Snouts, tongues, feet, and a whole lot more — once
you find out what's inside a can of corned beef, you may never eat again.
From time to time, you might find yourself wondering just what kind of meat you're eating
when you open up a can of corned beef. You might even have cause for concern,
as meat byproducts such as hot dogs and deli meats are often made from
less than stellar cuts of meat. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization,
meat byproducts can contain small amounts of fat, connective tissue, snouts, tongues,
tripe, and giblets. In other words, if there are edible bits left of the animal after the
preferred cuts have been removed, the leftover trimmings are added to sausages and deli meats.
"If that's how you make hot dogs, then I don't want one. I'm good. That's… oh, god."
Corned beef isn't usually much different when it comes to the quality of its ingredients.
But its ingredients make a lot more sense when you consider the historical context.
There's a very good reason that corned beef is often associated with the Irish. Beef wasn't easy
to get your hands on back in 19th-century Ireland, but, upon their arrival in the
United States, everything changed for Irish immigrants. Beef was more readily available,
while the meats the Irish had grown accustomed to, such as ham, were actually more expensive.
Needless to say, immigrants at the time were on the lookout for the most affordable food
they could find, and corned beef was the perfect option for them. Not only was beef
pretty much everywhere, but brisket, the cut of beef used for corned beef,
wasn't particularly desirable for other uses. In fact, it was often given away for free.
So how is corned beef actually made? Well, brisket can be divided into two categories:
lean and fatty. The lean end is what usually goes into making corned beef,
though a few other ingredients are involved. Of course, despite the name,
corned beef doesn't actually contain any corn. It's called that because the process of turning
brisket into corned beef involves brining the meat with chunks — or "corns" — of salt. The
brining process tenderizes the brisket, as this cut is typically very tough and chewy,
and gives it the soft texture we recognize as corned beef. This particular brining process was
popularized by Jewish Americans, hence why corned beef is also associated with the Jewish community.
The production of corned beef and other cured meats usually involves the addition of nitrites, a
preservative chemical compound that provides that pink color, prevents bacteria from growing, and
helps cure meats faster. That said, nitrites are also tied to a greater risk of developing cancer.
So now that you know where corned beef came from and how it's made, there's only one,
gruesome question left to ask: what bits of beef actually go into corned beef? First, let's deal
with the deli version of corned beef. As you might expect, deli corned beef is better quality than
the canned stuff. Generally, it consists solely of cured brisket meat. Simple enough, right?
However, when it comes to canned corned beef, things start to get a bit murkier. While the
product certainly does contain the lean end of the brisket, producers aren't often willing to
reveal what else is mixed into their recipes. For instance, if you look up Hormel's canned
corned beef on Innit, you'll see that the label simplifies the meat mix to merely "beef." And
"beef," as hot dogs often demonstrate, can apply to just about every scrap of meat on a cow. Skin,
feet, blood, you name it — if it's edible, it's probably going to be used for something. And
the chances are good that your can of corned beef contains at least some of these scraps.
It's probably fair to say, then, that corned beef isn't for everyone — but hey,
that's true for a lot of other things that people enjoy eating. After all,
Cheese Whiz exists for a reason. The best you can do is make changes to your diet based on
what we do or don't want to put into our bodies. Or you can just keep chowing down
on that corned beef without worrying too much about what's inside it. Who are we to judge?