Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Thu, Mar 05 2009
Corned beef and cabbage
My spouse and I are headed out to a Grange meeting this evening, one which will be preceded by a corned beef and cabbage dinner in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. We never ate corned beef at my house while I was growing up, though we did cook cabbage now and then. For some reason, the tradition never caught on, even though my mother had definite Irish roots. I've never prepared this particular combination of meat and vegetable, but I know there are many cooks who swear by their own particular method, including pre-soaking the brisket, adding one's own spice mix or pouring in a bottle of Irish stout.
Oddly enough, the folks in Ireland usually prepare corned beef and cabbage only for American tourists, which means that yet another traditional American dish has been adopted from a culture that never even valued it in the first place. In that respect, corned beef and cabbage dinners join the ranks of green beer and fortune cookies. But we seem to enjoy all the folklore that goes with boiling a brisket with spices and tossing in some Irish potatoes, green cabbage and maybe a few colorful carrots. I sometimes wonder what St. Patrick would think of the whole ritual.
posted at: 16:43 | category: /Food | link to this entry
My spouse and I are headed out to a Grange meeting this evening, one which will be preceded by a corned beef and cabbage dinner in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. We never ate corned beef at my house while I was growing up, though we did cook cabbage now and then. For some reason, the tradition never caught on, even though my mother had definite Irish roots. I've never prepared this particular combination of meat and vegetable, but I know there are many cooks who swear by their own particular method, including pre-soaking the brisket, adding one's own spice mix or pouring in a bottle of Irish stout.
Oddly enough, the folks in Ireland usually prepare corned beef and cabbage only for American tourists, which means that yet another traditional American dish has been adopted from a culture that never even valued it in the first place. In that respect, corned beef and cabbage dinners join the ranks of green beer and fortune cookies. But we seem to enjoy all the folklore that goes with boiling a brisket with spices and tossing in some Irish potatoes, green cabbage and maybe a few colorful carrots. I sometimes wonder what St. Patrick would think of the whole ritual.
posted at: 16:43 | category: /Food | link to this entry
