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We could hardly do an e-NEWS that included March without mentioning St. Patrick’s Day. So, the post for this issue seeks to find an answer to that age old question on the minds of March celebrants…
What Exactly Is Corned Beef?
Corned beef is made from brisket, which is supposed to be a relatively inexpensive cut of beef that has gone through a curing process using large grains of rock salt, or “corns” of salt, and a brine. (We say “supposedly” because frankly there doesn’t seem to be any “inexpensive” beef any more — but we do concede the point by adding the word “relatively.”) When you take your package of corned beef home from the grocery store and want to cook it, cover it with water, sprinkle it with the contents of that little packet of spices that comes with it, and simmer it slowly for two to three hours. A tough cut of beef will emerge as a tender and flavorful treat that is traditionally served with boiled potatoes and cabbage and a little yellow mustard. (Don’t put the potatoes and cabbage in the pot right away — wait until about a half hour before the meat is done.)
Leftovers are no problem — sliced and topped with a little sauerkraut it becomes the great classic Reuben on Rye, or chop it up with potatoes, green peppers and onions and top it with a poached egg and you have a great breakfast or brunch. If you smoke corned beef, you end up with pastrami!
BNC feels with some certainty that the odds are quite good that many readers enjoyed Corned Beef this March 17th. It’s not too expensive, good and very simple to prepare — no fussy recipe needed. This is all well and good, but just how did Corned Beef and Cabbage become so associated with the Irish? Good question.
BNC’s research says that the English actually coined the name — corned beef — somewhere around the 17th century. Before that, from the Middle Ages it was simply known as salted meat and Ireland was its major producer. However, in Ireland itself, corned beef was considered a luxury, much too expensive for the average Irish family to eat. Instead the Irish ate pork, especially salt pork (bacon’s cousin) while shipping corned beef to other places.
When the Irish started immigrating to the United States in the 1800s, things changed. Irish immigrates were used to eating salt pork, but that wasn’t so available in this country and bacon was quite expensive. So the Irish immigrants took to eating corned beef which was inexpensive here and quite available. Corned beef became closely associated with the Irish and it was a very easy step from that association to St. Patrick’s Day.
It was also very easy to include cabbage with the corned beef simply because it was one of the cheapest vegetables available. Still is.
We hope you enjoyed your St. Patrick’s Day with or without a sip of Guinness. And we say again, you never know what you will learn by reading the BNC e-NEWS so stay tuned!