10 Underrated Uses For Corned Beef

People across the world know corned beef as a cheap and convenient (and often canned) meat, salt-cured to keep it fresh, and with a characteristic pink color from the nitrates used to preserve it. In the U.S., it's popularly enjoyed by the Irish diaspora on St Patrick's Day, as a celebration of their cultural heritage. This tradition, however, is not shared by Ireland itself, where corned beef has a rather complicated history.

The first reference to corned beef in Irish culture is in an old poem, "Aislinge Meic Con Glinne," in which it's described as a delicacy for a king. At the time, cattle were considered valuable for farm work and producing milk, and the salt used to preserve meat was prohibitively expensive. As a symbol of wealth, sacred to the Gaelic people, cows weren't eaten unless they were too old to pull plows. It wasn't until later on that corned beef became associated with Ireland, thanks to the British. As Smithsonian Magazine explains, once England had conquered Ireland, large-scale cattle farming began, eventually leading to industrial production of corned beef there. Later, when Irish immigrants in America began earning enough money to buy meat, corned beef was one of the easiest things for them to afford, and so the St Patrick's Day tradition began.

One of the best-known ways to enjoy corned beef is a simple corned beef hash. However, it's actually a surprisingly versatile meat with a range of uses. Corned beef can be much more than just a sandwich filling or part of a savory breakfast dish — check out all the more unexpected ways to use corned beef.

The beauty of fritters is that they can be made from almost anything. Just mix a batter, dip your intended food into it, and fry in hot oil until golden and crispy. From plantain fritters to sweet corn fritters, the recipe is much the same wherever you may be. A handy tip for a little more crunch to your finished fritters is to add a tablespoon of rice flour into your batter and mix it with cold water.

Corned beef fritters can be made in a few ways. The easiest is to slice it straight from the can, batter it, and then fry. Cooked just right, the corned beef should have a soft texture which will contrast nicely with the crispy batter exterior. Another option is to mash the corned beef and mix it into the batter, the same way you might make a mashed potato fritter. You can even try adding other ingredients to your corned beef fritters. On its own, the meat may taste a little plain, but you can impart a good flavor with a few spices, or even just some black pepper. It's also easy to mix in vegetables, like corn or diced bell peppers!

Croquettes can be a filling snack or a wholesome part of a larger meal. It may take a little practice to get them perfect, but they're not difficult to make and are enjoyed in a variety of countries around the world. The most common kind are simple potato croquettes, but they can also come with a variety of fillings, and meat is quite a common one. They usually use something like ground meat, meaning corned beef can make for an excellent substitute. Croquettes like these are very common in the Netherlands, and snacks like bitterballen are popular in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities. Bitterballen, in particular, are shaped into balls and are a traditional food served in cafes.

Most croquettes are starchy, made with something like mashed potatoes to bind them together, before covering them in breadcrumbs and frying them. As with fritters, there are two ways to accomplish this — either wrapping the meat in mashed potato, or simply combining the two together — and both give a tasty, but slightly different, result. Again, while plain corned beef may be a little bland filling, it can easily be combined with other fillings, whether vegetables or spices, to give your croquettes extra flavor.

Shepherd's pie is a classic British comfort food, and a long-time working-class favorite. Simple to make using easily available ingredients, it mixes the wholesome flavors of mashed potato and ground meat, usually with a few garden vegetables. While shepherd's pie is usually made with lamb (hence the name), it works just as well with beef, or any other kind of meat for that matter. For those on a tight budget, a can of corned beef can make for a meal which is even cheaper, but no less filling.

Shepherd's pie is essentially a casserole. The pie filling is a stew of meat and vegetables that's then topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked to perfection. Herbs like rosemary can add some lovely aroma to your dish, but be careful about using stock cubes. While they'll make your pie much more flavorful, keep in mind that corned beef is already quite salty. You don't want to end up with your dish too salty to eat! A final tip is to sprinkle some grated cheese over the top of the mashed potatoes before you put the dish into the oven to give it a nice crispy — and cheesy — crust.

Hailing from Cornwall, in the far southwest tip of England, Cornish pasties are a popular snack across the U.K. The Cornish Pasty Co. explains that they've been eaten in Cornwall since at least the 13th century, when they were originally popular with tin miners. Cornish pasties are traditionally made with a thick crust of pastry along one edge, which miners could use to hold their lunch while eating it, even if their hands were dirty. The crust could then be simply thrown away afterward.

A Cornish pasty makes a great lunchtime food, as it has for centuries. It consists of a bundle of ground meat spiced with black pepper and often mixed with diced vegetables, such as carrot and potato. The filling, though, can be extremely versatile, and homemade pasties may contain any kind of vegetables available, from chopped string beans to diced turnip. The choice of meat is flexible too and, of course, corned beef makes for a convenient choice. Pasties are made with shortcrust pastry, often buttery and with a slightly crumbly texture. Most bakeries brush their pasties with egg yolk for a golden color.

Cornish pasties are also very similar to some other foods, like the empanadas enjoyed in Spanish-speaking countries around the world, or the spicy beef patties, which are a favorite snack in Jamaica. If English food is slightly too plain for your tastes, perhaps you could try using corned beef in one of these recipes instead.

One place where corned beef is often found in cooking is the Philippines. Being popular for its soft texture, corned beef can be found in a number of Filipino recipes, and one delicious choice is tortang carne norte. Per Gastronomiac, tortang carne norte is a simple corned beef omelet. It may also include a few extra ingredients for a fuller flavor, like garlic or scallions, and is usually seasoned with black pepper. If you find yourself in the Philippines, you're most likely to encounter this tasty little dish at breakfast time, usually served on a bed of rice.

Taking inspiration from this Filipino dish, corned beef goes very well in other egg-based recipes too, and it can be an interesting addition to similar fried dishes, like Japanese okonomiyaki. Light and crispy but surprisingly filling, omelet and pancake dishes can be eaten at any time of day, and the addition of a little corned beef can easily make a meal both more filling and nutritious.