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DS is dietary manager at an assisted living center. He purchased and prepared a corned beef for today. Most of his co-workers did not know what it was. One even asked if it was HORSE meat!!! Even after he told her it was corned beef!

I'd say they don't eat much corned beef in Texas!

It's one of my favorites and sadly, I mostly fix it only on St. Patrick's Day -- I may have to do something about that this year!

Martha

Though had cooked corned beef MANY time, decided to try it in microwave once?? Well, it WAS cooked but like a BRICK!! I dumped it into pot I normally would have used and slow simmered... not a total FAIL!?!

My mother cooked it several times a year. Of course Texas is a rather large state and food is definitely regional.

DS did say he had to go to several grocery stores to find it. I know that when I lived there that I could find it at Krogers.

Surprised to hear that corned beef was hard to find in TX; being as how they have all those cattle...

We just had it. There is a meat packing place near me they corn their own beef. It is so good there isn't even one little string left. Wonder how his assested living folks liked it? I bet the older folks liked it. I don't think a lot of young people even know what it is. We had swedish potato sausage and scrambled eggs for dinner tonight. Brother was'nt inpressed nephew, gs and I made hogs of ourselves. LOL

I worked once as a corporate hospitality tent manager at a major sporting event for a national catering company. There were at least fifty tents at the event, each choosing their own menu prepared at a central kitchen and delivered shortly before meal time. Saturday lunch was supposed to include barbecued brisket (Texas style). Unfortunately whoever put the meal together must have been one of those who didn't understand about corned beef because that's what they sent us - corned beef briskets warming in a tray of barbecue sauce!

Who knew that you could actually wash sauce off a corned beef with hot water from a coffee urn and make a very serviceable reuben with it?

Oooh! I've never had fresh corned beef.

Chuck Steak, A guy I know actually smoked a corned beef. His wife was not happy, until she tasted it. Said it was pretty good.

In the Midwest and in the East, corned beef is a staple at delis. I can't imagine not having it year round. We have deli/restaurants that are famous for their corned beef sandwiches. Just about everyone here eats it on St. Patrick's Day--don't they celebrate that in Texas? Since it is corned, it tastes totally different than a brisket.

In my area of the south they usually only sell corned beef around St. Patty's day. Once in awhile you can find it locally at other times.

I fixed it 2 yrs. ago, hadn't had any for yrs. and DH had never had it before. Now he wants me to do one & make homemade corned beef hash...that he had had and likes...but the canned stuff!
I've got one in my freezer just waiting for my cabbage to get big enough! I refuse to pay the prices for cabbage they want in the stores, and besides, my cabbage is organic!

Chuck Steak, that's funny! BBQ'd corned beef!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ga.karen,

I love corned beef but the rest of the family doesn't so I make it maybe once a year. I'm going to try the crockpot this year.

16paws, I'm in south Louisiana and my neighborhood deli always has corned beef and corned pastrami, but the owner told me that what he carries is not what you want to boil. He told me I might not be able to find the "raw" corned beef in the supermarket at this time of the year, but I found it at both my neighborhood supermarkets. I served it in a New England boiled dinner on Christmas day to rave reviews.

Always thought it funny that the Irish in Ireland don't eat corned beef.

Yes we celebrate St. Patrick's day. As I mentioned above though, food is regional. My mother did a very good job of introducing us to different foods other than meat and potatoes (although we did have our fair share of fried chicken, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, white "cream" gravy, served with a salad made of iceberg lettuce and sliced tomatoes tossed with Miracle Whip salad dressing - I was so glad when she started buying Thousand Island dressing).

With everything that I've read, Charles is correct.

My understanding is that while the Irish did have corned beef, New York meat markets owned by Jewish butchers introduced corned beef to the US and Irish immigrants purchased from them.

A bit of searching...I found this in Wikipedia:
"In Ireland today, the serving of corned beef is geared toward tourist consumption and most Irish in Ireland do not identify the ingredient as native cuisine.[8][9]

The Jewish population produced similar koshered cured beef product made from the brisket which the Irish immigrants purchased as corned beef from Jewish butchers. This was likely facilitated by the close cultural interactions and collaboration of these two immigrant cultures.[5][9]"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KeepYouInStitches,

Reubens are my favorite sandwich. I'll bet they don't know what that is either.

Absolutely correct that corned beef is not an Irish tradition. It's an American way of celebrating St. Patrick's Day. I know plenty of people from Ireland who are also amused when they discuss the American fixation with Irish soda bread. In Ireland it was a quick way to make a bread from whatever they had available--not a special treat. I've had some made from the "original" recipes and some are quite hard. I tried one from M Stewart and it was good.

Nance425, LOL about Reubens--if you aren't familiar with corned beef you certainly don't know about them either!

I know that Savannah had a lot of Irish imigrants and a large St. Patrick's Day parade--wonder if they have corned beef there?

quote:

purchased and prepared a corned beef for today. Most of his co-workers did not know what it was

good grief! would they have recognized grits vs polenta? balked at carnitas? or dim sum?
Regional foods 20 yrs ago are undstandable....sorta. My son still chuckles about a crew buddy. An Iowa farm boy on fire asignment in a western state was served breakfast of "chicken fried steak & eggs" refused to eat the meat because he thought it was chicken

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tessa89,

Corned beef, not one of my favorites. I tried cooking one last year, not to great success. I really wanted it because I wanted to make corned beef hash. Now that was good.

My mother used to "corn" pork shoulders and picnics. Yummy! I will do one sometimes, with DS and her hubby back in town I might fix one this winter sometime.

We are funny people...

In the late 60s early 70s a DF went to Kor*ea instead of Vi*etN*am. His DM would send a package of dry pinto beans. The first package, Gary said that his northern-reared buddies laughed about him eating cow feed. By the time the beans flavored with G*I rations (Spam) were ready, they were the first in line. They did not laugh at the next shipment.

At work the other day one of my co-workers said he had the typical southern New Year's dinner and mentioned chitlin's. He said he ate his two bites and he was done. I must've had "the" look on my face because he grinned and said, "You don't eat them." No. I don't. He said he really didn't like them but it was tradition.