This one can also be archived within the “bache” or bachelor food section. When you grow up on the islands at one point or the other you’ve had corned beef than comes in the can and not the sliced stuff you get at the deli in north America, on your rye bread. We’ve reinvented the use of canned corned beef with the many ways we’ve now perfected at preparing something so simple. It had been a couple decades since I last had corned beef prepared with cabbage and to be quite honest I almost forgot about this preparation method. We were visiting my parents when they mentioned that they had this for dinner a few nights ago… a rush of memories came flooding back to me and I promised myself that this would be on my menu the coming weekend.
Not to be confused with the stuff you get on St Paddy’s day, this one is straight out of a can (bully beef in the UK) and very simple to prepare.
* Tip. Please don’t settle for the cheap canned corned beef. That stuff is usually very “mush” like in texture, loaded with salt and you’ll also notice that a lot of fat is included in it.
You’ll need…
2 cups shredded cabbage
1/2 of a hot pepper (your choice)
dash black pepper
1 can corned beef
1 onion diced
1 teaspoon oil
Start by shredding the cabbage, then peel and dice the onion (separate the onion in 2 portions). In a pan heat the oil, then add 1/2 of the onion that you diced and allow to cook until the onion is soft and translucent. At this point you can start adding the shredded cabbage. Keep the heat at med-high and don’t cover the pan or risk the entire thing going soggy by the liquid that will be released.
Add the rest of the onion and slices of hot pepper. I used a “young” habanero pepper, but you can add your favourite pepper (or none .. your choice). The next step is to add the black pepper and keep stirring the lot so nothing sticks or burn.
Allow this to cook for about 8 minutes (or until the cabbage is almost tender), then add the can of corned beef. Break up the beef and stir while cooking for another 5 minutes or so.
The amount of cabbage you use is entirely up to you, but 2 cups is a good starting point. When we were kids there were 6 of us in total that had to eat from 1 can or corned beef, so a lot more cabbage was added, but it still tasted the same.
If you notice I didn’t add any salt to this recipe, this is because all canned corned beef comes packaged with a ton of salt and too much of anything is never good.
Serve on a steaming bed of brown rice with a couple slices of avocado, with roti or fry bake, on buns like a sloppy joe or as a normal side dish as you would on your dinner table. BTW you can also pile bite-sized amounts on a cracker as a light snack. Be sure to leave me your comments below.
Based on 21 Review(s)
can i freeze bully beef?
Hi Chris,
I cook this almost exactly the same way except that I use my homemade habanero sauce to season it and I also add about half a teaspoon of minced garlic. Sometimes I eat it over rice and at other times I eat it with warm corn tortillas. Either way it is good! I introduced my American wife to it and she really enjoys it!
I LIKE THIS.
I’m going to try this recipe tonight!
Hi Chris love the way this look. Going to give it a try because Man it looks good. And I’m not a can corned beef person. Keep it up.
enjoy!
Hi Chris, I am from Liberia West Africa and have noticed the differences and likeness of some of the recipes I have read. I was reading the recipe for cabbage with corned beef, we use execter corned beef. We use onioqns, pepper, tomato paste & peas.
Hi Chris, I am from liberia, west africa. Since I subscribed to caribbean pot, I have some of the dishes you made resembles what we cook in liberia, for instance your cabbage with corned beef. There a a few differences in the cooking method. We use execter corned beef, onions, hot peppers, tomato paste and sweet peas.
Really……looks interesting and economical….I will have to try it! Keep them coming man!
Hi Chris This is the easist dish when you don’t know what to cook for dinner and it is an easy dish. Corn beef and cabboge with hops..
Chris, this goes really well with fried bake.
This looks quite mouth watering.
Hi Chris, on one of my visits back home to Kingston from Australia, I was batching it & got caught by a Pilot friend of mine with a tin of Bully Beef, a Hard Dough Bread, 2 Pepsi & a quart of Appleton. Staple food for a typical JA Batch who can’t cook. I never heard the end of it.
Keep up the good work !!
Hi Chris….. I cooked this for dinner last night
my father use to call this “Horner man food”
In Trinidad we call this meal, horner man food. I ate a lot of this meal as a child. Great tasting.
when the boys get together we would cook stuff like this.
try adding some whole kernel sweet corn to it.
