THE WORLD’S BEST grants into the hinterlands to prevent the creation of neoghettos in the East Coast CORNED BEEF SANDWICH cities where the new arrivals congregated. Fearful that the unassimilated immigrants from the Pale might spur further anti- Semitism, endangering the earlier Jewish arrivals’ hard-won social positions, the IRO endeavored to settle them elsewhere. In the end, approximately eighty thousand people were transferred to more than a thousand towns across the country. Louis had a short career as a junk dealer. In his book about the IRO, Dispers­ ing the Ghetto, Oberlin College anthropol­ ogy professor and Indianapolis native Jack What’s behind “the finest corned beef thyme, mustard seed, and coriander. Many Glazier recounted the tale told by Fanny sandwich in the world,” the honor USA corned beef producers go heavy on allspice, Shapiro Katzow, the oldest Shapiro daugh­ Today bestowed on Shapiro’s trademark giving the meat a sweet, clovey flavor, often ter and the family historian. The first day offering? First, the com in corned beef referred to as the standard Irish brine, ideal Louis went on the job with Spector they refers to the “corns,” the course grains for Saint Patrick’s Day dinners. “But the knocked on a door asking if the woman of salt traditionally used to preserve the deli doesn’t want that,” Bodmar said. “They had any scrap to sell. After negotiating a beef brisket, the cut of meat that comes want enough garlic to give it a little bite.” price for a few items in the backyard, the out of the chest muscle of cattle. The term Unlike most delis that buy their corned men went around to load their wagon. corned beef dates back to the early seven­ beef already cooked, Shapiro’s buys its Spector tossed the pieces in his wagon and teenth century. brined briskets raw. The meat arrives at proceeded to load up some other things. For almost a century, the Shapiros Shapiro’s packed in 250-pound barrels, When Shapiro protested, Spector retorted, have purchased their corned beef from with about thirty to thirty-five briskets per “Now you’re learning the junk business.” Chicago’s Vienna Beef Company, which it­ barrel. Back in the kitchen, the briskets are The Shapiros were soon in India­ self dates back to the 1880s. Vienna Beef’s loaded into a giant kettle, where they churn chairman of the board, Jim Bodmar, is a for three hours, turned periodically by napolis, arriving in June 1906. With the historian and connoisseur of corned beef. cooks wielding huge forks. “Brian [Shapiro] five hundred dollars they’d brought from Bodmar has been selling his product to says, “They have to swim,”’ Shapiro’s man­ Odessa, the Shapiros opened a small store. the Shapiros for forty-four years. “Back in ager Tracy Fiddler laughed. “The Shapiros But the little business could not provide pre-refrigeration days, there were about have some process that is a secret to them,” a living for the family, so while Rebecca 150 strange and weird pieces left after the Bodmar confided. When asked about the ran the grocery, Louis took work at the primary cuts were butchered—offal items family recipe, Brian Shapiro cannily replied, downtown Star Store, where a falling box they used to be called,” Bodmar recalled. “We add a little seasoning to them when injured his throat. The worst was yet to ‘“Sell it or smell it,’ they’d say. The brisket they are cooking for our unique flavor. We come. During his medical treatment, the became popular as corned beef, available also cook them differently than most.” doctors discovered Louis was suffering in small, family-owned delis.” Brisket was Once out on the deli line, the three with tuberculosis, which required months- initially a cheap cut of meat, but corned thousand pounds of corned beef served long treatment at the National Jewish beef was such a hit, the price began to each week is sliced feather thin, most often Hospital for Consumptives in Denver. climb. It was ideal for early twentieth- piled high on Shapiro’s crusty Jewish rye, century delis, as the preserved meat could slathered with mustard, and accompanied “My mother had to support six kids,” hold over the Sabbath. by a crisp, hand-cut pickle, one of the four Sylvia recounted. “She had a wagon, and Vienna Beef still purchases choice thousand served weekly. “There should be she went door to door selling pound bags grade beef for its brisket, giving the about six-and-a-half ounces of meat,” Fid­ of ground coffee.” Rebecca bought freshly company a premium, white-fat, grain-fed dler said. “We counsel them, if you’re off, ground coffee from a south side wholesale product. The meat is brined with a mix­ you better be heavy.” roaster, hauling her goods to her custom­ ture of thirty-five spices that includes salt, ers with a pushcart. “She had such a big

8 I TRACES I Fall 2009