Corn free, cancer free, and a space-safe food? Some of these things just aren't true about your favorite corned beef!
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00:00Corn-free, cancer-free, and a space-safe food?
00:04Some of these things just aren't true about your favorite corned beef.
00:09Despite its name, corned beef has nothing to do with corn. Instead,
00:12the term was used by the British in the 17th century to refer to the salt crystals,
00:17which were the size of corn kernels, used to cure the meat.
00:20While corned beef was originally cured by rubbing salt into the meat,
00:24today the process involves a salt brine. That's good news,
00:27since the process lets manufacturers add more than just salt to the recipe. Different brines
00:32use mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns, which all add to the flavor of the final product.
00:39While the British coined the term corned beef in the 17th century,
00:43the Irish were using salt crystals to preserve meat way back in the Middle Ages.
00:48The dish is first mentioned in the 12th-century Gaelic poem,
00:51The Vision of Mac Congallin, as a luxury item given to the king.
00:55There's also a 14th-century English recipe for aché, which is likely the predecessor of today's
01:02hash. The rectangular corned beef can we know today was patented in Chicago by Arthur A. Libby
01:09in 1875. However, canned corned beef didn't become popular in America until World War II,
01:15when it was distributed to households as a food supplement.
01:18Today, canned corned beef cans are found on supermarket shelves across the U.S.
01:23Notably, Libby's is still one of the favorites.
01:27Served with cabbage across the U.S. on St. Patrick's Day, it's not hard to see
01:31why corned beef is thought of as a traditional Irish food. However, traditional St. Patrick's
01:37Day feasts in Ireland actually consist of bacon and cabbage, since historically,
01:41beef was way out of the price range of the common folk.
01:45"...where's the beef?"
01:46Even today, the only restaurants in Ireland that serve corned beef and cabbage on St.
01:50Patrick's Day are the ones that cater to tourists.
01:53So how did Ireland become associated with corned beef? Traditionally, cows in Ireland
01:58were used for dairy production and field work and only slaughtered when they got too old to work.
02:04This changed in the 17th century after the enactment of the British Cattle Acts,
02:08which prohibited the import of live cattle into Britain.
02:12With farmers forced to slaughter cows and preserve beef with salt before exporting it,
02:17Ireland became the center for corned beef production.
02:20The fact that the salt tax in Ireland was around one-tenth of England's only helped to spur the
02:25industry. Canned corned beef is very different from the corned beef you may find at your local
02:30deli. Canned corned beef is cured in brine and contains many preservatives and additives to
02:36preserve its shelf life. Deli corned beef, on the other hand, is a cured or pickled brisket
02:41that's later cut into pieces. Deli corned beef originated among America's Jewish community,
02:46who ate it as a kosher substitute for Spam, which contained pork.
02:49When Irish immigrants started coming to America during the Great Irish Potato Famine in the mid-
02:541800s, they found the beef to be more affordable than in their home country. Soon, they started
03:00buying corned beef from Jewish butchers as a substitute for the bacon and ham they were
03:04accustomed to eating in Ireland. There's little doubt that corned beef is a hit in the U.S. and
03:10Europe. However, over the years, the canned food has also earned fans in the Philippines and
03:15Jamaica. The widespread popularity of canned corned beef can be attributed to Britain and
03:20France, which distributed the food to their colonies in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
03:25The presence of the American military in the Philippines led the Southeast Asian
03:29country to incorporate canned foods such as corned beef and Spam into local dishes.
03:34For example, one of the country's most popular breakfast recipes is corn silog,
03:39a concoction of corned beef, fried egg, and garlic rice.
03:43Food and culture writer Bettina Macalintal, who moved from the Philippines to the U.S.
03:48when she was a child, wrote in Vice that,
03:51"[Corned beef is something I can't disassociate from the simple pleasures of my childhood
03:56breakfasts. For me, it's only ever paired with the smell of sizzling garlic, the steam that
04:02billows out of the rice cooker, and the crackle of eggs frying in a pan deep with oil."
04:08The idea that the U.S. is a major manufacturer of canned corned beef is a misconception.
04:13While historically Ireland was the leading producer of corned beef,
04:17South America took the honors sometime around the outbreak of World War II.
04:22Frey Bentos in Uruguay became the major producer of the food in the first half of the 20th century,
04:28exporting 16 million cans of corned beef in 1943 alone.
04:33Today, Brazil produces 80 percent of the world's canned corned beef supply,
04:38mainly due to its vast swathes of land for cattle grazing. Unfortunately,
04:42cattle production is also currently the top contributor for deforestation in the country.
04:47In 2017, the world's largest beef producer, JBC, was fined $8 million for the illegal
04:54destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Also in 2017, the Jamaican government banned imports
05:00of Brazilian corned beef after an investigation found that several meat producers were selling
05:05spoiled meat. While it's safe to eat corned beef straight out of the tin, it may not be
05:12the most satisfying experience. Since the beef is preserved in brine with salt crystals,
05:17corned beef tends to be very salty if left uncooked. Simmering corned beef in water can
05:22leach out a lot of the salt, highlighting the pleasantly meaty taste.
