pie w/ St Patrick’s Day BBQ Corned Beef Leftovers 
“Cottage Pie” is a term known to have been used since 1791, when potatoes were introduced as an affordable crop for the poor. A cottage pie has a meat filling with a crust made of mashed potatoes. Cottage pies were typically made using leftover meat from a previous cook, so this could be beef, pork, lamb, chicken, etc. Vegetables are commonly added along with broth and thickened into a gravy consistency. The “pie” is then topped with the mashed potatoes mixture.
Since 1877, “Shepherd’s Pie” was used synonymously with cottage pie. However, in more recent times, use of the term “Shepherd’s Pie” is more commonly reserved for a cottage pie that has meat filling made with mutton. Regardless of what you want to call it, this meat pie with mashed potato crust is absolutely delicious and a great way to use your leftover St. Patrick’s Day corned beef–such as Snake River Farm’s BBQ corned beef brisket seasoned with SYD Hot Meat rub! Here’s a delightful Irish-inspired cottage pie recipe using leftover BBQ corned beef brisket with SYD Hot rub, Guinness Draught beer, Irish vegetables, and topped with a creamy crust made of mashed potatoes & Dubliner cheese!
- Total Time: 4 hours 45 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
The Filling:
- 2 pats of Kerrygold butter (or 4 pats of regular stick butter)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 carrots, peeled & diced
- 2 teaspoons of tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup of Guinness Draught (Note: don’t use extra stout as it will be too bitter.)
- 1 cup of beef broth (or reserved defatted BBQ Corned Beef foiling juices, diluted with water to salinity level of typical broth)
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1 pound of leftover BBQ Corned Beef Brisket w/ SYD Rub, diced into half-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 teaspoon of thyme
- 1 tablespoon of flour
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- SYD Hot Rub to taste
The Potato Crust:
- 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes
- 2 oz of Kerrygold butter (or half a stick of regular stick butter)
- 1/4 cup of milk
- Salt and white pepper to taste
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 oz (about 1 loosely packed cup) of coarsely grated Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese (or your favorite cheese).
Garnish: green parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Assemble and prep all the ingredients
- SRF Wagyu Corned Beef Brisket w/ SYD Rub, diced for cottage pie
- (from left to right, front to back): tomato paste, thyme, black pepper, frozen green peas, diced barbecued corned beef brisket with SYD Hot rub, flour, carrots, butter, small onion, russet potatoes, Worcestershire sauce, Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, Guinness Draught beer. (Other ingredients not pictured: salt, white pepper, milk, beef broth, and two egg yolks.)
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks, then cook them in a pot of water on high heat. (Once a boil has been achieved, reduce the heat a little to a light boil / strong simmer)
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Take a large non-reactive sauté pan (stainless steel, enameled, non-stick etc.) and melt the butter. Add the diced onions and carrots. Turn the burner on medium high and sauté for about 3 minutes. Then stir in the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Guinness Draught beer, broth and water. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the diced corned beef, frozen peas and thyme. Cook for a couple minutes until the corned beef is warmed up and peas thaw a bit.
- Sprinkle in the flour and stir until it thickens up. Add SYD Hot Rub or salt and pepper to taste. The consistency should be that of gravy. If it is too watery add a little more flour, and if it is too thick add a little water. Once the filling is the proper consistency, place it into your baking dish (a 12-inch pie pan or 9-inch-deep casserole dish).
- Drain the cooked potatoes in a colander. They are ready when they break apart easily by inserting the end of a fork. While the potatoes are sitting in the colander, take the hot pan they were in, and add the butter and milk. Cook on high until butter is almost fully melted (or milk is foamy), then turn off the stove. Return the potatoes back to the pan and mash w/ the butter and milk (e.g. immersion blender, etc.). Add SYD Hot Rub or salt to taste. Add white (or black) pepper to taste or leave out if you like. Once the potatoes are mixed up and seasoned to your liking, gently mix in the egg yolks. Fold in the grated cheese.
- Dollop the potatoes all over the top of the filling with a large spoon. Once all the potatoes are over the filling, gently smooth the dollops together and run to the potato mixture to the edges of the dish (as to keep the filling from seeping out while baking). You can leave the potato topping smooth or give it an interesting texture if you like (e.g. using a fork, spoon, knife, etc.).
- Place the baking dish in the 350F preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden. Once finished baking, take the pie out and let it cool down for about 5-10 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped green parsley and serve to your favorite Leprechaun. Enjoy this absolutely delicious cottage pie, using St. Patrick’s Day leftover BBQ Corned Beef!
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: American