Time for a new image: corned beef can actually be delicious

Corned beef: I don’t know whether these words inspire enthusiastic feelings in many people, but I myself haven’t had it on my plate for more than thirty years and I actually wanted to keep it that way. But now that I suddenly saw a few examples of very beautiful, appetizing-looking slices of cured beef pass by, I had to do a double take. Wait a minute, is this corned beef?!

I can remember my parents occasionally buying it as sliced cold cuts, but what mainly comes to mind is that there was some kind of rancid yellowish layer on or around it and that the texture was crumbly. Not in a deliciously coarse, pâté-like way, but more like little chunks in thin slices with that yellowish film over them: yuck.

Kornet is for ice cream

Also strange: that it was called kornèt bief. When you hear kornet, you imagine some kind of delicious ice cream cone, don’t you? Whereas here we’re dealing with the English word ‘corned’, pronounced ‘kornd’, which in turn has nothing to do with corn. It is called that because this is meat preserved (cured) in salt, a technique for keeping meat longer that seems to go back thousands of years. The Germanic word ‘kurnam’ means small grain, and around the seventeenth century it became customary to use the word derived from it, corn(ed), for this meat, which was preserved in ‘corns’ (grains) of salt.

A second chance

To can and ship it (and preserve it even longer), it probably became common to cut it into pieces; hence the crumbly texture it still has in the Netherlands. But ‘real’ corned beef should be thought of more like pastrami: soft pink beef cured in brine that can be sliced to everyone’s liking—thick or thin.

The difference from pastrami is that pastrami is smoked and corned beef isn’t; and that immediately makes corned beef easier to make yourself. Ask the butcher for brisket or beef brisket or klapstuk, watch this video and get started! Keep in mind that the meat needs to cure for five to seven days. Absolutely delicious with potatoes and sauerkraut, or on a bagel with a dollop of hot mustard. I say: forget kornet bief, and welcome corned beef!

Also read:

• Turkey to European Union: seeks protected status for döner
• 10x the most delicious toasted sandwiches
• This is how long you should marinate or cure chicken (+example!)