BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Irish Culture St Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching. In modern Ireland, it has moved away from being a religious holiday to a more secular remembrance, even celebrated by non Catholics ( as it only used to be) and even non religious people.
Do you have some special memories of how your family celebrates St Patrick's Day? Do you have special plans for this year? Or how do you think the Patron Saint of Ireland should be remembered?

I've always loved St. Patrick's Day, it seems to be the main day that everybody celebrates the Irish culture.

I know it's not an authentic Irish dish but I admit to forcing my boyfriend to make me corned beef & cabbage for the day and then eating it for a solid week, I'm in pure bliss

One of my red haired, blue eyed Irish sons demands corned beef and cabbage for St. Pat's, which I'm only too happy to oblige. I love it, too. Unfortunately, my son's Hungarian stepfather can't stand the stuff so I have to cook 2 dinners that day! Oh well, it's only once a year.

We do actually have it at other times of the year too, but it's a must-have on this night

St. Patricks day is celebrated in my town with every pubb having corn beef and cabbage out in the open and green beer all around...people pinching you if you arent wearing something green! I dont think that many people really know the true meaning of the holiday here in america unless they are Truly Irish.

It's an interesting thing to research - my boyfriend grew up in New York City with an Irish stepfather. According to him, there was no "real Irish" St. Patrick's Day. The Irish didn't really celebrate it. It was an American holiday, for Irish people who came here to remember their Irish roots. It's only now that it is so popular in the US that it's now being celebrated more in Ireland too

Sort of like how Corned Beef & Cabbage is an American dish, but because so many Americans went back to Ireland and asked for it, now they serve it in Ireland too

THanks LIsa----

Actually growing up in Belfast in the 50's and 60's "corn beef and cabbage" (as it was miscalled) was quite a common meal.

Corned Beef was a cheap cut of meat then and a family could eat well with the added boiled cabbage with butter added and potatoes cooked in their jackets.

Cabbage with lots of butter was one of the vegetables that most kids WOULD eat then !!LOL

Helen---

THanks for your post.

Experience with people coming for dinner on St Patrick's Day has proven to me that people either love it or hate it !!LOL

But once you like it----- it's worth making several times a year-----and cfold corned beef with the fat trimmed makes a great cold sandwich as well.

Tony

HI Darlingirishgirl---

THanks for your post.

LOts of pubs seem to do that --the pinching I have never understood .
ANd yes---most people have no idea about the true nature of the holiday.

TOny

Tony - but was it really corned beef? Are you sure it wasn't another cut of meat? From what I understand the Irish dish had ham, I think, and it was only when they came to the US that they used corned beef as that was the cheapest similar meat cut in the NY Jewish markets ...

HI LIsa---

YEs it really was corned beef -----often a lot of the moms would buy the cut and then "corn" it themselves---by whatever means I cannot remember. I DO rememebr my mom boiling the beef for several hours ---and the taste was so unmistakeable.LOL

TOny

Hmmm, the people I knew from Millstreet said it was a type of bacon that was traditionally served in Ireland for special meals. Ireland in general strikes me as a sheep and pig sort of place, not huge beef cow farms - did you come from cow country to be able to afford beef?

Slainte everybody, for an early St Pat's! (Great thread ) I am working on some great Irish short stories for that month!

Lisa - you are right about the ham but I have eaten a similar dish in Belfast - and been served it by family from there - perhaps there it was a sort of concoction of the tqo?

We had the typical 'beef stew' with the potatoes actually in it! Also carrots and onions!

Tony and everybody, he is SO right about all that lovely butter not only on the cabbage, but also on the boiled potatoes in their 'skins.!'

Sorry about the Carbs/fat, Lisa, but even my sons love their greens that way!

When we've visited Ireland, most of the Irish folk we met went out dancing with us every night - and worked hard every day - so the last thing they had to worry about was carbs

Yes, when you think of it, a healthy diet with lots of greens, fruit and exercise means maybe we can lighten up a bit on the odd garnish or two - like butter!

What about Colcannon? That's tasty too - people will think we Irish grow no veg except cabbage LOL ! (I think its made with mash potatoes, leeks and cabbage - yum!)

Maybe I'll ring the changes this St Pat's - we always have Irish stew!

My family has always served corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. It just wouldn't be the same without it. The "pinching" thing alwasy bothered me when I was a child, because there were always some "wise acting" boys that ran around using the day as an excuse to pinch the little kids, wether we wore green or not. The rule was: if you were not wearing green you would get pinched. If someone pinched you and you were wearing green then you could pinch them back ten times. But, that did not work with the big boys, because we could not catch them!

Ulster Fry. Popular as its name suggests in the North of Ireland no visitor to Ireland should miss this traditional meal usually served as a breakfast but often eaten at any time of the day. The meal consists of the following Bacon, Sausages, Black Pudding, Mushrooms, Tomato and Eggs served with Soda Bread and Potato Farl. www.emeraldtiger.com/general/food.htm

I looked up some traditional Irish foods and found the recipe above. I think I will try that for dinner tonight. But, what is Black Pudding?

My father always loved his homemade Irish Stew like his Dad made, using kid or lamb. It is so good!!!