This brings back childhood memorites to me. My mom used to make it
I’m no bache, but I love this. have it at least once a month.
first dish I learned to cook, but sometimes had baked beans on the side, and lots of tomatoes and onions instead of cabbage
Hmmmmm…Corn beef and fry bake! A typical trini breakfast!!! I usually put like two chopped tomatoes and two minced piementoes! Yum yum!
Good Morning Chris, I used to make this one with Bakes.
Thanks you for all the wonderful recipes you send for me.
I forget about this. I used to make this one with Bakes.
This is a great recipe for eacy cook-ups in a rush. Love it!! Will definately make it one of my favouries fast foods
Hereford corned beef is as bad as it gets. Get your deli department to slice nice corned beef about 1/4″ thick and then either dice it fine or coarse and throw into a food processor to shred.
Take a large russet potato, 1/4″ dice, throw in the microwave in water and cook for approx. 5 minute or until just done.
Combine the two and you have a killer corned beef hash to add to your recipe.
Hello Chris, if you can get a good paratha (buss up shot), I can do curried corned beef for you. Pearl
Thanks for the recipe. My mother used to do a similar one when we were kids. However, i am surprised that after cautioning us not to use a mushy kind of corned beef ,the brand shown on the recipe is as mushy as it gets. How about trying some thing like Exeter or Grace brand instead?
yes chris loving your cornbeef sweet my favourite keep blazing them yum yum pow silver
oh my goodness… I forgot about this… Reminds me of when mommy and i used make this so many times when i was home… will defenitely make this Saturday for lunch save some for her….. yummmmmmm
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes! I made this last week with the addition of diced parboiled potatoes.
sounds good. I might add some garlic and green onions to it.
Use Congo pepper and pimientos and where are the tomatoes and the garlic
Thanks for the this Chris. I will be making it tomorrow. Can't wait.
Shanta
I like the fact that you keep the recipies of our parents / grandparents alive. I purchased a Cookbook that was published a while back by a prominent girl's school in south Trinidad. I love that book and my daughter took it with her to Miami to make authentic Trini food. Recently another cookbook was published to mark the school's 100 anniv. and I was very disappointed. A lot of glossy pics but the recipies were, by my opinion not authentic Trini food.
Chris canned Corn beef is comfort food for many trinis…especially corn beef hops bread sandwiches 🙂
Thanks for keeping Trini food online for us Trinis all over the world…yes toronto is a world away from Hamilton…lol
Wow. Corn beef was a regular meal at my home. My 13y.o daughter made a song. Corn beef and rice, corn beef and rice, what a wonderful combination. It can also be cooked with threaded carrots, a little oil , no water, also with some fresh veggies at the side, along with your avocados and rice. There, you have a complete meal.
Thanks. Keep on preparing wonderful meals.
Regards,
Nicole François
Hi Chris
Thanks for your recipe. In our Jamaican household, cornbeef was known as poor man’s food or bullybeef. We cook ours differently too. Heat up some oil in a pan then add a tablespoon of hot sauce to the oil, then add onions, sweet red pepper, spring onion and tomatoes til ‘sarft’. Next add cornbeef with a tablespoon of tomato puree and some thyme. Add the cabbage after that and mix through. Finally, just before putting a lid on, add a whole scotch bonnet, but don’t let it burst. Done. Happy eating. Oh, try buying cornbeef online. I live in Brixton,which is famous for its markets. Lots of west Indian food available.
i'd love to try your version of making this corned beef dish, but at the prices we have here in Tampa Florida right now for a can of corned beef (5.99) per can, i think i'd rather pay a little extra & buy a nice steak. whatever happened to the days when this was considered poor man's food. same can be said for saltfish.
looks kinda nasty yuck ewww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i never tryed with corned beef,i usually fix it wirh hamburger meat and,since i am german,i serve it with potatoes and use Ground Caraway,or cumin…whatever i feel like…its a fast and verry good dish. so the next time,it will be corned beef…thank you
Yummy, making that on Saturday. Thanks Chris for the memories
Hi Chris: Thank you so very much for this recipe, I just bought a can of the same brand of corn beef that you showed, for Argentina. It is very hard to find it in California where I live. I will certainly make your version. In ANU, my mother used to add tomatoe paste and fresh tomatoes. Your recipe sounds like the Irish way. I look forward to making your recipe. Thanks Chris, I really enjoy your Website.
