Corned Beef and Cabbage

Each year, Irish-Americans fire up stoves in their kitchen on St Patrick's day to cook up a traditional Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Did you know that only half of this delicious meal combination originated in Ireland. Corned beef and cabbage is actually a conglomeration of ingredients created by Irish immigrants to the United States in the latter half of the 19th century.

Cabbage is a traditional Irish food, but is corned beef traditionally from Ireland? The answer is yes and no. The "corning" of beef is just another term for "salting", and the Irish were salting meats as far back as the middle ages. To harvest salt, they set up a series of settling ponds along their coastlines to evaporate the seawater. As water evaporated, its salt concentration became higher and salt crystals were created and settled along the bottom of the shallow pond. These salt crystals were about the size and shape of a kernel of corn, the nickname "corn" salt was born. When meat was preserved using this type of salt, it also became known as "corning" meat.

The meat of choice to salt in Ireland is pork to create bacon. A staple meat in Ireland is pork, while cattle are generally reserved for diary products. Thus, it was an unusual practice to preserve beef using the salting process throughout the Middle Ages up through modern times.

Improvise and adapt

Early Irish Immigrants to the United Stated were generally too poor to afford bacon that was required for their traditional cabbage and pork stew. However, in America, beef was more plentiful and cheaper than pork. They observed that the Jewish style "corned beef" had a very similar flavor to their salted pork meats in Ireland. Thus, they substituted Jewish corned beef for Irish bacon for their traditional meals.

Types of corned beef

Over the years, two cuts of corned beef became prominent and are now commonly found in most supermarkets. You can purchase either a "point" cut or a "flat" cut of corned beef. Point cut corned beef is thicker, and usually contains more fat. The flat cut is thinner with less fat. Flat cut corned beef is usually more expensive than the point cut. Usually, there is a spice packet included.

A Simple Holiday Dinner

Corned beef and cabbage is relatively easy to prepare when it comes to holiday dinner, when you purchase pre-cut and brined corned beef from your local super market. Most recipes call for potatoes, cabbage and carrots, and maybe an onion.

To start, rinse the brine of the beef and place in a pot and add water until it just covers the beef. Then bring to a boil and reduce heat so that is simmers. Skim off any residual foam produced by the brine, and then add the spice packet. Keep on a low simmer for about 50 minutes per pound of meat.

After the meat has cooked the prescribed time based on its weight remove the meat and wrap in foil. Skim off the fat and spices. Or, dump the broth into another pot through a strainer to catch excess fat and spices.

Place the strained broth back onto the stove and add chopped potatoes, and carrots, and a little onion. Let cook for about 15 minutes, depending on the amount, and then add chopped cabbage and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until all of your vegetables are nice and tender.

Serving

Remove the vegetables from the broth, slice your corned beef nice and thin and serve on a platter with your vegetables. Set the broth aside. Usually, the broth is discarded since it will contain a very high salt content. A good accompaniment is a nice slice of crusty bread and and a glass of stout beer is highly recommend to bring out the full flavor if this delicious meal.