05:27There are plenty of canned corned beef recipes out there bound to tickle your fancy. Aside from
05:32classics like corned beef hash, other popular concoctions include corned beef and eggs,
05:37corned beef with enoki mushrooms, and canned corned beef with zucchini, olives, and peppers.
05:43The seasoning usually added to these recipes help mask any remaining saltiness in the corned beef.
05:49You can serve corned beef with sauerkraut or pickles, since anything tart also masks salt.
05:55Canned corned beef can be a decent source of vitamins and minerals. Three ounces of
06:00corned beef is packed with 15 grams of protein, 1.6 micrograms of vitamin B12,
06:061.86 milligrams of iron, and 27.9 micrograms of the antioxidant selenium.
06:14However, canned corned beef also contains several unhealthy ingredients.
06:19Oh my god.
06:20The brine salt used to tenderize the meat leaves the beef full of sodium. A three-ounce portion
06:25is loaded with 827 milligrams of sodium and 83 milligrams of cholesterol. Most canned corned
06:32beef also contains the preservative sodium nitrate, which has been linked to cancer and
06:37health risks during pregnancy. In 2015, the Cancer Research Agency at the World Health Organization
06:43classified processed meats, like canned corned beef, a Group 1 carcinogen that is likely to
06:50cause cancer in humans. To make matters worse, the agency also classified red meat as a Group 2
06:56carcinogen, which is probably carcinogenic to humans.
07:01Canned corned beef and spam have a lot in common. They're both pre-cooked and processed,
07:05served in rectangular cans, and safe to eat straight out of the tin. They also both look
07:10like a gelatinous pink meaty mass. But there's one thing that sets the two foods apart. Corned
07:15beef is made with beef, while spam is made with pork.
07:19There's no mystery behind spam. It's always been made with six simple ingredients.
07:25Launched in 1937, spam is made with pork, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate.
07:32Spam tends to have a smoother texture than corned beef and is commonly used on sandwiches,
07:37while corned beef often features in stir-fries and casseroles.
07:41Canned corned beef usually comes in rectangular cans that are opened with an attached key.
07:46To open the can, you insert the tin's metal tab into the small slot in the accompanying key.
07:52The key is then rolled around the can, pulling the tab and separating the tin in two parts.
07:57Since cans of corned beef are opened on the side rather than the top,
08:01a missing or broken key could pose a problem. Luckily, a can opener can open a tin of corned beef.
08:07First, use a large can opener with a comfortable handle for a steady grip.
08:11Next, if the top of the can is smaller than the bottom, open it at the bottom end.
08:15This makes it easier to move around the can's corners. After opening it,
08:20use the can opener to make a couple of holes on the other end of the can.
08:24This helps the meat slide out the can easier. Don't have a can opener handy? You can always
08:28use a pair of pliers to grip the tab and slowly peel the strip off the can.
08:34Canned corned beef may look pink, but it would actually be gray without one crucial ingredient,
08:40sodium nitrate. While this food additive preserves the meat and helps to inhibit
08:44bacteria to keep us safe from food poisoning, the chemical has been linked to numerous health
08:49problems. As we mentioned earlier, regular consumption of cured meats like corned beef,
08:54ham, and bacon has been connected to an increased risk of cancer,
08:58even by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
09:01You can buy corned beef that hasn't been cured with sodium nitrate,
09:04sometimes referred to as New England corned beef. This meat isn't treated with preservatives and
09:10receives a natural saltwater brining process, which leaves it with a gray color.
09:15Canned corned beef was once at the center of an out-of-this-world scandal. On March 23,
09:211965, astronaut John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich onto the Gemini 3
09:27in the pocket of his spacesuit. Young offered the sandwich to the mission commander Virgil
09:31Gus Grissom around two hours into the five-hour exploratory mission. Seemingly aware of the
09:38potential dangers, Grissom promptly stowed the contraband gift in his own spacesuit pocket.
09:44While taking the corned beef sandwich into space was supposed to be a joke,
09:48many were concerned that any free-floating food particles, including crumbs of corned beef,
09:53could have had dire consequences on the spacecraft. After all,
09:57there's a good reason why NASA was supplying its astronauts with gelatin-coated food cubes
10:02at the time. Since part of the Gemini 3 mission was testing space food, Young's joke didn't go
10:07down very well with the U.S. government. Young recalls the experience in his memoirs Forever
10:12Young, saying,
10:13"...a couple of congressmen became upset, thinking that, by smuggling in the sandwich and eating
10:18part of it, Gus and I had ignored the actual space food that we were up there to evaluate,
10:22costing the country millions of dollars."