On March 17th National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day coincide with St. Patrick’s Day in the United States.
#CornedBeefAndCabbageDay
To “corn” something is simply to preserve it in a salty brine (the term corn refers to the coarse grains of salt used for curing).
Corned beef is a salt-cured beef product. Traditional Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage recipes used salt pork or a bacon joint instead of corned beef. However, sometime in the mid-1800s when the Irish immigrated to America, they found Jewish corned beef very similar in texture to the bacon joint (pork). As a result, they used corned beef as a replacement for the bacon when preparing corned beef and cabbage meals. Soon after, Irish-Americans began having Corned Beef and Cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day.
Corned beef and cabbage remains a popular food in many areas of the United States.
In Ireland today, the serving of corned beef is geared toward tourist consumption. Most Irish in Ireland do not identify it as native cuisine.
In the United States, corned beef is often purchased ready to eat in delicatessens.
Smoking corned beef and adding spice mixes produces a smoked meat such as pastrami.
Corned beef can also be found sold in minced forms and cans.
