How The Corned Beef Egg Roll Became An Unexpected Detroit Delicacy
Back in 1978, Kim White was making egg rolls in her kitchen. Her then-husband suggested adding some corned beef into the rolls, according to Detroit Metro Times, as he was a big fan of the meat. White herself had experience with it, too — she worked in a corned beef deli as her first job after immigrating to Michigan from Vietnam.
It was a hit, and four years later, White opened her own restaurant: Asian Corned Beef. Initially, the restaurant only sold corned beef sandwiches. But after adding the egg rolls to the menu, the White family found success serving the handheld snack to customers. Today, it's even become something of a regional favorite for many Detroit residents.
The restaurant now serves up quite a few different versions of the dish, adding a few other foods into the egg roll wrappers. While customers can always order the classic corned beef and Swiss egg roll, they can also try a grilled chicken and Swiss cheese version, a lobster roll, or a steak, swiss cheese, and grilled onion roll.
Other restaurants have picked up on the trend
Kim White's son, Hasan, now has a hand in running the family restaurant business, and runs a few of the Asian Corned Beef locations. Though the family may have created the dish, they aren't the only Detroit-area restaurant serving it. Plenty of other restaurants in the region have picked up on the idea, and have started serving their own take on the multicultural dish for their own menus.
Lou's Deli has three Detroit locations, which all serve corned beef egg rolls, allowing substitutions for other meats in place of the beef. The Old Shillelagh, an Irish pub in downtown Detroit, serves Reuben egg rolls on the menu: corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese wrapped up in an egg roll wrapper, with thousand island dressing on the side to dip.
But if you want to try the original version, Asian Corned Beef currently operates four different locations in Detroit, serving up the classic corned beef egg rolls to plenty of customers.
You could try making your own at home
If you don't live near Detroit but you're still curious to taste test the multicultural food, you can try your hand at making your own. All you'll need is a little corned beef, swiss cheese, cabbage, and some egg roll wrappers.
Fill each egg roll wrapper with the ingredients. Roll the filling inside the wrapper then seal them, either with an egg wash or a cornstarch-water mixture. Carefully place the egg rolls into your oil, and allow them to fry until they're a crispy golden-brown color. Take them out to cool slightly, then dig in. The rolls can be enjoyed plain, or dipped in a sauce of your choosing — Asian Corned Beef serves an optional duck sauce with its egg rolls.
The corned beef egg roll might not hold a spot amongst Faygo, Better Made Chips, and Detroit-style pizza as a Michigan staple just yet, but it may just make its way to icon status in the near future.