St. Patrick's Day

[Irish4]

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all here in the lounge.Stay safe and sound.

 

[Son_of_Atropos]

I'll be listening to Rocky Road to Dublin, Molly Malone, Cod-Liver Coolies, and Lannigans Ball all day today.

 

["Skeet" McD]

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig leat!

The iPod is set for a good 6 hours of trad music on 78s, the Currier and Ives portrait of the Apostle himself is hanging over the fireplace with the green silk about him (the same handkerchief that I was sent to grammar school with, tied about my arm), I made a railway cake last night for tea, and I'll be reading the CONFESSIONES and Letter to Caroticus through the day.

Hope you enjoy yours, as well. Avoid green beer, but accept all other kinds :>)

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Thank you! I'm Irish and you're the first person to wish me happy St P's day all day!
Despite my wearing of the green....

 

[DBLIII]

My bride has corned beef and cabbage in a slow cooker at home, she did remind me to wear green today and promised there would be beer with dinner.

I am not Irish, so I have no idea whether the corned beef and cabbage is a traditional dish or not - I heard "beer" and the rest tended to lose importance, as beer is a traditional drink for anything.
"Look, one of the dogs didn't poop in her kennel!"
"A reason for celebration! Beer!"

 

[John in Covina]

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes to you all this day. As a college student at Plattsburgh State University in NY, we celebrated St. Patricks Day with wild abandon and I continue those celebarations in recognition of all the hard work that preceded today's festivities.

This afternoon I have a Guiness appointment with friends to be followed with some corned beef and cabbage with some sturdy potatoes. Wee drams of Irish whiskey are slated to appear now and again.

I am hoping that tonight we shall hear "The Rakes of Mallow" as we watch the classic: "The Quiet Man" and contemplate Patrick's good efforts to bring the Good News to Ireland.

 

["Skeet" McD]

Bad 'cess to em!

Thank you! I'm Irish and you're the first person to wish me happy St P's day all day!
Despite my wearing of the green....

Arrah, Kitty...say it ain't so! Just how frozen a North are we talking here? I'd think you'd stand a better chance in Liverpool (or Edinboro', for that matter) than many a spot further South.

Surely your luck will change before the day's over with. Be sure to have an extra pint for me. How I wish we could get the real stuff over here...surely there's a pub somewhere with a few of the lads in the back having a bit of a session and the craic?

"Skeet"

 

[donCarlos]

Happy St. Patrick´s day to you all!

It´s a good holiday, I wanted to celebrate it this year, but all my friends are lame and all of them made up some excuse... Does it really matter that it´s a regular working day?

 

[Feraud]

I am not Irish, so I have no idea whether the corned beef and cabbage is a traditional dish or not -

I believe it is not a traditional irish dish but a New World adaptation.

 

[Irish4]

Kitty you are welcome as I am proudly Irish myself.

 

["Skeet" McD]

"Traditional" Corned Beef & Cabbage?....yes (and no)...and a recipe

I am not Irish, so I have no idea whether the corned beef and cabbage is a traditional dish or not - I heard "beer" and the rest tended to lose importance...

The consensus is that "corned beef and cabbage" is pretty much an Irish-American thing; exactly when it became so is somewhat shadier. It could have been as early as the middle of the 19C, when all those emigrants ran smack into New-England boiled dinner (in other words....the same thing by a different name); or it may come so late as the later 19C/early 20C when Irish emigrants of a later generation were in close contact with the first waves of emigrants coming from central Europe and adopted the Jewish brisket cut.

However...the concept was nothing new to the Irish back home; only the meat changed, really. At home, it tended to be mutton, but there are, of course, no hard-and-fast answers to this one. Here's a recipe for corned beef and cabbage from an Irish source, published back in the 1960s; enjoy!:

4 lb. corned beef
1 large sliced carrot
2 large onions, I stuck with 4 cloves
1 large cabbage or 2 small ones
1 teasp. dry mustard powder*
sprig of thyme and sprig of parsley
pepper
cold water

*I am indebted to Mrs Sarah Kenny for telling me of the dry mustard powder. It has a magical effect: the beef is always tender and moist after using it.

Put the meat into a large saucepan with all the ingredients except the cabbage. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil; then skim off any scum. Cover and simmer very gently for 3/4 of an hour, then put in the cabbage, trimmed and cut into quarters. Leave a little of the stump on, as this adds flavour. Cook the meat for 30 minutes to the pound and serve on a dish surrounded with the cabbage.

The stock makes excellent dried split-pea soup, either the yellow or green variety. When cold, remove any fat from the top and add 1 lb. split peas per 2 qts. (8 cups) stock. Cook fairly fast for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the peas become a puree. If soaked overnight they cook much faster. This pea puree can be cooked with pickled pork and used as a sauce.

From A TASTE OF IRELAND: Irish Traditional Food. Pan Books, Ltd. London, 1968. 330 02458 2

This is a grand book, and richly illustrated with photographs of 19C Ireland, well-chosen to accompany the recipes. If you can find a copy....get it!

 

[Joie DeVive]

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

My corned beef is in the slow cooker. I'll be adding my cabbage, carrots and potatoes soon.

I have a dinner party later in the week, and they are serving corned beef and cabbage. I am supposed to bring an hors d'oeuvre. Anybody have any ideas of what I could bring that would compliment the main course? I'm having trouble coming up with an idea. It doesn't have to be in an Irish theme, just compliment the meal.

