Corned Beef Toastie.

 What we had for our tea last night.

Corned Beef toastie.

I often get hundreds and hundreds of views when I write about food and some of our plain food recipes in particular.   

I some times see them for sale on Irish pub menus and usually they cost 6 Euros.  Why do I see so little traditional Irish food menus these days?  We should champion the foods our grandmothers and mothers made and cooked and fed us.

One anecdote about Irish food I will share with you.  I was once with my friend attending a folk festival in Doolin in County Clare.  We ordered two traditional Irish stews.  On finishing our meals and I said to the barman:

"I would like to pay for two Irish stews please".

He replied: "Were you hungry?"

We both laughed and I paid the man.

Corned beef or salted beef was introduced before fridges or electricity was invented.  

The English christened it Corned Beef after the salt crystals used to preserve the beef and a lot of the beef used for curing came from County Cork in particular. 

Fray Bentos built massive canning and beef salting factories on the Uruquay Argentina border.  It became the staple diet of many a soldier in ww1.  

In New York Irish immigrants would buy salted beef from Jewish butchers because it reminded them of the salted beef back in Ireland.

Corned beef is probably high in salt and preservatives and probably not very healthy for you.  But I like it and its always good to have a tin of it in the fridge.

J made our toasties in a toastie bag that you pop in the toaster.

Technology never ceases to amaze me.  They will be making roasting bags made from plastic soon and you put your roasting joint in them and cook your beef.

What they already have them?

Anyone else like corned beef toasties?

What traditional food do you like?  Shall we start the Plain Food Movement?

Here's a song to go with your corned beef toastie: