For USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline, the approach of spring usually means that St. Patrick’s Day dinner preparations across the country will spark many questions about the safe handling, storage, and preparation of corned beef and all the trimmings. But food safety involves more than the ”luck of the Irish.”
What is “corning”?
Corning is a form of curing; it has nothing to do with corn. The name comes from Anglo-Saxon times before refrigeration. In those days, the meat was dry-cured in coarse “corns” of salt. Pellets of salt, some the size of kernels of corn, were rubbed into the beef to keep it from spoiling and to preserve it.
Today brining-the use of salt water-has replaced the dry salt cure, but the name “corned beef” is still used, rather than “brined” or “pickled” beef. Commonly used spices that give corned beef its distinctive flavor are peppercorns and bay leaf. Of course, these spices may vary regionally.
