Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's day all! Today is the day to celebrate the life and times of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

That's right folks and neighbors, SAINT Patrick's day started as a Holy day in the Christian religion. It was made an official feast day in Ireland long ago and the Irish brought this tradition to the rest of the world. It was not a holiday to drink. It was religious.. the pubs were closed! Can you believe it? Well, it's true.

As for the "traditional" meal of corned beef and cabbage? Ha! The Irish don't eat that for St. Patrick's day. Beef was precious and dearly expensive. It had to be imported from out of the country. So the traditional meal was mostly lamb, sometimes ham, and 'tatties (potatoes). There were some other root veggies involved, as well.

So where did the corned beef and cabbage come from, you might ask? Well, that's a good question. It came from the Jewish community. When Irish immigrants moved into America, they were typically not very wealthy (aka dirt poor) and worked long and grueling hours. When it came time for them to celebrate a holy day, they would go to the butchers in the Jewish ghetto and buy the cheapest piece of meat, corned beef brisket. Then they would buy the cheapest vegetables they could find (cabbage). After years of communities doing this, you now have a traditional Irish-American Saint Patrick's day meal. So it really is a traditional meal. Just don't try to tell me it is traditional all the way from Ireland.

*To "Corn" a piece of beef brisket, it needs to be packed with large kernel chunks of salt and seasoning to tenderize it.

Have any questions?

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