Charles III's coronation

[arthwollipot]

Wikipedia supports the British origin, and also has some notes on why it's described as "corned":

Quote:

The word corn derives from Old English and is used to describe any small, hard particles or grains.[6] In the case of corned beef, the word may refer to the coarse, granular salts used to cure the beef.[5] The word "corned" may also refer to the corns of potassium nitrate, also known as saltpeter, which were formerly used to preserve the meat.[7][8][9]

[Hellbound]

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Maybe. I keep my distance from damn Yankees and the digusting slop they think is food, whether they blame other cultures for it or not! I have Irish ancestry myself, and they bequeathed unto me a powerful impatience for stuff that sucks and is stupid. Oh, and the eloquence to express those feelings politely, without causing offense!

Hey now, corned beef hash was my favorite MRE in the mid-90s!

Mostly because I could get as much of it as I wanted (no one else liked it), and it came with enough hot sauce to cover the flavor...but still!

[arthwollipot]

A nice corned beef can be really delicious, especially with wholegrain mustard.

[TragicMonkey]

In any event, we can safely assume that whatever corned beef is and wherever it originated, it will probably not be used as a cheap substitute for the holy oil Charles will be fried in at his coronation. I understand the traditional service after the frying is to place him on newspaper, with French fries, which for some reason in the UK are called "dual carriageways". Probably from old Cockney rhyming slang, like how "apples and pears" means "vagina" and "Joanna" means "vagina" and "mince pie" means "vagina".

[Hellbound]

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

In any event, we can safely assume that whatever corned beef is and wherever it originated, it will probably not be used as a cheap substitute for the holy oil Charles will be fried in at his coronation. I understand the traditional service after the frying is to place him on newspaper, with French fries, which for some reason in the UK are called "dual carriageways". Probably from old Cockney rhyming slang, like how "apples and pears" means "vagina" and "Joanna" means "vagina" and "mince pie" means "vagina".

And "vagina" means "dual indemnity policy for full coverage".

[bruto]

I had a certain amount of corned beef hash as a kid (it was cheap protein), and found that with a sufficient amount of ketchup it could be eaten.*

This puts it one step ahead of a New England boiled dinner, which is also blamed by some on the Irish. This is traditionally corned beef, cabbage, skinless potatoes, and whatever veggies you find lying around, all boiled with, it seems, the intent of depriving the entire thing of as much flavor as possible. Its one saving grace is that it is honest: it looks bad too.

*Though I have almost universal disdain for almost every common American condiment - bad mustard, awful cheese, lousy mayonnaise, unappetizing relish, and whatnot, I make an exception for Heinz ketchup. They got that right.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

I have waaay too short an attention span to sit through the whole thing. It will be hours.

I will of course also be reading or probably posting cynical and/or sarcastic remarks on the the forum.

[arthwollipot]

Originally Posted by Darat

I will of course also be reading or probably posting cynical and/or sarcastic remarks on the the forum.

Ah, so the same way my dad watches test cricket.

[P.J. Denyer]

I happened to read up on the subject a while back (can't remember why and I don't remember all the details but..)

Corned beef & cabbage became associated with the Irish immigrant population in the US because it was cheap hearty food for people mostly doing hard labouring jobs, while the processes of preserving beef, growing cabbages & boiling the two together were obviously known in Europe, including Ireland it wouldn't have been a common meal here because meat was too expensive for the peasant classes to eat most of the time.

[Thermal]

Originally Posted by Craig4

There's something a bit unseemly about a US president attending a coronation. The concept of royalty isn't just un-American, it's the original un-American.

Right, but that was against a monarchy that welded actual power. They are just window dressing now. Attending is reinforcing the "how you like me now" stance.

[P.J. Denyer]

Originally Posted by Thermal

Right, but that was against a monarchy that welded actual power. They are just window dressing now. Attending is reinforcing the "how you like me now" stance.

Like turning up to your ex's wedding. "What this? Well yes I have massively grown my economy & surpassed you in international standing. How nice of you to notice. But really enough about me, this is your day."

