Corned Beef and Pickling Spice

St. Patrick's Day. Growing up, this meant boiled corned beef, boiled cabbage and (you guessed it) boiled potatoes.

No offense to my Irish relatives, but I'm not sure I'd have waited until the famine to immigrate, if this was the normal offering.

My plans for a slightly revised Irish-inspired holiday meal were thrown a bit off kilter due to the broccoli and fennel still nesting in the refrigerator from last weekend's veggie buying spree at Meat Farms. Therefore, no cabbage or potatoes were made for tonight; instead, pan sauteed broccoli with red pepper flakes were combined with onions and corned beef that were braised overnight (last night) in the slow cooker.

As meat done in the slow cooker is known to do, the corned beef was amazingly tender, and almost fell apart at a touch. What really set the taste over the top, though, was the pickling spice. Thanks to Wendy, I went out in search of non-pre-seasoned corned beef brisket a few weeks ago (Pathmark of all places, had the lowest price). Her recipe was to take a brisket, toss it in the slow cooker with pickling spice, onions and a little bit of water, set it on low for 8 hours and voila! Yummy flavored corned beef.

What she didn't tell me, though, was how amazing the pickling spice really is. I was pretty lazy about the whole process, and just dumped three tablespoons of the spice on top of the brisket. Then I got a whiff of the smell: cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and a whole host of other aromatics that almost made me dizzy with delight. This sensory overload is what cooking is really all about.
There's still half a bottle of pickling spice, as well as another brisket in the freezer. I'm curious about different ways to cook the brisket to amplify the flavor (pan seared, then braised? brined?), as well as finding ways to use the pickling spice to it's fullest potential.