This Corned Beef Egg Rolls recipe is for delicious egg rolls found in New York kosher Chinese-American restaurants but with more meat.
Chinese egg rolls are normally made with pork, but kosher egg rolls that are sold in kosher NY restaurants are made with corned beef.
These Corned Beef Egg Rolls are so delicious, and the recipe is so easy to make (just 4 ingredients!), that you won’t even want to bother to go to a kosher Chinese restaurant to buy them, especially since these contain more corned-beef.
Impress your family and friends with just how good they are! And when they’re ready, just dip them in your favorite sauce and enjoy!
Try Homemade Duck Sauce for dipping!
General information regarding cooking:
The following information may not particularly pertain to this recipe but rather answers general useful questions related to cooking.
What are the different oils used in cooking?
“High-heat” oils have neutral flavors and have been processed in order to handle high temperatures and are good for sautéing, searing, and frying. These include canola oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil, each with its own “best for” with chefs.
Some oils have their own flavor and are good for sautéing and roasting and add a little extra to the dish. These include extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and peanut oil. Extra virgin olive oil works well with roasting or sautéing, but not for deep frying.
Coconut oil is good in dishes where a slightly coconut flavor enhances the dish, and peanut oil is good for deep frying and will add a subtle nutty taste and smell. Many Asian dishes call for peanut oil in the ingredients.
Then there are oils that are not used with heat but rather for dressing up foods, such as sesame oil, flaxseed oil, and walnut oil, among others.
What does it mean when recipes say “to taste” about an ingredient?
When recipes say “to taste,” it means that you can put in as little or as much as you like to your own taste. Some recipes have many ingredients that a cook can adjust to their own taste when cooking (not so much when baking though).
The best way to calculate what your taste is with a recipe that you are not yet familiar with is to first taste the dish and then add the “to taste” ingredient GRADUALLY, a little at a time—a splash of this or a pinch of that—until the dish is just the way you like it. Make sure to stir the ingredient after each time you add it so that the flavor will distribute evenly and become part of the dish. Then taste again. Repeat until you reach your personal preference.
Note: If you plan on using the recipe again, it is highly recommended to make a note of what and how much you added so that you can refer to it next time.
What does it mean when a recipe says that an ingredient is “optional”?
If an ingredient is “optional,” it means that you can add it in or not based on your own preference. An optional ingredient can be flavor related (i.e., salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), appearance related (garnish), or even something like nuts or chocolate chips in baking.
What does “savory” mean?
“Savory” refers to foods that are not sweet, such as foods that taste salty, spicy, or herbal.
What cooking measurement expressions mean:
Drop – ¹/₆₄ teaspoon (or less—it’s however a literal drop comes out)
Smidgen – ¹/₃₂ teaspoon
Pinch – ¹⁄₁₆ teaspoon (what you can grab between your finger and thumb)
Dash – ⅛ teaspoon (what comes out when you shake out of a shaker or bottle)
Tad – ¼ teaspoon
Dollop—a glob on a spoon (like with mayonnaise or ice cream)
Scant—a scant cup is almost a cup, just below the line.
Heaping—above the line of the spoon (teaspoon, tablespoon)*
Some useful cooking terms:
Sauté: Cooking quickly in a small amount of oil or fat in a frying pan on a relatively high heat that causes a slight browning of the food on the outside.
Sear: Browning the outside of meat at a high temperature.
Sweat: Cooking vegetables (often onions) in a little oil or fat on a low heat until they become soft and translucent (no browning).
Simmer: Heating liquid to just below the boiling point (has slow bubbles).
Boil: Cooking food submerged in water hot enough to have rapid, rolling bubbles.
Poach: Cooking in a liquid, or partially submerged, on low heat.
Roast: Cooking with consistent dry heat in an enclosed space, over 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake: Cooking with dry heat in an enclosed space, under 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Broil: Cooking with intense heat from above.
Grill: Cooking with heat from below, typically over a flame or coals.
