On Friday we received three 30-pound cases of uncooked corned beef brisket. The Marine Corps had a way (by design) of acknowledging holidays and traditions. Additional fresh potatoes, carrots and cabbage were issued, and we had all the ingredients for a St. Patrick’s Day feast.
Sumo immediately started cutting the briskets down to size and boiled large stock pots of the pungent concoction. Eventually all the meat was cooked and cooled before we stripped off the remaining fat. There was way too much meat, and we started grinding (hand grinder) smaller chunks into shredded corned beef.
It was a lot of work, but by the end of the day we added diced potatoes, and onions to make a decent homemade corned beef hash. We planned to serve it as a meat option during Sunday brunch. We did have cases of canned corned beef hash available, but the troops referred to it as “dog food.” The corned beef stock was saved to cook the potatoes, carrots and cabbage served on the side.
The food run to Hill 37 returned with the normal amount of NY strip loins, creating an option of charcoal broiling your own steak on the outside BBQ or the traditional St. Patty’s meal (this would be interesting). I decided to have Top Culverhouse announce the choices at the Sunday morning briefing.
I am a retired restaurant manager. My wife Jenny and I have been married for 50 years, have three grown children and two teen grand kids.
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