[zooterkin]

Originally Posted by Norman Alexander

It was part of the monarchistic succession tradition, surely.

True, but it was also acknowledging the passing of an individual who did, whatever you think of the institution, play a largely dignified part in world affairs on behalf of the UK for more than 70 years, and who made an impression on many world leaders. A coronation, particularly this one at this time, is of much less significance outside the UK.

[Craig4]

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-01-21/...weekend-in-may

I looked at the schedule of events. I find it odd that there doesn't appear to be anything for you all to engage in your favorite national pastime of standing in really long lines. It seems like if Charlie wants to unite the nation he should include an event where you all queue up for days on end.

[SteveAitch]

Originally Posted by Craig4

https://www.itv.com/news/2023-01-21/...weekend-in-may

I looked at the schedule of events. I find it odd that there doesn't appear to be anything for you all to engage in your favorite national pastime of standing in really long lines. It seems like if Charlie wants to unite the nation he should include an event where you all queue up for days on end.

There'll probably be an opportunity to line the streets and wave little flags or something.

[malbui]

I don't often yearn for the tastes of my childhood but occasionally I go rummaging in the international aisle of my local supermarket for a tin of corned beef and a jar of piccalilli. Sandwiches thus composed are the food of the gods.

[TragicMonkey]

Originally Posted by malbui

I don't often yearn for the tastes of my childhood but occasionally I go rummaging in the international aisle of my local supermarket for a tin of corned beef and a jar of piccalilli. Sandwiches thus composed are the food of the gods.

What a dreadful childhood you must have had! By coincidence, I've recently indulged in my own childhood favorite sandwich: peanut butter and honey. So much in life that is good is also quite sticky, but at the time I only knew that about sandwiches.

eta: I read once that none of the British royal family ever had peanut butter, because it's an American invention and it would be dishonorable for them to indulge. Is that true? It was in Queen Elizabeth's memoirs, but I'm pretty sure those were ghostwritten because they were written after her alleged death.

[Thermal]

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

What a dreadful childhood you must have had! By coincidence, I've recently indulged in my own childhood favorite sandwich: peanut butter and honey. So much in life that is good is also quite sticky, but at the time I only knew that about sandwiches.

eta: I read once that none of the British royal family ever had peanut butter, because it's an American invention and it would be dishonorable for them to indulge. Is that true? It was in Queen Elizabeth's memoirs, but I'm pretty sure those were ghostwritten because they were written after her alleged death.

.....so much truth here that I'm having trouble processing it...

[The Don]

Originally Posted by malbui

I don't often yearn for the tastes of my childhood but occasionally I go rummaging in the international aisle of my local supermarket for a tin of corned beef and a jar of piccalilli. Sandwiches thus composed are the food of the gods.

UK corned beef is a creature quite different from that in other countries. The fatty graininess goes so well with the sharp crunchiness of piccalilli. At the moment I'm following a vegetarian diet but I'm sad and salivating (which brings me back to TragicMonkey).

[gypsyjackson]

Originally Posted by The Don

UK corned beef is a creature quite different from that in other countries. The fatty graininess goes so well with the sharp crunchiness of piccalilli. At the moment I'm following a vegetarian but I'm sad and salivating (which brings me back to TragicMonkey).

I just bought some vegetarian spam from a Chinese vegetarian place. I bet there’s a vegetarian corned beef somewhere.

[malbui]

Originally Posted by The Don

UK corned beef is a creature quite different from that in other countries. The fatty graininess goes so well with the sharp crunchiness of piccalilli. At the moment I'm following a vegetarian diet but I'm sad and salivating (which brings me back to TragicMonkey).

The corned beef I can occasionally find in Geneva and neighbouring France is sufficiently close to what I grew up with that it hits the spot. Obviously bread here is completely different as well, which changes the playing field even more. But the principle is sound.

[P.J. Denyer]

Originally Posted by The Don

UK corned beef is a creature quite different from that in other countries. The fatty graininess goes so well with the sharp crunchiness of piccalilli. At the moment I'm following a vegetarian diet but I'm sad and salivating (which brings me back to TragicMonkey).

