Bully beef

[3] Some places where British troops were present in the 20th century (especially during World War II) such as Malta, have adopted bully beef as part of their national cuisine.

[13] The iconic rectangular bully beef tin of the Boer War and First World War possibly first appeared in soldiers' rations in this campaign as it was reported that in 1879 over 4,400 tons of preserved beef had been exported to England by Libby, McNeil and Libby, with over 260 tons sent to the troops in South Africa.

[15] The meat was precooked to reduce shrinkage and, as described in another patent, packed into the can under pressure "to remove the air and all superfluous moisture",[16] hence the compressed corned beef description on the label.

The patents were declared void in 1881[17] when prior art was shown to exist, allowing other packing houses to produce similar cans.

[18] A few years later, owing to the intense interest it created in England, correspondents accompanied Lord Wolseley's expedition to relieve General Charles George Gordon and his Egyptian troops, besieged in Khartoum.

Both J. Osterhoudt,[21] in 1866, and Arsène Saupiquet[22] in 1882, had patented key-open cans, with possibly only Saupiquet achieving commercial success,[23] but it was not until a cheaper method of production was developed by John Zimmerman in 1892[24] that American companies adopted the innovation, with Cudahy's,[25] Libby's and Armour[26] soon producing corned beef in the easy-to-open tins.