Bob Terwilliger wrote:

> Since I learned that corned beef and cabbage is not an authentic Irish dish,
> I decided not to have it this year.

Oh, but it is, just not as popular in Ireland now as it once was.
According to Darina Allen, in "Irish Country Cooking," Cork City was
the primary source of corned beef and the city's most important
industry between the late 1680s and 1825. Cork city was a major port
for shipping, so preserved meat was a good thing to take along on a
sea voyage.

I think that corned beef and cabbage became such a standard Irish-
American (I'm one) dish is that the 19th century immigrants brought
with them what they knew about cookery when they left their homeland,
and lost contact over the years with the changes in eating habits in
the old country. Prob'ly true for many other immigrant cultures as
well, but I don't know.

We had my corned beef yesterday, brined for about a week and then
soaked for two days in plain water to get rid of some of the salt. My
wife called it the best corned beef she'd ever had. We'll have
sandwiches tonight with the rest.

I brined two center-cut pieces of brisket (about two pounds each), and
froze one to save to put in the smoker later for pastrami.

David