Good Evening Kossacks, and welcome to this week's edition of What's For Dinner. This is my first attempt to contribute to the series and I hope it won't suck.
This coming Tuesday is March 17th, for Catholics the feast day of St. Patrick, patron of Ireland. Like most Irish-Americans I have no personal connection to the "ould sod", but I will put on green clothing and publicly celebrate my Irish heritage (such as it is). And tonight I'll talk about Irish and Irish-American food.
In Ireland, St Patrick's dayis actually a religious event involving church attendance. For the rest of the world, it is a cultural festival wherever there are Irish emigrants or their descendants, and there are lots of us. St Pat's has been celebrated in North America since colonial times (Boston 1737, New York 1756, Montreal 1759). It's a major public holiday with celebrations and parades in many cities across the US, Canada and Australia. Chicago infamously dyes their river green. Here in San Francisco the tradition dates to 1852; in this photo from the 2007 parade, that's me with the sousaphone at left.
Fascinating St. Pat's trivia, which I'd never heard until reading wiki: In Argentina it's a popular celebration for an unexpected reason:
...much of the popularity of the day is due to the Argentine animosity against Great Britain (and thus, sympathy towards the Irish). Neither the Catholic Church nor the Irish community, the fifth largest in the world outside Ireland, take part in the organization of the parties.
Cynics complain that it's less a cultural festival and more of a drinking festival pushed by the importers of Guinness and whiskey. I'm going to have a Guinness, you go be cynical somewhere else.
And please avoid references to offensive stereotypes about the Irish.
OK, let's get to the food.
The cuisine for tonight's diary doesn't give me much to work with, since there really is only one Irish-American dish: Corned Beef and Cabbage. And that has little connection to Ireland, it's really New England cooking, where it's referred to as "boiled dinner".
Although not a traditional Irish meal, it has been an integral part of Irish-American culture and is often related to Irish holidays such as Saint Patrick's Day.
This cultural connection was a recurring joke in the long-running comic strip Bringing Up Father. For you youngsters who don't remember, the protagonist Jiggs is a working class Irish immigrant who has achieved success and wealth but
...still wants to keep his old pals, eat corned beef and cabbage... and hang out at the tavern, much to the consternation of his social-climbing wife, Maggie.
Corned Beef and Cabbage (aka New England Boiled Dinner)
serves 6+, total time about 3 hrs
Over at Food Network Alton Brown tells you how to "corn" the fresh brisket yourself - but you needed to start a week ago, sorry. Most US consumers will get it in a plastic bag at the supermarket. The packer may have included spices, if so don't add any more.
* 2 to 2 1/2 pound Corned Beef Brisket
* 12 oz beer
* 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon ground allspice
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 tsp mustard seed
* 1 tsp coriander seed
* 4 carrots, diced
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 3 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
* 3 stalks celery, diced
* 1 head cabbage, chopped, approximately 2 pounds
Quantities of everything should be rounded up as desired to ensure plenty of leftovers. If I'm going to cook something that takes 3 hours I want more than one meal out of it! Use the leftover corned beef and potatoes to make Hash, recipe below.
Place the corned beef and spices in a 6-quart or larger pot along with the beer and enough water to cover (2 quarts or so). Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to low and cook at a low simmer for 2 hours.
After 2 hours add the carrots, onions, potatoes and celery. Return to a simmer and cook uncovered for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, add the cabbage and cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes and cabbage are tender. Discard the bay leaves. Slice the meat thinly across the grain.
The essential condiments are horseradish, mustard, and vinegar. Drink beer; lager or pale ale would go well. The saltiness of the corned beef is a bad match for any kind of wine.
Leftover corned beef can of course be made into excellent sandwiches. I recommend rye or sourdough bread, plenty of mustard, and no other additives. Kosher dill pickles and beer on the side.
The other great thing to do with leftovers is make hash. It hardly needs a recipe -- but this recipe has a story. A political story. Follow me to the connection between politics and leftover corned beef.
In my recipe file is a 20-year-old clipping from the newspaper review of
Henry Haller's "White House Family Cookbook". Chef Haller pleased a bipartisan audience, cooking for LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. On one of the most notable days in his 20-year tenure he served the President -- corned beef hash. Here is his story of "Nixon's Farewell Breakfast".
...perhaps the most memorable informal meal to come out of that second-floor kitchen occurred on the morning of August 9, 1974. When Haller arrived for work at 6 a.m., he found President Nixon, clad in pajamas, standing near the kitchen door. Nixon extended his hand and said "Chef, I have dined all over the world, but your food is the best."
... Haller relates ... "After I thanked him, President Nixon followed me into the kitchen. He ordered a special breakfast for himself, more substantial than his usual morning meal of wheat germ and coffee. The president asked a butler to serve what was to be his final White House meal in his favorite room, the Lincoln Sitting Room.
When the president finished eating his poached egg and hash, Alexander Haig entered the room, bearing a sheet of paper with a single typed sentence: 'I hereby resign the Office of the President of the United States.' President Nixon signed his resignation, to be delivered at 11:35 a.m. to the American public and the rest of the world."
Corned Beef Hash
(Just as told by Chef Haller, this is to serve 1)
1 tb butter
2 tb minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup diced cooked potatoes
1/2 cup diced cooked corned beef
1/4 cup chopped stewed tomatoes
4 twists freshly ground black pepper
4 drops Tabasco sauce
1 poached egg
Melt butter in a cast-iron skillet, add onion and garlic and saute until golden brown. Add potatoes and corned beef, mix well, and saute over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, pepper and Tabasco sauce, mix well, and cook another 10 minutes, stirring gently, until brown on all sides.
With a spatula, mold the hash into an omelet shape and brown evenly on both sides. Avoid cooking hash too rapidly; it should dry out as it crisps up. Turn out onto a breakfast plate.
While cooking the hash you have also poached an egg. With a slotted spoon, transfer the poached egg to center of hash; press the bottom of the spoon into the center of the hash to form a nest for the egg, and turn egg over onto hash with the smooth side facing up. Serve at once.
This is a very good recipe, but hash has always been about using up the leftovers. Any vegetables you have left will be good added to this, even the cabbage. Adding diced cooked beets turns it into another New England classic, Red Flannel Hash.
I thought of one more Irish-American tradition! Not quite food, not merely drink, invented in San Francisco:
Irish Coffee
1.5 oz Irish whiskey
4 oz hot coffee
1 oz lightly whipped cream
Check out the official instructions, with pictures.
I'll conclude with some real Irish food. Authenticity has no place in most US ethnic celebrations, but vegetarians may enjoy the potato dish instead of salty meat.
Champ / Colcannon
Champ is a delicious version of mashed potatoes, Colcannon is the same dish with cabbage added. From this website, which has lots of Irish recipes. Serves four.
8 medium potatos, peeled
small bunch of scallions (spring onions)
1/4 pt/125ml/1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper
knob of butter per person
The best way to prepare the potatoes is to cook them in a steamer and then pass them through a food mill. Alternatively, boil until soft but not mushy, drain and return them to the heat to dry somewhat before mashing. In any case keep hot. Chop the scallions finely, both green and white parts, and cook for 5 minutes in the milk. Beat this mixture into the mashed potatoes until smoooth and fluffy, season to taste and serve a large mound on each plate with a good knob of butter melting into the top. Each forkful is dipped into the melted butter as it is eaten. Very good with a glass of cold milk.
Colcannon is made in much the same way as champ, but with the addition of cabbage. In parts of the country white cabbage is always used. In any case, shred and chop a small cabbage (discard the stump) and cook until tender. Beat into the potato mixture and serve as above.
Now you're ready for your St Patrick's Day feast! Erin go Bragh!