Corned Beef and Cabbage?

The Real Irish Dish

No I don't mean Enya, I mean the traditional St. Patrick's Day feast of bacon or beef joint, potatoes and greens.  Sorry but corned beef and cabbage is not traditional Irish fare even if it is an integral part of Irish-American culture.  It apparently originated with Irish-Americans in the eastern states who used corned beef in place of the more traditional pork.

One clue to this is a rather simple question: where in the name of heaven would the Irish get cabbage at this time of year?  St. Patrick's Day falls in March - the beginning of the planting season and not harvest time.

The picture above of the half-British half-Irish scruff and his wife was taken at the end of the summer last year.  Right now we have another winter storm threatening later in the week - so much for March being the beginning of the planting season.  It seems to me that the seasons haven't so much changed as somehow become scrambled - freeze in winter and spring and fry in summer and fall.  If we fry enough the red and gold of fall isn't so much the leaves in the trees but us!

In any case, to return to the subject of St. Patrick's Day.  With St. Patrick being the Patron Saint of Ireland and his feast day falling in March, it often falls during the time of Lent.  So the rule is that the Lenten fast is lifted for that one day in Ireland so that the Irish can tuck into their meal and down a pint or two and have a good time.  It's a day on which everyone seems to become Irish.

So on March 17th (four days before my birthday - big hint) have a great St. Patrick's Day, a decent meal and a pint of the black stuff (Guinness).   Lay off the green beer it'll only make you puke!