Corning beef was an important method of preserving beef in the days before refrigeration, and ranked with smoking and drying as common techniques. It's probably not time -and effort- efficient to prepare homemade corned beef just for this recipe -- it takes 8 to 12 days to cure -- but if you are so inclined, then this is a great recipe to prepare it for. Red flannel hash is a traditional New England embellishment of corned beef hash, and is so called because of the addition of the beets. It makes a wonderful brunch dish.
