Corned beef is salt-cured beef — most often brisket — brined in a strong salt solution with spices and curing salt, then slow-simmered until tender. The "corn" refers not to the grain but to the coarse grains ("corns") of salt once used to pack the meat, and the cure gives the cooked beef its signature rosy-pink colour, firm slice and savoury, faintly spiced tang.