Irish Tacos

By Sam Sifton

Irish Tacos
Melina Hammer for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(1,919)
Comments
Read comments

You can certainly eat corned beef with boiled cabbage and carrots, but it can be a great deal more exciting to pile the shredded meat — ruddy pink, salty, fatty and meltingly sweet — into warm flour tortillas, then top it with a bright, crunchy, slightly fiery cabbage slaw. The contrast between the soft and the crisp, the salt and the sweet, is fantastic — particularly if you adorn each taco with a few pickled jalapeños and, perhaps, an additional swipe of mayonnaise. It’s not fusion cooking, nor appropriation. It’s just the fact that everything tastes good on a warm tortilla.

Featured in: What if You Could Make Great Corned Beef?

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings
  • 2 to 2½pounds corned beef (see recipe)
  • 1small head of green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
  • 3carrots, peeled and sliced into julienne
  • 1cup mayonnaise
  • 3tablespoons plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
  • 3tablespoons cider vinegar
  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1½tablespoons hot pepper sauce, or to taste
  • 12 to 16flour tortillas, warmed
  • Sliced fresh or pickled jalapeños
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

749 calories; 48 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 18 grams monounsaturated fat; 16 grams polyunsaturated fat; 51 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 28 grams protein; 2461 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Warm the corned beef in its cooking liquid, or wrap it in foil and set on a sheet pan in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes or so.

  2. Step 2

    Make the coleslaw: Mix cabbage and carrots together in a large bowl.

  3. Step 3

    In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt or sour cream, cider vinegar, salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce to taste.

  4. Step 4

    Pour half the sauce over the cabbage and carrots and toss to coat thoroughly. Season to taste. Reserve remaining sauce.

  5. Step 5

    When the corned beef is hot, remove from liquid or foil and use two forks to shred it. Serve with the warmed tortillas, sliced jalapeños, the slaw, remaining white sauce and some hot pepper sauce.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,919 user ratings
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Comments

Brian

While you guys were arguing about it's authenticity, I went for seconds. Let me know how the anthropology argument works out!

betty skalski

a dollop or two of creamed horseradish sauce is the best!!!!

greg

Used a no mayo cole slaw - 2 tblespoon Dijon mustard, 3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, 1/8 teaspoon celery salt, worked well with the corned beef flavors, would def recommend

nana can cook

I made this using the vinegar based slaw mentioned in the comments - very good! The next day it morphed into an Irish quesadilla by adding Swiss cheese, cutting into wedges then dipping into Thousand Island dressing. Yum Yum Yum!

Mary

I was lazy and decided to try it with prepackaged corned beef hash. I cooked it ultra crispy, and it was an excellent combo with the jalapeno and the slaw. I added some pickled onions as well. Sort of tasted like a Rueben taco.

Chickenfog

Since it called for flour tortillas I made it into burritos. It got rave reviews.

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