Why Is It Called Corned Beef

Full disclosure I eat corned beef all year. One of my favorite guilty pleasure foods is the the Reuben Spring Rolls at Mahoney's Irish Pub and Steakhouse. They are gooey good packed full of tasty corned beef with melted swiss cheese and sauerkraut. I am cursed with German and Irish genes so I will eat corned beef all year. Reuben sandwich or on a plate with cabbage I just can't get enough of the meat called corned beef.

So why is it call corned beef? I actually never thought about it until today. So of course I looked it up on the internet and the answer isn't a real big surprise but still something I hadn't realized until looking it up. The story below from Food & Wine online about the history of corned beef is a fun read but the simple truth is that it is called corned beef because of the large pieces of salt that were used to prepare the beef. They were referred to as Kernels of Salt. According to Food & Wine the term "Corned" a term derived from the german word "Kurnam" meaning "small seed" came into played to describe the meat and the way it was preserved.