NATIONAL CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE DAY

NATIONAL CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE DAY

National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day is observed annually on March 17th.  This seems to be fitting for St. Patrick’s Day in the United States.

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. In the traditional Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage recipes, salt pork or bacon joint was used instead of corned beef.  Sometime in the mid-1800s when the Irish immigrated to America, they found that Jewish corned beef was very similar in texture to bacon joint (pork).  It was then that corned beef was used 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 be found sold in minced forms and cans.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Use #CornedBeefAndCabbageDay to post on social media.

HISTORY

Our research was unable to find the origin and the creator of National Corned Beef and Cabbage Day.