BEYOND THE HASH

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or any day with these corned beef variations

For many of us, corned beef tastes delicious every day of the year. But its popularity soars on St. Patrick’s Day — Irish heritage optional.

Like green beer, this holiday food tradition is largely a phenomenon in the United States. In fact, today’s corned beef is more Jewish than Irish. It’s rare to encounter it in Ireland.

The British are credited for corning beef in the 17th century by curing fresh beef with salt for preservation.

Shaylyn Esposito, writing in the Smithsonian Magazine (March 15, 2013) explains that the term “corned” comes from the size of the salt kernels used in the curing. For tax reasons, Irish salt was less expensive than British salt, so cattle were shipped to Ireland to be corned.

Irish corned beef was exported to Europe and the Americas until the end of the 18th century, when the demand declined as the North American colonies produced their own.

A million Irish people immigrated to this country during Ireland’s Great Famine, frequently landing first in New York alongside Jewish immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe. Here, the Irish embraced beef, especially corned beef.

However, Esposito explains that “the corned beef the Irish immigrants ate was much different than

that produced in Ireland 200 years prior. The Irish immigrants almost solely bought their meat from kosher butchers. And what we think of today as Irish corned beef is actually Jewish corned beef thrown into a pot with cabbage and potatoes.”

Since brisket is a tough cut of beef, it is well-suited to the salting and cooking that transforms it into tender, tasty corned beef. This all explains why today corned beef can be found in Irish American households and Jewish delis alike.

Armed with these kernels of knowledge, it’s time to get cooking. You can simmer corned beef roasts (sold in cry-o-vac packages in the meat case) with a little Irish stout and fresh orange slices in the oven. The whole house will smell delicious, hopefully providing a pleasant distraction when working in our home offices.

At dinnertime, a peppery maple glaze will make the dish shine.

When time is short, you can channel a delicatessen and simply enjoy a warm corned beef sandwich, made from delisliced, fully cooked corned beef on rye bread with zesty horseradish-spiked mayonnaise.

And leftover corned beef tastes great tucked into creamy, cheesy pasta for a warming winter meal no matter where you live.

ABEL URIBE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE PHOTOS; SHANNON KINSELLA/FOOD STYLING A peppery maple glaze tops a dish of baked corned beef with caramelized onions and carrots.

Top creamy, cheesy pasta with leftover corned beef, onions and parsley.