# Corned Beef **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 26, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611 "2004-03-26T19:20:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/1 "2004-03-26T19:20:31Z")
A few comments on the Staff Report on [corned beef](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcornedbeef.html) : From “Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing” by Rytek Kutas: “The use of saltpeter was greatly limited by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture in 1975. Potassium nitrate is no longer allowed for curing in smoked or cooked meat or sausages. However, it still is allowed very sparingly in making dry-cured sausages such as hard salami, but in greatly reduced amounts.” Almost all meat curing is now done with sodium nitrite, not saltpeter (potassium nitrate). Sodium nitrate is sometimes used in dry-cured products that are cured over a long period of time. It takes only 6.1 grams of sodium nitrite to cure 100 pounds of meat. It’s hard to measure small enough amounts of sodium nitrite, especially when doing relatively small amounts of meat (like 5 or 10 pounds). It’s better to use a product sometimes called “curing salt” or Prague powder, which consists of a small amount of sodium nitrite uniformly mixed in a large amount of table salt (typically one ounce of sodium nitrite to one pound of salt). This makes it easy to get the proper amount of sodium nitrite into a small recipe. When doing a dry cure, it also makes it easier to ensure that the sodium nitrite is distributed uniformly. The difference between pastrami and corned beef is not between a dry cure and a wet cure. I have made pastrami with a wet cure (i.e. a brine). The main differences are flavorings and cooking techniques. Corned beef is flavored with things like peppercorns, bay leaves and dill seed. Corned beef is typically boiled. Pastrami is flavored with garlic, black pepper and coriander seed and is hot-smoked (the heat of the smoking process cooks the meat). ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/2 "2004-03-26T20:59:06Z")
There are also ethnic differences. New England “corned beef” is more like New York “pastrami” than New York Jewish “corned beef”. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/3 "2004-03-27T16:06:10Z")
> [@staff report](#): > > First, you need brine – water, coarse salt, and seasonings. Question: why “coarse” salt? Chemically, is that any different from table salt? I would think once dissolved, the brine would be the same as long as NaCl was used. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/4 "2004-03-27T17:23:57Z")
I was in the store last week and noticed that they seemed to have a surplus of corned beef. I’m cooking it now. Mmm… Reuben sandwich for dinner tonight! (And for the next week as well.) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/5 "2004-03-27T20:59:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Question: why “coarse” salt? Chemically, is that any different from table salt? I would think once dissolved, the brine would be the same as long as NaCl was used. Well… the original “corn” in corned beef was due to the size of the salt crystals- much like rock salt- about the size of grains of wheat/corn. As for a brine, you’re right- it doesn’t matter. You could use sea salt, etc… just so long as it’s straight salt. rec.food.preserving is a pretty good usenet newsgroup for this kind of thing- their FAQ explains all this in great detail. ---
**Author:** ![balok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@balok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/balok)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/6 "2004-03-28T11:30:48Z")
Dex and Ken ask, rhetorically, “Why don’t they call it salt beef then?” I’m guessing that they have never been to England, because in England, they _do_ call it “salt beef.” ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/7 "2004-03-28T14:27:39Z")
I have been in England, many times – for about a fifteen year period, I was in England (almost exclusively London, I’m sorry to say) two or three times ayear. However, I never looked for a meal of corned beef… way too many other good things to eat, like spotted dick or bangers. Or tandoori, for that matter. The Staff Report does refer to it as “salted beef” through history, but since the question was directed at the term “corned beef”, we figured that “they” (as in “Why don’t **they** call it salted beef?”) clearly meant “Americans.” We were thus focused on American English, and so didn’t deal with what it’s called in other languages, like English English, Australian, Dutch, or … ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/8 "2004-03-28T23:34:57Z")
> [@balok](#): > > Dex and Ken ask, rhetorically, “Why don’t they call it salt beef then?” I’m guessing that they have never been to England, because in England, they _do_ call it “salt beef.” I was under the impression (but I could be wrong) that “salt beef” in England means the Jewish version. At a minimum, I have heard an English Jew include “salt beef” in a list of “things that are Jewish”. ---
**Author:** ![balok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@balok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/balok)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corned-beef/236611/9 "2004-03-29T05:50:08Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > I have been in England, many times – for about a fifteen year period, I was in England (almost exclusively London, I’m sorry to say) two or three times ayear. However, I never looked for a meal of corned beef… You can buy packaged salt beef in Selfridge’s – you can’t get fresh sliced from them because they got rid of their kosher deli counter sometime in the last year and a half. There’s also a kosher deli-style restaurant (somewhat strangely, under Sephardi supervision) near the Baker Street tube station.