Thanks again, and again. /jjs
Yes Chris, this one looks great. Mouth watering and all.
Thank you, that’s what I’ll make for dinner tomorrow.
Excellent recipe, and not just for Bachelors either. Difficult to get good tinned Corned Beef in Crete – none of the South American to be had, all from France (!) – but this has done the trick. I'll be trawling through the other recipes with enthusiasm.
I am really looking forward to taste one of these. Thanks for this recipe.
Jake ~ affairs of a husband
Chris thank you I cannot wait to get home and try this. My mouth is watering
Tomatoes can be used along with the ingredients in your recipe. I started using cabbage some years ago, on trial, to help to dilute the salt taste, as some brands of corned beef has more salt than others. Highly appreciate what you are doing, please continue.
My dad used to cook this when we were kids – hated it as much as I hated pilchards in tomato sauce fried up with onions and fresh tomatoes. It's funny how as children we hated certain dishes that we would not be without now. In particular salt fish, pig tail, chicken foot and souse – couldn't be without them now. Thanks for keeping these great recipes alive!
Thanks for posting this recipe! Unfortunately, there seems to be a corned beef shortage in the DC/MD area, as I along with some other moms have been shopping in all markets and grocery stores for it, and to no avail!! We have no idea what's happened, but I'll keep this recipe though, as some may turn up soon!
And thank you for the recipe for callaloo! My husband loves it!
Hey Chris, thx for all those great recipes continue to post! I normally use potatoes instead of cabbage and it turns out pretty good, I will give the cabbage a try cause it looks really good.
Thanks Again!
Elizabeth
Thank you for giving us this recipe, I added some diced par boiled potato to this dish cook half the onion and diced par boiled potato add cabbage rest is the same. it was yummy, the potato make it more filling for my husband. Thanks again.
Chris:
Your recipies remind me so much of my parents cooking. Thanking you so much for sharing. I am hungry each time I read your recipies. I love the pictures. Thank you again.
Can I use sliced corn beef. My husband hates anything out of the tin, except sardines..
rushing home to make this dish right now!!! Pictures are on point….and as a young jamaican man…i remember growing up on this dish…it's funny the things you didn't really care for as a child…but you grow up and grow away from certain dishes and now miss them so much!!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Delicious! 🙂 I wanted to have something savoury but simple and this fit the bill nicely.
Hey Chris,
Sometimes I add a little sweet green peppper to mine. Canned cornbeef is definitely a staple in my kitchen. Thanks for all of your hard work and keep the recipes comming…….
You are awesome!!!
Your recipes are on point!!!
i could give you a big hug for this website!!!
The recipes have made such a difference in my kitchen!!!
Because Ive been able to cook my much loved Caribbean dishes i have even decided to remodel my kitchen!!
Truly your recipes have encouraged me very much to learn how to cook…
Thank you sooooooo much!!!!
Grace..again thanks for your kind comments.
happy cooking
chris
I love that receipe my grandmother had cook that for me when I was a child
I remember coming home to this recipe when I was a kid, my mom used to make it almost exactly like this, I think she added tabasco instead of the pepper you mentioned. She also would cook sweet onions till almost black to serve with it. Thanks for adding this recipe, I too had forgotten about it.
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Hi Chris,
Thanks much for this recipe. I learned to cook it differently though; it is as follows:
You’ll need 2 tablespoon oil, 1 medium onion, a half cup of cellery, 3 cloves of onion minced, 1/4 cup of water and 1 seasoned onion chopped. Let vegetables cook in oil until onion becomes translucent, then add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste – cook for 1 minute stirring frequently – then add 1/4 cup of water and let this cook until the sauce becomes a bit thick – then add your corned beef and stir well. If necessary you may add a bit more water until everything comes together nicely to your likeness.
Wendy, sorry it took this long to respond, but I hope it turned out as good as moms/grandmas.
happy cooking
chris
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thanks for the recipe…when my mom use to live with us she would make it for my kids….now I am on my own….I can hear them now…
“Mommy, this does not take like grandma’s own”….lol…wish me luck.