What's the difference between corned beef and montreal smoked meat?!
What's the difference between corned beef and montreal smoked meat?
Answers:
Being a former chef and having lived and worked in Montreal, corned beef has a different spice mix, Montreal Smoked meat has a molasses and spice rub, it is then hung to cure, smoked, and finally steamed to cook.
In Montreal, it is served with rye bread as pastrami, corned beef are made in sandwich and plate form, there are several other dishes made with smoked meat, the ends are chopped and used in spaghetti sauce, in chinese fried rice and as a topping on hotdogs even on top of poutine.
When you go to Montreal it can be odered like corned beef, it is best a bit on the fat side to enjoy the flavours, with Schwartz's mustard, a big dill pickle and a Labatts 50 it is a meal in itself.
Corned beef refers to the addition of pepper corns to beef. Original I think they did this to preserve it as pepper is antibacterial to some extent and maybe also to cover up the smell of bad meat.
I don't know about the Montreal version but smoked beef in general means meat that is dried by exposure to smoke. Absence of water prevented or reduced the possibiity of bacterial proliferation, the usual culprit in spoilt food.
Today both corned and smoked meat is consumed because we got used to the taste. Advances in refrigeration have done away with the need for preservation by other means.
Corned beef is a cut of beef (usually brisket, but sometimes round) cured or pickled in a seasoned brine. The "corn" in "corned beef" refers to the "corn" or grains of coarse salts used to cure it. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the usage of "corn," meaning "small hard particle, a grain, as of sand or salt," to 888, and the term "corned beef" to 1621.[1] The term "corned beef" can denote different styles of brine-cured beef, depending on the region. Some, like American-style corned beef, are highly seasoned and often considered delicatessen fare. In Britain, corned beef is usually bought at the delicatessen, or may be in chilled packs or can be found in trapezoid cans, imported from South America. American corned beef is similar to Canadian smoked meat.
Smoked meat is a method of preparing cured meats which originated among the Jews of Central Europe; and is often associated with Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It can be served on a plate or as a smoked meat sandwich. Smoked meat is similar to New York-style pastrami and corned beef.
Near as I can tell, Montreal smoked meat is a pastrami (brisket cured in red wine and spices) that is then smoked.
Corned Beef is just brisket cured in brine (not red wine) and spices. It is NOT smoked.