St. Patrick’s Day is coming and we Americans do love to celebrate it! It’s an Irish holiday but non-Irish folk love jumping in on the fun. We wear green (so we don’t get pinched – never did understand THAT connection as a kid), we drink green beer (uh…ewww?) and let’s not forget the green shakes at McDonald’s. But do we even know what the heck we are celebrating? Probably not but who doesn’t love an excuse to do something fun, right? So to give you a little context, let’s go into some history. St. Patrick’s Day originated in Ireland obviously – would it surprise you to know they think we are ridiculous (and doing it wrong)?
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17. The extent of the holiday when I was a kid – wear green or get pinched, hope mom makes corned beef and cabbage – was very limited. Looking back, I had ZERO idea what it was all about.
When I raised my boys (they are in their mid-twenties now) not much had changed other than an influx of all manner of ridiculous green shamrock-themed decorations. When I was nearly done raising said boys I thought it would be a brilliant idea to start over from the beginning and have a girl. Imagine my surprise when she woke up one St. Patrick’s Day morning and blubbering through tears of disappointment that she had checked all over the house and there was not one sign of the surprises the leprechaun was supposed to have left for her when he visited during the night. Ummmm, excuse me? Who the heck came up with that in the intervening years between my first stint at parenthood and my second? I refused to give in to the pressure (I also don’t have an Elf On A Shelf either so there!).
So what is St. Patrick’s Day about really? St. Patrick’s Day is a Catholic celebration occurring on the day of St. Patrick’s death. Lenten restrictions are even put on hold for the day. According to legend, St. Patrick was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave, but escaped and made it back home to Britain. After becoming a priest, he returned to Ireland to convert the Pagans to Christianity.
It seems the Irish communities in the US celebrated St. Patrick’s Day more vigorously than their fellow countrymen back in Ireland – perhaps it was a way to alleviate homesickness? The color green has long been used as a national color in Ireland and the prominence of the shamrock is said to have come from St. Patrick’s use of the three-leaved plant to explain the Holy Trinity to Pagan Irish.
Now you may be surprised to hear that the Irish in Ireland find our American celebrations well…lame, disgusting, perhaps repulsive even. It runs from their frustration at our inability to spell the shortened version correctly (it’s St. Paddy’s NOT St. Patty’s) to the heavy focus on drunkenness and even the use of leprechauns. Did you know the leprechaun is based on derogatory caricatures of the Irish from 1800s? Ouch! Even if that is not really the case, they are often seen as creatures with less than stellar behaviors.
And what about the menu? Most Americans will tell you that the traditional foods to eat are corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes. However, that is NOT what they are eating in Ireland. In fact, when I mentioned corned beef to a friend of mine one year who was born and raised in Ireland she was positively disgusted at the mention of anyone eating corned beef! Of course, not all Irish feel that way but traditionally very little beef was eaten in Ireland – they ate mostly pork. Having arrived in America, they had difficulty finding the usual salt pork they had in Ireland but found corned beef – salted beef – to be much more readily available and cheaper as well.
While I am not Irish, I do love corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes so I make it all anyway – the American way. My corned beef recipe was given to me by my momma some 25 years ago and I still make it to this day! I’ve photocopied it to help preserve it from wear and pass it along.
It’s seen better days (complete with doodling by passing children), but the recipe never fails! Her corned beef recipe is a family favorite of ours.
YUM! Slice the meat and lay it out, add smothered cabbage with onions and boiled potatoes. Check out the recipe below! And don’t forget, the leftovers make incredible sandwiches – especially the Reuben. Rye bread, corned beef, provolone cheese, saur kraut and thousand island dressing – fry it like a grilled cheese – DELICIOUS!
Grandma's Classic Corned Beef Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 pound Corned Beef Usually packaged with seasonings
- 2 whole Oranges sliced
- 1 whole Lemon sliced
- 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 whole Onion sliced
- 1 tablespoon Pickling Spice
Instructions
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Open the corned beef and rinse well. Place in a pot and cover with water. Bring this to a rolling boil - boil for 20-30 minutes and skim and throw out the foam on top of the water.
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Add the remaining ingredients to the pot of water with the meat. Simmer for 2-3 hours - until it is fork-tender. You can do the simmering in a crock pot too.
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There will likely be leftovers. Turn them into a delicious Reuben sandwich by placing slices on rye bread, add Provolone cheese, melt it, top with sauerkraut and spread Thousand Island Dressing on the top slice of bread.
