Best Spices for Corned Beef and Cabbage

Much of corned beef’s flavor goes in before the meat ever reaches the pot. It’s beef cured in a salt brine, and the brine is where the spices go. Two of them matter most: the USDA’s food-safety guide credits peppercorns and bay leaf with corned beef’s distinctive flavor.¹ Beyond those, the usual seasoning is a pickling-spice blend of whole mustard seed, coriander, allspice, cloves and more, and Alton Brown slips in a dozen juniper berries. Below: when the cabbage goes in, and the safety points that matter for a cured meat.

At a glance

Spice	Job in the dish	Where it appears
Black peppercorns	Mild heat, the core spice	USDA and Ohio State name it;¹² every recipe below
Bay leaves	Savory background; remove before serving	USDA and Ohio State name it;¹² every recipe below
Mustard seed	Pungency, a classic match for boiled meat	All recipes and blends below³⁴⁵⁶
Coriander seed	Floral, citrusy note	Leite’s, McCormick, Spice House⁴⁶⁵
Allspice	Warm, clove-like note	All recipes and blends below³⁴⁶
Cloves	Strong warm note; use sparingly	All recipes and blends below³⁴⁶
Juniper berries	Piney, resinous note	Alton Brown’s brine only, of the recipes checked³
Chile (red pepper flakes)	Extra heat	Leite’s recipe; McCormick’s blend⁴⁶
Garlic, onion, celery	Savory aromatics	Leite’s brine (garlic); Alton Brown’s simmer (onion, celery)⁴³

What “corned” means, and where the dish comes from

“Corned” has nothing to do with corn. USDA explains that corning is a form of curing: meat was dry-cured with coarse “corns” of salt, some the size of corn kernels. Today a salt-water brine has replaced the dry cure, and nitrite goes into the curing process. The cuts are tougher ones like brisket, rump or round.¹

When the name arose is disputed:

Account	Source
The name dates from Anglo-Saxon times, before refrigeration	USDA FSIS¹
The British coined “corned beef” in the 17th century for the salt crystals used in the cure	Smithsonian Magazine⁷

Three recipes and blends side by side

	Alton Brown brine (Food Network)³	Leite’s Culinaria pickling spice⁴	McCormick Pickling Spice label⁶
Black pepper	1 tsp peppercorns	2 tbsp peppercorns	Yes
Bay leaves	2, crumbled	2 to 4, crumbled	Yes
Mustard seed	1 tsp	2 tbsp	Yes
Coriander seed	No	2 tbsp	Yes
Allspice	8 berries	2 tbsp berries	Yes
Cloves	8 whole	2 tbsp whole	Yes
Cinnamon	1 stick	2 small sticks	Yes
Ginger	1/2 tsp ground	1 tbsp ground	Yes
Juniper	12 berries	No	No
Mace	No	1 tbsp ground	Yes
Chile	No	2 tbsp red pepper flakes	Red pepper
Cardamom	No	No	Yes

Alton Brown’s brine also includes kosher salt, brown sugar and saltpeter, and his cooking pot adds coarsely ground black pepper, ground allspice and 2 more bay leaves.³ Leite’s brine adds 3 minced garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons of its pickling spice, and another 2 tablespoons go into the cooking water.⁴ The Spice House calls its own pickling spice ideal for corned beef and suggests mixing five parts of it with one part whole coriander seed.⁵ Each of these is the publisher’s own formula. There’s no standard recipe; see pickling spice for three commercial blends compared.

The core spices and what each one does

Black peppercorns

USDA and Ohio State Extension both name peppercorns as one of the two spices behind corned beef’s distinctive flavor. It isn’t always the only heat in the pot: Leite’s adds red pepper flakes and McCormick’s blend includes red pepper. Whole peppercorns suit a long simmer because you can strain them out. See black pepper.

