My favorite food.

Corned beef. It's not glamorous. It's best boiled (in my opinion), which really goes against anything I believe in. It just feels so wrong to take a nice piece of meat, cover it with water, and let it boil. I've tried cooking it in the oven. I have, I swear. A week or two ago I even tried Elise's beautiful, tempting corned beef baked in the oven with mustard and brown sugar. I was so sure I was going to be converted. But I was so disappointed. It was so sad. The meat was dry, although the brown sugar and mustard crust was perfect. Maybe next time I will boil it, then slather on some mustard and sprinkle brown sugar over and then stick the meat under the broiler until its nice and caramelized. Probably not, though.

Corned beef is my favorite, number one of all time food. When we were kids, we'd get to pick out our special birthday dinner. What did I always want? Corned beef. It's a good thing my birthday (April 3! Coming up!) is right around St. Patrick's Day, so corned beef was always available. I stock up around now, when all the corned beef is on sale for 99 cents a pound, and keep some in my freezer. Maybe for my birthday.

Corned beef in the crockpot
This is, hands down, the easiest way to make corned beef. Your house won't get all steamy because you're boiling a big piece of meat for a few hours, you won't run up your gas bill having the oven on for five hours. You throw it into the crockpot, turn it on, and forget about it until it's almost dinner time. Throw in some cabbage, onion, potato, and whatever other vegetables you want, and give it another hour. Done. Oh, and try to save some for breakfast. Corned beef hash is so awesome.
I add mustard to mine while it's cooking, but you can skip it if you want.

1 corned beef brisket, 2-4 pounds
water
1/2 c mustard
1/2 head cabbage, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2-4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

Put the corned beef in your crockpot and cover with water just to cover. Turn on to low and cook 6-7 hours (3-4 on high), until the meat is starting to get tender. Take the meat out and add the vegetables and mustard, stir, then put the meat back on top. Cook another hour or two. Serve sliced against the grain with the vegetables and broth.