Corned beef

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Corned Beef
Beef cut:	Brisket
Steak type:	Corned beef

Corned beef refers to a variety of different styles of brine-cured beef. The "corn" in corned beef refers to the "corns" or grains of coarse salts used to cure it. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the usage of "corn", meaning "small hard particle, a grain, as of sand or salt." Potassium nitrate (saltpetre) is often added to the brine to help preserve the beef's pink color.

Saint Patrick's Day

The consumption of corned beef is associated with Saint Patrick's Day, when many Irish Americans eat a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage. According to the History Channel, corned beef was originally used as a substitute for bacon by Irish American immigrants in the late 1800s.^[1] Irish immigrants living in New York City's Lower East Side sought an equivalent in taste and texture to their traditional Irish bacon, and learned about this cheaper alternative to bacon from their Jewish neighbors. A similar dish is the New England boiled dinner, consisting of corned beef, cabbage, and root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, and potatoes, which is popular in New England and parts of Atlantic Canada.

As St. Patrick's Day occurs annually during Lent, the corned beef tradition caused controversy among American Catholic dioceses in 2000 and 2006, when the holiday fell on a Friday. Catholic custom dictates that no meat be consumed on any Friday during Lent, but some bishops granted dispensations to their dioceses for eating corned beef on St. Patrick's Day.^[2] This rare occurrence will next happen on Friday in 2017.^[3]

Canada and the United States

In the U.S. and Canada, corned beef has two meanings. One refers to a cut of beef (usually brisket, but sometimes round or silverside) cured or pickled in a seasoned brine. The other use of the term refers to a canned product generally found with other canned goods on supermarket shelves.

Cooked corned beef

In the United States, corned beef is often purchased precooked, as in delicatessens. Also famous is the Reuben sandwich, consisting of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island or Russian dressing on rye bread which is then grilled on a flat griddle or in a cast iron pan in oil.

Corned beef hash is commonly served as a breakfast food with eggs and hash browns.

Smoking corned beef, usually with the addition of extra spices such as black pepper, produces a cold cut known as pastrami.

Germany

A traditionally shaped tin of corned beef as sold in North Western/Western Europe.

Two canned versions of commercial corned beef are sold in Germany. The original is usually called American Corned Beef and consists of finely shredded corned beef with a low fat content and is similar to Spam. Another version is called Deutsches Corned Beef and is closer to the product described above. It is not as finely shredded as Spam, it contains chunks of corned beef and is usually embedded in aspic. Deutsches Corned Beef is also sold in slices at supermarket meat counters and butcher shops.^[4]

New Zealand and Australia

Australian and New Zealand butchers and supermarkets usually stock corned beef as “corned silverside”, which is usually poached in a large pot or a slow cooker, usually with cloves, vinegar, sugar, bay leaves and onions. Traditionally, this will be served with white sauce or a form of cooked mustard sauce. Tins of Bully Beef are also popular in Australia with many households using it for casserole, breakfast or camping purposes. ^[5]

Pacific Islands

Tinned corned beef is a delicacy in Pacific Island countries and is usually brought out for special occasions such as Christmas Day. Tins are often used as gifts at weddings, funerals and feasts. It is also common to be eaten with rice.^[6]

Further round the Pacific Ocean in South America (particularly Argentina) corned beef is a staple of most people's diets. In a recent survey carried out on behalf of the Argentinian government to find out more about their citizens’ eating habits it has emerged that up to 88% of the population will eat corned beef twice a week.

UK

The product commonly known as corned beef in the UK (also known as bully beef; from the French bouilli ‘boiled’) is sold in distinctive oblong-shaped tin cans. The corned beef itself is finely ground—boiled meat in a small amount of gelatin. A typical ingredient list is: beef, salt, sugar, sodium nitrite.^[7] A 100 gram portion contains 12.5 grams of fat and 2.3 grams of salt.^[7] Like those cans used for sardines, corned beef cans are specially scored so that the metal can be broken apart by the leverage of winding it around a slotted church key that is provided with the can. This product is also sold in the US and in Spain, the latter is commonly supplied from Argentina.

A common way of eating corned beef cold in the UK is sliced in a sandwich. Other things cooked with corned beef are "corned beef hash" or hotpot, in which potatoes and corned beef are stewed and sometimes served with bread-rolls. Some sauces which are added are brown sauce or tomato ketchup.

In the North East of England, corned beef is more commonly eaten in a sandwich with pickled beetroot or on its own, as opposed to the above combinations. Also it can be eaten hot, as a toastie with or without onions. It can also be served with carrots, potatoes, onions and turnips in a broth-like soup.

There is also an un-tinned product known as corned beef in the US, which is sold as salt beef in the UK; it is mostly available in major cities which have Jewish communities^{[citation needed]}.

References

External links

• The Ultimate Corned Beef and Cabbage
• Corned Beef and Food Safety

Food portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Corned beef

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Corned beef