What country loves canned corned beef more than any other? If you guessed Ireland, you couldn't be more wrong. The real answer might surprise you!
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00:00What country loves canned corned beef more than any other?
00:03If you guessed Ireland, you couldn't be more wrong. The real answer might surprise you.
00:08Most of us may know of corned beef as the treat we enjoy during St. Patrick's Day,
00:12but beef brisket served with cabbage isn't the only dish that was given the name corned beef.
00:17The term, along with the dish, was actually invented by the British in the 17th century.
00:21According to Smithsonian, corned beef was named in part for the salt used to cure beef,
00:26which was described as being the size of corn kernels.
00:29These pieces of cured and salted beef came from Ireland, where cattle was plentiful and
00:34salt was cheap. And it was a treat enjoyed not just in Britain, but in Europe and the
00:38New World as well. Corned beef was also a hit in America, where making cured beef was both
00:43economical and effective. By the 1800s, cured beef could be packed into tin-coated iron cans
00:48to become canned corned beef. Ten years later, this technology was being used by manufacturers
00:54Donkin and Hall to make canned meat to sell to the Royal Navy. These cans became known as
00:59bully beef, which the British Army used as a ration up until 2009.
01:03The idea of distributing canned meat to servicemen as part of a ration pack also
01:08became popular in the United States. That came in handy during the Spanish-American War,
01:12when fresh beef supplies had become compromised due to poor storage.
01:16Troops ended up having to rely on corned beef, which was, according to the Bulletin of the
01:20History of Medicine, described as being stringy, gristly, unpalatable, and at times nauseating.
01:27As delicious as it sounds.
01:29It was likely during this period when the Philippines, which was also part of the
01:33front line of the Spanish-American War, had its first encounter with canned corned beef.
01:37The American occupation of the Philippines saw canned food sent from the U.S. mainland to
01:41colonial personnel, as they were worried about what would happen if the officials were to have
01:45local food from the Philippines. The canned foods that were seen as essentials for American families
01:51made their way into the homes of the country's elite, where they were treated as a luxury.
01:55As taste writer Elaine Castillo points out,
01:58the way Filipinos took on canned food ended up appropriating, embellishing,
02:02and then ultimately normalizing — indeed, nativizing — an unloved utilitarian piece
02:07of colonial kit. That's how corned beef came to become such a hit in the Philippines.
02:12In fact, it's so popular in the Philippines,
02:14it's consumed in greater amounts there than in any other place in the world.
02:18Today, corned beef and its canned cousin, SPAM, which became popular in the Philippines
02:23after World War II, have become breakfast items that many households in the country can't do
02:27without. While corned beef is almost always prepared as a corned beef hash in the United
02:31States, the same cannot be said of the protein in the Philippines, where it is mainly served
02:36for breakfast as corned beef sea log. In this dish, corned beef is fried with onion and garlic,
02:41and its flavor is amped up with beef broth before it is served with classic Filipino garlic-fried
02:46rice and a fried egg. It's recommended to prepare corned beef with tomato,
02:49lemon juice, and habanero pepper to create a variation of ginisang, or fried corned beef.
02:54This can either be served with garlic rice or another Filipino classic,
02:58the tiny buns known as pandesal. As an alternative to corned beef and bacon,
03:03there is also corned lechon, which is a canned version of the country's favorite roast pork
03:08dish. Then there's corned chicken, which is made with chicken breasts. Corned beef isn't
03:12any less desirable for those who might have left the Philippines to make their homes in America
03:16or in Australia. Some continue to cook corned beef because they yearn for the taste of home.
03:21Others keep it as a pantry staple for more practical reasons.
03:24One writer said the following about the canned cuisine via SBS,
03:28The tinned foods, spam, corned beef,
03:30were our staples because they're easy to cook. The kids can make them themselves.