Braise: Cooking already-seared meat in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
Blanch: Quickly submerging food into boiling water and then immediately into ice water to stop the cooking.
Steam: Cooking with vapor from hot simmering water from below.
Shred: Creating long, thin strips (not necessarily uniform) of vegetables, like in coleslaw.
Grate: Scraping food against a surface with rough, tiny holes that break it down into very small, fine pieces.
Zest: The scrapings of the colorful outer skin of a citrus fruit.
Mince: Cutting into the smallest pieces possible.
Dice: Cutting into small cubes.
Chop: Cutting into small (bite-size) pieces.
Julienne: Cutting into long, thin strips (like matchsticks).
Glaze: a thin liquid with high-sugar or high-fat coating applied to food or baked goods that gives a shiny look and adds flavor.
Fold in: To gently combine a light ingredient into a heavier one.
Al dente: Cooking rice or pasta to the point before it gets soft (is slightly firm).
Emulsify: Forcing two liquids together that don’t normally combine (like oil and vinegar) into a smooth sauce or dressing.
Deglaze: Adding a liquid to a hot pan after searing meat to loosen the browned bits (called fond) that got stuck.
Slurry: A mixture of liquid and dry starch, such as cornstarch or potato starch, into a paste that is used to thicken sauces and soups. One can use flour to make a slurry as well.
Roux: (pronounced “roo”) is acooked mixture of fat and flour.
A little about Chinese-American Food
Chinese-American cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. These dishes significantly differ from traditional Chinese dishes because Chinese-American dishes were adapted to suit American tastes.
Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States in large numbers in the mid-19th century in order to escape the economic difficulties in China, hoping to find work during the California Gold Rush and on the Central Pacific Railroad.
They mostly settled together in ghettos, individually known as Chinatown, and—since there were laws preventing them from owning their own land—they opened their own businesses, such as laundry services and restaurants.
Initially, the family-owned businesses catered to miners and railroad workers, and restaurants were set up in places where Chinese food was unknown. Food was based on the requests of the customers, and recipes were created to suit American tastes using whatever ingredients were available.
One major difference between traditional Chinese cuisine and Chinese-American cuisine is in the use of vegetables. Chinese-American recipes will use raw or uncooked ingredients and those not native to China. Traditional Chinese cuisine, on the other hand, rarely contains raw or uncooked ingredients and often uses Asian leaf vegetables.
While the new dishes were not traditional Chinese, these restaurants were responsible for the development of the ever-popular Chinese-American cuisine.
The little history of kosher Chinese-American Food
It is well known that Jews (especially those with ties to New York) love Chinese food. You can find at least one and, more often than not, several kosher Chinese restaurants in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. In the town of Cedarhurst, New York, for example, there are two within a couple of blocks – both excellent…and don’t even get me started on Brooklyn.
There is a popular joke, which has been passed around for many years, that describes the Jewish dependency on Chinese food: “According to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5749. According to the Chinese calendar, the year is 4687. That means for 1,062 years, the Jews went without Chinese food.” That was back in 1989, and who knows when the joke even started?
Jews as a group were probably first introduced to Chinese food in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where immigrants of various cultures settled in their own neighborhoods in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
By the early 1900s, approximately one million Jews from Eastern Europe and half a million Italians from Southern Italy shared the Lower East Side of Manhattan with only approximately 7,000 Cantonese Chinese, most of whom had moved from California.
Due to anti-Chinese laws and acts, which prevented them from competing with whites, many Chinese opened restaurants.
The majority of Jewish immigrants at that time were observant in their religion and ate only kosher food when they arrived in New York. But, over time, many assimilated, and their children, who were less interested in keeping “the old ways” and more interested in other cultural experiences, even more so.
Some continued keeping kosher at home while allowing themselves to stray while out. Sunday was a favorite time for eating out, and Chinese food was not only reasonably priced, but their restaurants were open on Sundays.