For non-Ukers, British Corned beef is tinned beef, cooked in the can, it has a firm, slightly flakey texture when cold & a thin layer of rendered fat around the outside, when warm it forms a sort of warm mush that is delicious mixed with mashed potato and fried into a hash.

It has a long history dating back to pre-refridgeration imports (from Argentina iirc) but, like most of the gastronomic delights of the 1970s when I grew up, it was a WWII & post-war staple. My favourite school lunchbox sandwich was thick cut corned beef with sliced tomato on Mother's Pride white bread.

[malbui]

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

What a dreadful childhood you must have had!

I grew up in the UK in the 1970s. It was cold, damp and beige.

[P.J. Denyer]

Originally Posted by malbui

I grew up in the UK in the 1970s. It was cold, damp and beige.

But oddly it seems to have been one of the times when the British people were in general happiest. I certainly look back on my own childhood then with fondness, not just because it was my childhood but also because the life I had then would almost certainly not have been possible for someone from the same background now.

[TragicMonkey]

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

But oddly it seems to have been one of the times when the British people were in general happiest. I certainly look back on my own childhood then with fondness, not just because it was my childhood but also because the life I had then would almost certainly not have been possible for someone from the same background now.

When I look back at my childhood (late 70s onward) what I marvel at is the economics: my dad was able to support a family of four, owning a house and two cars, on a single income that adjusted for inflation is less than I'm making now. I don't think I could do that now myself, and I don't know many couples with kids who don't both work. Middle class stay-at-home parents seem to have been dying out since the 90s.

[malbui]

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

But oddly it seems to have been one of the times when the British people were in general happiest. I certainly look back on my own childhood then with fondness, not just because it was my childhood but also because the life I had then would almost certainly not have been possible for someone from the same background now.

I didn’t have an unhappy childhood by any standards but I don’t look back at that time with any real fondness. There is the occasional stab of nostalgia for details but I’m so glad the next generation of my family has grown up in far better conditions.

[Trebuchet]

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

For non-Ukers, British Corned beef is tinned beef, cooked in the can, it has a firm, slightly flakey texture when cold & a thin layer of rendered fat around the outside, when warm it forms a sort of warm mush that is delicious mixed with mashed potato and fried into a hash.

It has a long history dating back to pre-refridgeration imports (from Argentina iirc) but, like most of the gastronomic delights of the 1970s when I grew up, it was a WWII & post-war staple. My favourite school lunchbox sandwich was thick cut corned beef with sliced tomato on Mother's Pride white bread.

I have several wooden boxes dating (probably) to WWII labeled "corned beef, product of Argentina" that I found in my late in-laws' basement. So it came to the USA once as well.

[SteveAitch]

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

For non-Ukers, British Corned beef is tinned beef, cooked in the can, it has a firm, slightly flakey texture when cold & a thin layer of rendered fat around the outside, when warm it forms a sort of warm mush that is delicious mixed with mashed potato and fried into a hash.

Seconded. Though I add fried onions as well.

However, corned beef fried rice is not great; tastes OK, but looks very odd. I tried once, so you don't have to.

[TheGoldcountry]

Unsurprisingly, people find corned beef more interesting than the King of England.

[Flo]

Originally Posted by TheGoldcountry

Unsurprisingly, people find corned beef more interesting than the King of England.

Very likely much tastier too…

[Craig4]

Originally Posted by TheGoldcountry

Unsurprisingly, people find corned beef more interesting than the King of England.

Unless the king is signing something and the pens aren't to his liking. That is pretty funny. Your king is a total wanker.

[sackett]

I've read (and my sources are of course irrefutable because I can't remember them) that during WW2, British and American troops traded bully for spam, 16 oz of good Argie beef for 10 oz of -- what? pork pizzles in aspic?

Both sides thought they were getting the better of the deal. That shows you what a monotonous diet does to a man's mind. Ask me, the Cousins were shamefully swindling the limes, but c'est la ******* guerre.

[P.J. Denyer]

Originally Posted by Craig4

Unless the king is signing something and the pens aren't to his liking. That is pretty funny. Your king is a total wanker.

Quoted for truth.

