From: howdHol@yaooho.com   
      
   Do those spice packets that come with corned beef actually make any   
   difference? Corned beef has such a strong taste already it's hard for me to   
   see it, and the volume of stuff in the packet looks like it's less than   
   what you find in a teabag. I imagine that emptying into the pot that little   
   bit of seeds and leaves in a couple of quarts of water would barely   
   register on its own, and  I'm struggling to see how such diluted flavor   
   would affect corned beef in any noticable way.   
      
   Maybe cooking corned beef in a heavily spiced liquid, with a ton of   
   peppercorns and bay leaves and mustard seeds and whatever else would make a   
   difference, but is there any real reason for those tiny packets?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)