If you have leftover brisket, too much corned beef on hand, or just like the dish, corned beef hash is a delicious breakfast or supper dish.

Obviously, corned beef hash begins with corned beef. Corned beef is beef brisket specially preserved. It is often a tough cut of meat and is usually slow roasted or cooked in a slow cooker over a matter of several hours. Corned beef is also found in those odd square cans that open with metal "keys." The latter is usually used for corned beef hash.

To make a "hash" of something is an English term for either messing up a situation, or just throwing something together. Corned beef hash is one of those "throw together" dishes. It has its roots in Colonial America, when corned beef was an important staple because it was preserved.

People extended dishes and made the most of what they had, so cooking the end pieces of the corned beef with diced potatoes made sense when feeding a large family. The recipe appeared in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook in 1918, although it had been popular along the railroad lines and on chuckwagons for years before.

To make corned beef hash, a cook begins by chopping the corned beef into small cubes, or by breaking up the canned meat. The cook then dices a medium onion and if he likes shredded potato, grates a couple of raw ones. Otherwise, he cubes two or three medium potatoes and sets them to cook (only if they are cubed). When the potatoes are done, he mixes them with the corned beef, onion and seasonings like salt, pepper, dry mustard and garlic, to taste. He breaks an egg into this mixture and puts it into a non-stick skillet and fries the hash until all is crispy and brown. Some brave souls top the corned beef hash with a fried egg and serve it with toast. Others serve it with pancakes, waffles or with scrambled eggs on the side.

Corned beef hash can also be used to stuff bell peppers, or cooked with grated beets for something called "red flannel hash." It is a homey, earthy dish that has been in America almost since America has been an independent country.