National Corned Beef Hash Day

You know, it’s hard to beat bacon at anytime of day. But I also am a big fan of corned beef hash.

Nick Offerman

Hash is a culinary term for a mixture of foods that have been finely chopped or diced. One popular variety is that traditional American comfort food, corned beef hash. This is a popular American breakfast dish and it’s very easy to make.

Learn about National Corned Beef Hash Day

Making corned beef hash is an effective way of using up leftovers. This is a meal that became popular throughout and after the Second World War. Because of the rationing that occurred during these years, fresh meat was very limited in availability, which resulted in corned beef filling the gaps. Cooks used their creativity, experimenting with leftovers, spices, and herbs to make different dishes. Nothing was wasted during these years, with stretching meals a main priority.

Therefore, while National Corned Beef Hash Day is important in terms of paying honor to this tasty dish, which has become somewhat of an American staple, it means a lot more than this. It is significant in terms of rationing food and ensuring that you don’t waste ingredients. If most of us are honest with ourselves, we waste a lot of food today.

This is something that we should all make a dedicated effort to reduce. If we can all reduce food waste, think about the massive impact that this is going to have all around the world! Corned beef hash is a prime example of how you can get creative with leftovers to create meals that taste amazing.

History of National Corned Beef Hash Day

The term “hash” is derived from the French word “hacher” which means “to chop”. Hash consists of chopped or diced meat, potatoes, and spices. corned beef gets its name from the treatment of meat with “corns” of salt, because the salt halts the growth of bacteria by taking out moisture. Corned beef hash became popular because during and immediately after WWII when fresh meat was rationed while corned meat was more available.

The Hormel Company, one of the biggest food processing companies in the US, claims it introduced corned beef hash and roast beef hash to the United States as early as 1950. However, “hash” has been part of the American diet since at least the 19th century, as is attested to by the availability of numerous recipes and the existence of many “hash houses” or cheap restaurants named after the dish.

Nowadays, corned beef hash is a comfort meal made for those who don’t feel like having the usual eggs and bacon. It’s a simple meal to make that won’t take too long and won’t hurt your budget.

However, not many restaurants these days have hash, and the existence of hash houses have kind of gone extinct due to the popularity of diners like Denny’s and IHOP. You’ll most likely find them on there depending on the region in the US you’re from, most likely the east coast.

You will also find that there are different takes on corned beef hash around the world as well. For example, in Slovenia, it is known as haše. It is a dish that is made out of spices, flour, garlic, onion, potato sauce, spaghetti sauce, veal meat, and minced pork.

In Denmark, it is known as bikesmad, which can be translated loosely to ‘tossed together food.’ The traditional leftover dish tends to be served with pickled red beet slices, Worcestershire sauce, and a fried egg, as well as Bearnaise sauce or ketchup.

The meat is typically pork. Plus, the ingredients are coarsely diced, rather than the mixture being mashed together into some form of paste. You will find that there are plenty of other takes on this dish from around the world as well, so why not use National Corned Beef Hash Day to find out more about the different trends and tasks on this dish?

How to celebrate National Corned Beef Hash Day

So, the best way to celebrate this day is make your own corned beef hash!

1. Cook 2 large potatoes and cut them into cubes.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbs butter and 2 tbs olive oil.
3. Add potatoes and cook until golden all over.
4. Chop 1 large onion and mince 2 garlic cloves, add to the skillet and saute for 5 minutes.
5. Add 1 red and 1 green pepper (cubed) and cook for 2 more minutes.
6. Add 12 ounce cubed corned beef and cook for 10 minutes, flipping hash over every 2 minutes to ensure it is crusty all over. Yum!

You are going to have no trouble finding different recipes for corned beef hash on the Internet. A lot of people have offered their take on this traditional dish. However, if you truly want to keep in with the spirit of what Corned Beef Hash day is all about, why not put together a meal using what you have in your cupboards?

After all, there are no rules regarding what you can and cannot include in your corned beef hash. When this dish was used during the war, people did not have the luxury of following set recipes nor did they have access to all of the ingredients that they wanted. They got creative and worked with what they had, so why not do this? Even if you are not happy with the end result, you will have a lot of fun in the process and you will gain a better understanding of how difficult it was!