[bruto]

Originally Posted by sackett

I've read (and my sources are of course irrefutable because I can't remember them) that during WW2, British and American troops traded bully for spam, 16 oz of good Argie beef for 10 oz of -- what? pork pizzles in aspic?

Both sides thought they were getting the better of the deal. That shows you what a monotonous diet does to a man's mind. Ask me, the Cousins were shamefully swindling the limes, but c'est la ******* guerre.

Though I don't dispute the basic dynamics of the trade, it's my understanding that Spam is not filled with bottom grade meat, but contains a large amount of pork shoulder, which back in the day was pretty low on the menu, but is not not so out of favor. They claim, anyway, not to throw in the sweepings and pizzles and ears and stuff. That is reserved for other things. Do not, for example, try to puzzle out what is in "potted meat product." If you do find yourself with some of that, consider the possibility that your cat is eating better than you are.

[wobs]

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

But oddly it seems to have been one of the times when the British people were in general happiest. I certainly look back on my own childhood then with fondness, not just because it was my childhood but also because the life I had then would almost certainly not have been possible for someone from the same background now.

As a child of the 70s, and 80s, it was a great time to be a kid. As an adult? Not so sure, with crap evening TV, bland food. Although it was less intense in terms of information overload, and stress.
I look at where I played as a kid, what freedoms I had, and compare to my own kids now, and its saddening how little chance they have to go an explore, due to: More traffic, playing fields been built on, meadows ploughed up, waste ground built on, climbing trees chopped down. And adults complain kids sit in front of screens too much.

[sackett]

#bruto m' man, you're clearly not old enough. I, who have a few memories of 1945, grew up in a world that contained many WW2 wonders, such as powdered eggs, uncolored margarine, the first plastic toys (snap! crackle! pop!), war surplus everything, and, yes, spam.

Which I quite liked because it was a change from deer and elk. I said a monotonous diet twists your mind.

Potted meat is just head cheese, an ancient North European preparation and good enough for the gentry*, ingedients be what they may.

* Including the Stewarts & Battenburgs & all, just to swing the topic back to His Current Majesty.

[Trebuchet]

Originally Posted by Craig4

Unless the king is signing something and the pens aren't to his liking. That is pretty funny. Your king is a total wanker.

But I bet he doesn't sign with a Sharpie!

[sackett]

Who shall be Cromwell to this newest Charles? Not I, by God's will. Let him reign (for he cannot rule) long, mild years. How in the bowels of Christ! shall this royal sheep offend?

There was another Charles he might play at. Hath he a Nell? A Pepys? Will the theaters bloom? Roundhead tho I be, I can wish it! The King!

[P.J. Denyer]

Originally Posted by wobs

As a child of the 70s, and 80s, it was a great time to be a kid. As an adult? Not so sure, with crap evening TV, bland food. Although it was less intense in terms of information overload, and stress.
I look at where I played as a kid, what freedoms I had, and compare to my own kids now, and its saddening how little chance they have to go an explore, due to: More traffic, playing fields been built on, meadows ploughed up, waste ground built on, climbing trees chopped down. And adults complain kids sit in front of screens too much.

The TV wasn't so bad, tastes were less jaded, adults felt secure, you got a job and the work/life balance was sensible and you weren't afraid your entire department would be relocated to a countrywith no minimum wage.Simpler times.

[The Atheist]

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

For non-Ukers, British Corned beef is tinned beef, cooked in the can, it has a firm, slightly flakey texture when cold & a thin layer of rendered fat around the outside, when warm it forms a sort of warm mush that is delicious mixed with mashed potato and fried into a hash.

In the 1970s when my flatmate and I had spent all our money on booze, we'd scrape together coins to buy a can of corned beef and a can of baked beans.

Mix together and heat.

Delicious!

[TheGoldcountry]

Originally Posted by The Atheist

In the 1970s when my flatmate and I had spent all our money on booze, we'd scrape together coins to buy a can of corned beef and a can of baked beans.

Mix together and heat.

Delicious!

I'm sure a night of drinking followed by that menu made you an absolute delight to be around, as well.