Where to Eat Corn Beef and Cabbage
Have you heard the phrase, "Everyone is a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day?" It pretty much reflects the fact that March 17 each year, when the Irish pay tribute to their patron saint, is now celebrated globally.
In the United States, many Americans participate in St. Patrick's Day parades, parties and events that can span a week. It also happens to coincide with the time of year that many people are anxious to get out of the house after a long winter and are looking forward to the start of spring a few days later.
New York City has a traditional St. Patrick's Day parade — the largest observance anywhere, with more than two million party-goers. The event returns to the city's Fifth Avenue this year, after, like parades across the country, two years of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. The parade got its start in 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the British Army got homesick and started a parade to honor the legacy of their patron saint.
Although New York may hold claim to the largest St. Patrick's Day celebration, other cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia have their own traditions that bring out crowds to watch parades with bands, floats and revelers. And, since 1962, the Chicago River is dyed green to mark the day.
Many of those celebrating at a parade or events across the country find a tavern or restaurant during some part of the day to enjoy a meal of corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes, and maybe carrots, foods most closely associated with Irish culture and the holiday.
For generations, honoring St. Patrick's Day was a religious observance in Ireland. The day didn't become a celebratory day there until the 20th century, when the native Irish saw the rollicking festivities of their American relatives. It became a tourist incentive and Ireland started to promote multi-day St. Patrick festivals, with drinking beer often becoming a higher priority on the holiday than eating corned beef and cabbage.
The History of Corned Beef on St. Patrick's Day
Although corned beef is referred to as one of Ireland's national dishes, it really got its start in New York City. In Ireland, cattle always had been raised for milk, and beef was not part of the regular Irish diet. Bacon, often eaten with cabbage, was the Irish go-to meal. In the early 1800s, when Irish immigrants could not afford the price of pork, they purchased the less-expensive meat, corned beef brisket (pickled, fermented and preserved in crocks), from Jewish butchers on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
It wasn't only the Irish who caught on to this inexpensive cut of meat, which got its name because it was brined with large-grained salt crystals, called "corns." Brining was an Eastern European technique of salt-curing meat, and corned beef became popular on many tables in the 1800s. It is recognizable for its pink color, caused by the brining process in crocks over several months to help preserve the beef. At times, corned beef was even called "pickled beef" because the brisket was being pickled in the brining process.
Surprisingly, corned beef and cabbage isn't a staple on restaurant menus in either the U.S. or Ireland other than on the days that surround St. Patrick's Day. Mike Pezzillo is the executive chef at Garden Spot Village, a retirement community in New Holland, Pennsylvania. He thinks the reason corned beef isn't more popular, even with it being a reasonable cut of beef, is because it is time-consuming to cook and it's not possible to cook small portions. Also, Pezzillo believes people cook what their mother cooked, or what they tasted and liked in a restaurant, where corned beef isn't a regular menu item.
Soda bread, a popular accompaniment to corned beef and cabbage.
"I also was surprised to learn about corned beef's Jewish connection, as were my classmates in culinary school," Pezzillo said.
Pezzillo puts corned beef and cabbage on the menu at Garden Spot Village for St. Patrick's Day but, he says, "It also appears several other times during the year."
A three-decades old Irish restaurant in Yonkers, New York — Rory Dolan's Restaurant Bar — is a popular spot for the meal on St. Patrick's Day. It is known to serve more than 1,500 plates of corned beef on March 17. Corned beef is so popular at Rory Dolan's that it is a regular on the restaurant's menu all year long.
A misconception about corned beef is that it is pastrami, just cooked differently. However, that's not the case. Pastrami and corned beef are prepared with different spices and have distinctly different tastes. The brine for corned beef and pastrami is the same mixture of salt, sugar, black pepper, cloves, coriander, bay leaves, juniper berries and dill, as well as the preservatives sodium nitrate or sodium nitrite, according to eater.com. But after brining, corned beef is boiled, while pastrami is usually smoked. They also are from different cuts of beef. Corned beef is the brisket, the lower front pectoral muscles of the cow. Pastrami can be cut from the shoulder, the navel or plate, and less often, from the brisket. And, pastrami is heavily rubbed with black pepper, coriander, mustard seeds, fennel seeds and sometimes fresh garlic before smoking. It is often eaten in a deli-style sandwich, on rye bread with a lot of mustard. Corned beef is boiled plain, and is often eaten with cabbage, potatoes and carrots, with utensils, and accompanied by Irish soda bread, an unsweetened quick bread.
Even if you haven't eaten corned beef and cabbage at home or at a restaurant, there is a good chance you have had corned beef along with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut topped with Russian dressing, grilled between slices of rye bread in what's called a Reuben sandwich. The sandwich is believed to be named for Reuben Kulakofsky, who had it made for him at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1920, during a weekly poker game.
So, if corned beef is new to you and you want to give it a try, it isn't hard to find during the week of St. Patrick's Day celebrations. In southeastern Pennsylvania there are more than a few locales that are serving corned beef now, such as McGrath's in Harrisburg; McCleary's Pub House in Marietta; Ugly Oyster in Reading; O'Rourke's Eatery in Gettysburg; and O'Halloran Irish Pub and Annie Bailey's Irish Public House in Lancaster.
Lancaster's Irish American Cultural Society's well-attended event, Spring Taste of Ireland, will feature traditional dishes like Guinness stew, shepherd's pie, and bangers and mash. But, its president, Tom Daniels, said the festival doesn't include corned beef and cabbage.
So, with all this new knowledge about corned beef, are you still wondering what the big fuss is all about if it has been eaten only by Irish immigrants more than 100 years ago and Irish party-goers today? Well, one little known fact is that corned beef and cabbage was a favorite meal of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, who served it at his 1861 inauguration dinner — and it is probably worth trying.
Find a family-favorite version of the recipe below.
Corned Beef Dinner
Glazed corned beef out of the oven and ready for slicing.
This recipe makes 6 servings.
- 3-4 pound corned beef brisket
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 medium potatoes, pared
- 6 small carrots, pared
- 6 cabbage wedges
Place one 3-4 pound corned beef brisket, fat side up, in a dutch oven and cover it with water.
Add onion, garlic and bay leaves; cover and simmer 4 hours until tender.
Remove meat from the liquid; keep warm.
Add potatoes and carrots to the pot that held the corned beef. Cover and bring to boiling; cook 10 minutes.
Add cabbage wedges; cook 20 minutes longer.
Glaze meat while vegetables cook.
Glaze:
- Prepared mustard
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- Dash cloves
Put the corned beef in a roasting pan. For the glaze, spread the fat side of the meat with the prepared mustard. Then, sprinkle it with a mixture of the brown sugar and cloves. Bake the corned beef in a shallow pan in a moderate oven (350 F) for 15 to 20 minutes.
The meat should be so tender that you hardly need to use a knife to cut it. Most of the fat is rendered during the cooking process.
The glaze adds another layer of flavor and makes this recipe stand out above the others.
Source: https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farm_life/food_and_recipes/why-do-we-eat-corned-beef-and-cabbage-on-st-patricks-day/article_465bc70f-ce94-571c-8bd1-d561e7aff254.html
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