Thanks!!

 

[Foofoogal]

Happy St.Patricks Day. I am Irish/Scottish mix along with other stuff.

fftopic: Saw where the fountains at the White House had been dyed green today. Is this new? I don't remember seeing this before.

 

["Skeet" McD]

Come to Boston!

Happy St. Patrick´s day to you all!

It´s a good holiday, I wanted to celebrate it this year, but all my friends are lame and all of them made up some excuse... Does it really matter that it´s a regular working day?

Well, Señor....you could always emigrate to the fair city of Boston, USA. It's actually a holiday here--but by somewhat devious means.

At the very beginning of the American Revolution, the British decided that it was....wise....to get out of Boston, once the rebels planted heavy artillery on the heights surrounding the city. Which they promptly did, changing their base of operation to New York City--they were there through the end of the war. The day they left Boston? March 17.

Now, the native Yankees managed to get along perfectly well for 125 years or so with "Evacuation Day" marked on their calendars, and nothing more. Must be that Protestant Work Ethic you hear so much about (and justly, I might add...). Fast forward to the beginning of the 20C, when the Irish had managed to work, scheme, and cheat their way to being Irish-American Democratic Politicians and took over the reins of government.

They promptly made "Evacuation Day" a full civic holiday in Boston and the county it is in. And so it's remained ever since....

On the other hand, we don't have Babiçka, even in translation. So I think you win....

"Skeet"

 

["Skeet" McD]

Side dishes for Corned Beef & Cabbage...recipes

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
I have a dinner party later in the week, and they are serving corned beef and cabbage. I am supposed to bring an hors d'oeuvre. Anybody have any ideas of what I could bring that would compliment the main course?

Well, here are two possibilities. The first is from the same volume I quoted earlier (A Taste of Ireland by Theodora Fitzgibbon):

BROTCHÁN FOLTCHEP
Traditional leek and oatmeal soup. Brotchán is the Irish for broth, and this soup made with young nettle tops was a favourite dish of the great St Colmcille. For many centuries oatmeal, milk and leeks were the staple diet of the Irish. Here they are combined to make a substantial soup. Legend has it that St Patrick tended a dying woman, who said that she had seen a herb in the air, and would die unless she ate it. St Patrick said to her: 'What is the semblance of the herb?' 'Like rushes,' saith the woman. Patrick blessed the rushes so that they became a leek. The woman ate it afterwards, and was whole at once.
6 leeks (large)
1 heaped tablesp. butter
1 tablesp. chopped parsley
2 tablesp. flake oatmeal
2 pts. (4 cups) milk or stock
salt and pepper
Wash the leeks thoroughly to remove grit. Leave on the green part and cut them into chunks about I in. Iong. Heat up the liquid with the butter and when boiling add the oatmeal. Let it boil, then add the chopped leeks and season to taste. Put the lid on and simmer gently for 45 minutes. Add the parsley and boil again for a few minutes.
For nettle brotchan use 4 cups young nettle tops, packed tightly. Wear gloves when picking them and cut with scissors. A little cream can be added if liked.

The second is properly a tea cake, sometimes called Railway Cake...but here in the land of plenty, it's what we narrowbacks mistake for "Irish Soda Bread." This one comes from a woman born about 1900; a dear friend received it from her in New York City about 1975:

Miss Ruth O’Brien’s Soda Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups AP flour
¾ cup sugar
1 tspn salt
1 tspn baking soda
1 Tbspn baking powder
4 Tbspn powdered buttermilk
2 Tbspn caraway seeds

2 Tbspn butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup raisins plumped in 1 ½ cups warm water (reserved)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and lightly flour a 9x5” loaf pan. Combine dry ingredients thoroughly in large mixing bowl.

Top off the reserved raisin plumping water if necessary to achieve 1 ½ cups; combine with other wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients, folding to mix; do not over-handle batter.

Pour into prepared loaf pan, sprinkle top with flour, and bake until done (approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour and 5 minutes); do not overbake or the loaf will be dry. Turn loaf out and wrap in a slightly damp tea-towel until wanted to keep loaf moist.

That last bit is important: do it, and your moist soda bread will be much remarked upon.

Good luck!

"Skeet"

 

[Tomasso]

[QUOTE="Skeet" McD]the Irish.......took over the reins of government. [/QUOTE]And then promptly dyed the Chicago River green.

 

[Fletch]

It's called Railway Cake because after a couple days it can derail trains if put on the track.

Sláinte mhaith, y'all.

 

[Fletch]

Nothin' to see here folks, move along...

 

["Skeet" McD]

Irish Railway Sabotage (quick bread division)

It's called Railway Cake because after a couple days it can derail trains if put on the track.

Uhhhhhhh.....Fletch? You need more help eating that stuff...or more practice! Doesn't stick around that long in these parts.

But, seriously: anything made with soda as a leavener can get might hard, mighty quick. And, in real life (i.e., back in the cabin, with the pigs under the bed) soda bread was usually eaten the day it was cooked. And then repeat the next day (all right, you might toast or griddle the last few slices for breakfast).

But in these happier times....the little hint I mentioned a few posts ago, about wrapping your newly-baked bread up in a damp towel to cool off, works wonders.

Enjoy the rest of the day: don't be TOO much of a deconstructionist, now won't you, just for me? And apply the uisge béatha liberally. It's a religious duty, don't you know?

"Skeet"

 

[Pilgrim]

This is the evening to watch The Quiet Man!