Friday, March 15, 2013

[Real Detroit Weekly] Where's the (Corned) Beef?

Corned beef dinner at Dick O'Dow's. Photo by Nicole Rupersburg.


"Irish cuisine" might sound like a bit of an oxymoron – they basically just boil everything for eight hours and then pile it all together on a plate. But, you know, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Take corned beef, for instance: brined then boiled for several hours until it turns the angry pink of a third-degree burn* but tender and juicy when properly sliced or chopped up and thrown into a hash, corned beef is the cornerstone of Irish cuisine. And, because metro Detroit is multi-cultural and we are lucky to have such diversity, the many Jewish delis in the area also slice up a mean kosher nosh of corned beef with their knishes. While some say the brines differ slightly between the two cultures, Irish pubs and Jewish delis alike will go through thousands of pounds of this stuff this week alone. But enough kibitzing; cead mile failte!

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*Note: Probably would have been funnier if I had said, "...the angry pink of a drunken Irishman." Oh, hindsight.