Not only that, but Chinese food didn’t use milk, and while excuses may be made for eating non-kosher meat outside of the home, there was still the forbidden mixing of meat and milk to consider.
Having been raised with what is forbidden, these Jews seemed to feel that if they couldn’t tell it was non-kosher, it wasn’t that bad (or wasn’t repulsive), even if it contained pork or non-kosher seafood. The attitude seemed to be, if I can’t see it, it won’t kill me.
But what about Jews who did keep kosher? It took decades, but finally one enlightened Jewish, kosher deli owner found a solution. Using Cantonese Chinese recipes and substituting kosher veal, beef, and chicken livers for pork, he began selling the first kosher Chinese food. This was Sol Bernstein, the eldest son of Schmulka Bernstein.
Schmulka Bernstein ran a kosher butcher store and smokehouse on the Lower East Side of Manhattan near Essex St. for approximately 30 years, from the 1930s until the mid-1960s.
In 1959, Sol opened a delicatessen on Essex Street and called it Bernstein-on-Essex. His slogan was “Where kashrut is king and quality reigns” (kashrut = kosher).
Although the deli was separate from Schmulka’s butcher shop and belonged to Sol, everyone still called it Schmulka Bernstein’s, and anyone who is still around and remembers still does so to this day. In fact, I doubt that many people even know that the deli belonged to Sol or that it was Sol who was the originator of kosher Chinese food in the US.
Sol continued to sell deli while he incorporated Chinese foods into the menu and did very well. The restaurant continued to prosper until he died in 1992, when it was sold.
It’s not always easy to find kosher Chinese restaurants unless one lives in a Jewish area. Because of this, I started making a variety of kosher Chinese meals at home.
I am not quite sure if they live up to a kosher Chinese restaurant that employs Chinese cooks, but my family is happy – that’s all that matters!
Easy Corned Beef & Cabbage Egg Rolls is one way to bring a kosher Chinese dish into your home.
Love kosher American Chinese dishes? Try these!
- Kosher Chicken Chow Mein
- Kosher Beef Chow Mein
- Kosher Beef and Broccoli
- Kosher Chicken and Broccoli
- Kosher Pepper Steak
- Kosher Mongolian Beef
- Kosher Corned Beef & Cabbage Egg Rolls
- Kosher Chicken Lo Mein
- Kosher Mongolian Chicken
- Kosher Beef Lo Mein
- Kosher Chicken Fried Rice
- Vegetarian Fried Rice
- Egg Drop Soup
A little about The Best Kosher Egg Rolls
While Egg rolls typically use shredded cabbage and pork, kosher egg rolls typically use corned beef as a substitute. One can also use deli meat.
This recipe calls for thinly shredded cabbage and small shredded pieces of corned beef but coarser pieces are fine, if so desired.
I dice the corned beef and put in approximately 1/3 of the quantity of cabbage, but one can adapt as they see fit.
The amount of corned beef and cabbage that goes into one wrap depends on how full you want the egg rolls. Clearly, the more you put in, the fewer wraps you need.
Just make sure not to overstuff them so you won’t be able to close them enough so that they won’t open. If your wraps are too thin and tear, double up.
If you prefer other meat than corned beef, go for it.
Remember, if the corned beef is not kosher, the egg rolls won’t be either.
Lastly, it’s fine if you don’t dip in egg. The outside will just be less crispy.
Corned Beef Egg Rolls
Easy and delicious, kosher egg rolls with corned beef and cabbage.
Ingredients
- 3 cups green cabbage, shredded thin
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots (optional)
- 1 cup kosher corned beef, shredded or cut into small pieces*
- 1 pound egg roll wraps, kosher
- 2 eggs, beaten (optional)**
- Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix shredded cabbage, shredded carrots (if desired) and corned beef in a bowl.
- Spoon onto middle of egg roll wrap, leaving
Notes
* You can substitute an equilvant amount of deli meat, if you want to.
**To have a crispy, bubbled-up wrap, dip each in the egg before frying.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 315Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 431mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 14g