Bay leaves

Bay is the other spice USDA names. J. Kenji López-Alt, speaking to The Splendid Table, says bay leaves bring out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken. Take them out before serving. Dried leaves stay tough, which López-Alt compares to eating a fish bone,⁸ and a medical case report describes swallowed bay leaves as rigid, with sharp points and edges.⁹ Alton Brown pulls the bay leaves at the end of cooking. See cooking with bay leaves and too much bay leaf.

Mustard seed

Mustard seed is in every recipe and blend above, and The Spice House lists it first in its blend. The dried seeds have no fragrance and only taste pungent after some chewing, and Katzer describes mustard as a common condiment for boiled or broiled meat in Central and Northern Europe.¹⁰ See mustard seed uses and mustard powder.

Coriander, allspice and cloves

These three bring the warm, sweet side of the blend. Allspice and cloves both show up in all three formulas above. Cloves are the strongest of the group; Alton Brown uses 8 whole cloves for a full brine.³ See allspice vs. cloves.

Juniper berries

Lisa Bramen, writing for Smithsonian, describes juniper’s flavor as slightly piney and fruity, and advises using the berries sparingly.¹¹ Of the formulas we checked, only Alton Brown’s brine uses them, at 12 berries.³ They’re missing from Leite’s spice mix and McCormick’s blend. So they’re an option for a more resinous corned beef, not a standard ingredient. See juniper berries.

Garlic, onion and celery

Leite’s brine includes 3 minced garlic cloves, and Alton Brown simmers the brined brisket with quartered onion, carrot and celery. These are aromatics rather than spices, and recipes vary on whether to use them.

Thyme

None of the recipes or blends we checked uses thyme. A sprig in the cooking water is fine if you want an herbal note, but it isn’t part of the classic profile.

When the cabbage goes in

The sources disagree on timing, and it comes down to the cooking method:

Advice	Source
Cabbage wedges on top of the brisket during the last 3 hours of cooking	USDA FSIS guide¹
Add chopped cabbage after the potatoes have cooked 15 minutes, then cook 15 to 20 minutes more until tender	Alton Brown³

In Alton Brown’s recipe, the spices go into the pot at the start with the meat, and the cabbage goes in last.

Food safety and sodium

USDA says to cook raw corned beef to at least 145°F, measured with a food thermometer, and let it rest at least three minutes before carving. It may stay pink after cooking. That’s the nitrite cure at work. USDA doesn’t recommend one cooking method over another: stovetop, oven, microwave and slow cooker all work.¹

Corned beef is salty. Ohio State Extension reports 964 mg of sodium in a 3-ounce serving of corned beef brisket, compared with 54 mg in regular beef brisket.²

“Corned Beef and Food Safety”, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, revised 2011. govinfo.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Martha Filipic, “Watch portions with corned beef”, Chow Line, Ohio State University Extension, 2007. news-archive.cfaes.ohio-state.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
“Corned Beef and Cabbage”, recipe courtesy of Alton Brown, Food Network. foodnetwork.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰
“Homemade Corned Beef”, Leite’s Culinaria. leitesculinaria.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
“Pickling Spices Blend”, The Spice House. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³
McCormick Pickling Spice, label text via Hannaford product listing. hannaford.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Shaylyn Esposito, “Is Corned Beef Really Irish?”, Smithsonian Magazine, 2013. smithsonianmag.com · Publication ↩
David Leite with J. Kenji López-Alt, “Bay leaves are an optional ingredient, ‘but things are definitely better with them’”, The Splendid Table, 2014. splendidtable.org · Publication ↩
Bell and Mustard, “Bay leaf perforation of Meckel’s diverticulum”, Canadian Journal of Surgery, 1997. canjsurg.ca · Peer-reviewed ↩
Gernot Katzer, “White Mustard (Sinapis alba)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩
Lisa Bramen, “What the Heck Do I Do With Juniper Berries?”, Smithsonian Magazine, 2011. smithsonianmag.com · Publication ↩

Corned Beef and Cabbage Spices: Peppercorns, Bay and the Pickling-Spice Blend