HOME ABOUT RE-OPENING ST ANN'S HOME SERVICE WINE CLUB BLOG SHOP CONTACT Order Here Enquire Reheating Methods THE HISTORY OF THE FAMOUS CORNED BEEF HASH WE CALL SAM'S THE HOME OF THE CORNED BEEF HASH FOR A REASON We have many imitators but can justifiably claim to have made this humble British classic a staple of the city of Manchester. In numbers alone, CBH has to be our signature dish. It is certainly the chop houses’ best-selling product. And our tills tell us we have sold roughly half a million since the day we trialled the new dish on our ‘Specials’ blackboards in Sam’s. A week later it was in our top three and it wasn’t even on the official menu! We knew then that we were doing something right. CORNED BEEF IN HISTORY Like so many modern restaurant dishes, corned beef derives from the days before fridges were invented. Corning was a means of preserving beef brisket, with ‘corns’ of rock salt. This evolved into marinating the uncooked beef in brine solutions with various local combinations of preservatives and herbs or aromatics to add subtle flavours. Long a staple of armed forces around the world, Bully Beef has a special place in the heart of the British Army. Where would Tommy Atkins have been from the Spion Kop in the Boer War, through the trenches of Ypres or the Somme, onward to Dunkirk and on to ultimate victory in WW2 without Bully Beef and hardtack biscuits? HOW CORNED BEEF CAME TO SAM'S Our owner Roger Ward was at a schoolfriend’s wedding in New York City in the 1980s. His hotel prepared corned beef hash as a breakfast dish in the grill. He liked it so much he ordered it every day. And wondered how a British staple had become a modern-day American classic. Reminded of this when visiting New York for inspiration as we set up Manchester’s Chop Houses, he also wondered if we could make our own version… for lunch or dinner. SAM'S OWN SECRET METHOD We began by brining our own brisket and pressing the meat in tubs in our own kitchens. The marinating takes 10 days to create a meat with unique flavours. Scale means we have graduated from this to a much bigger operation now. So we guard this much like Coca Cola guard their recipe. It is in many ways it is the secret of Sam’s success. 0161 834 3210 ©2020 Sam's Chop House, The Victorian Chop House Company Ltd. All images and words by Sam's Chop House, David Lake and Tony Husband. Designed in-house by Billy & Joe Ward. Hell yes!