It’s the day after St. Patrick’s Day and people all over the world are doing two things: 1) recovering from a hangover; and 2) wondering what to do with massive amounts of leftover corned beef. Now, most people would go straight to corned beef hash, but noooo! I’m one step ahead. I’m thinking about what to do with the leftover corned beef hash – we’re talking about serious potato hash strategy, folks. We’re talking about Corned Beef Hash Croquettes!

Now, I give all the credit to Dave Pullig (@davepullig from http://thefoodplace.co.uk) for his genius re-use of leftover hash to make Duck Hash Croquettes. Brilliant idea, right? So I cleverly “Favorited” his tweet and waited for the pinnacle of corned beef hash madness, St. Patrick’s Day, to arrive! What follows is a transmogrification of epic proportions. Please do try this at home, but do not run with scissors…

This hashcapade comes together fairly easily, but it is time-consuming to cook your own corned beef brisket and wait for the croquette mixture to cool in the fridge. You can save time by buying it already cooked if you prefer, but the sheer delight of simmering corned beef brisket in Guinness (and tippling a wee bit as you wait) is worth it!
Most stores will have multiple types of corned beef brisket with a little spice packet to use for cooking, which was my choice. You can see it above, hermetically sealed next to the brisket.

In a dutch oven or similar heavy cast iron pot, place the brisket and cover just barely with the Guinness and water, sprinkling the spices on top. Once it reaches a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and let it cook for about 3 hours. Voilá – out comes flavorful, tender and moist corned beef ready for a hashcapade!

Next, its time for potatoes. Peel, chop and place in a medium pan of cold water to cover and bring to a boil. In parallel, dice the onion and peppers and sauté them in butter for about 5 minutes.


Once the potatoes are tender, drain and place in a food mill, potato ricer or simply mash them. I use a food mill because it makes the potatoes nice and fluffy. For those in the know (and now you are too), this is how you get the perfect potatoes for gnocchi – molto bene!


Now the easy part. Mix the potato, onions, peppers, diced corned beef, horseradish and heavy cream all together in a big bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour, preferably two. This helps make it easy to form the croquettes.

Next, roll the corned beef hash mixture in your hand to form a croquette, about the size of a small ice cream scoop. Since Easter is approaching, I thought the photo below looked like psychedelic Easter eggs!


I love getting my hands messy with breaded shrimp, salmon and good old fried chicken. This was no exception as I deftly dipped the naked corned beef hash croquettes in egg, then Panko. Why Panko you ask? Because I like the crunchy exterior and wanted a nice contrast between the tender corned beef, creamy potatoes and crunchy shell. Capice?

Some of you are undoubtedly horrified that I’m baking croquettes instead of frying them. I decided that I wanted the flavor to really stand out and was afraid the oil might overpower the corned beef hash goodness. If you decide to fry them, you can’t go wrong with Paula Dean, y’all!

It took all of my will power to wait 20-25 minutes for my Corned Beef Hash Croquettes to reach a perfect golden brown color. I kept checking and checking, all the while pondering the meaning of croquette vs. coquette: “a woman who endeavors without sincere affection to gain the attention and admiration of men.” Well, these beauties caught my attention and admiration – perfectly crunchy with lovely corned beef hash goodness inside. Sláinte!
Happy Hashcapades,
Clark
Corned Beef Hash Croquettes
Yum! Looks positively delicious!
Thanks! The Guinness was my secret ingredient 😉