sf wrote:

> Yep and I'm wearing green too. I don't have a drop of Irish blood
> (that I know of), but everyone in the US is Irish on March 17, because
> it's fun. It's also a good excuse to eat corned beef (I'll let hubby
> eat the wilted cabbage). Why eat corned beef? It's a good beginning
> for corned beef sandwiches and corned beef HASH. I can hardly wait
> for the hash. Hash, topped with soft boiled eggs and hollandaise.
> Yum.

I've only got a droplet of Irish blood (my maternal grandmother was 1/16
Irish, as far as any of our family can tell), but I'm observing St.
Patrick's Day anyway. (I'm not sure "celebrating" is quite the accurate
term.)

Since I learned that corned beef and cabbage is not an authentic Irish dish,
I decided not to have it this year. But Lin is going out to buy corned beef
anyway, since the prices are so low. We'll have it sometime in the near
future, and I'm positive that corned beef hash will be made shortly
thereafter. I like corned beef hash with poached eggs and a mild mustard.
Tonight's menu is:


Cheddar with Sage
Pickled Onions
Irish Soda Bread

Guinness Lamb Stew with Carrots, Potatoes, and Turnips

Steel-Cut Oat Pudding with Dates
Coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream

(or http://i43.tinypic.com/w88euw.jpg for those who prefer the non-text menu
style favored by Mr. Bill.)


The pudding was made this morning, and is cooling in the refrigerator. The
onions have been pickled. The bone (with a fair amount of meat and
connective tissue on it) from the leg of lamb is currently simmering in a
mixture of stock, red wine, and Guinness.

The Irish soda bread will have to wait until Lin gets back from shopping;
the recipe I'm using calls for buttermilk, and there's no buttermilk in the
house.

Lin and I are members of the Mount Vernon Winery wine club. Part of the
membership includes a quarterly selection of three bottles of wine. We
picked up our bottles yesterday, and we're using one of them today: It's an
Alicante Bouschet, which is a fairly obscure variety. I looked up the wine's
characteristics, then opened and tasted it, and decided that a cup of it
could go into the stew, while the remainder of the bottle will be consumed
with dinner tonight. (The other two bottles were a Viognier and a Barbera.)

Bob

Bob Terwilliger wrote:

>
> I've only got a droplet of Irish blood (my maternal grandmother was 1/16
> Irish, as far as any of our family can tell), but I'm observing St.
> Patrick's Day anyway. (I'm not sure "celebrating" is quite the accurate
> term.)


My great great grandfather was an Irish Catholic priest who became
disgusted with the Church and its influence, left the priesthood, left
the Church and left Ireland, came to Canada and married a Presbyterian
whose father was also an ex Catholic who left the church in disgust.

My wife is dressed in green today. She wants to have cabbage for dinner,
but it will be with grilled pork chops, not corned beef.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
m...
> Bob Terwilliger wrote:
>
>>
>> I've only got a droplet of Irish blood (my maternal grandmother was 1/16
>> Irish, as far as any of our family can tell), but I'm observing St.
>> Patrick's Day anyway. (I'm not sure "celebrating" is quite the accurate
>> term.)
>
>
> My great great grandfather was an Irish Catholic priest who became
> disgusted with the Church and its influence, left the priesthood, left the
> Church and left Ireland, came to Canada and married a Presbyterian whose
> father was also an ex Catholic who left the church in disgust.
>
> My wife is dressed in green today. She wants to have cabbage for dinner,
> but it will be with grilled pork chops, not corned beef.
>
>

My grandmother was Irish, i put an Irish stew in the crockpot and headed
out for a combo gym/spa day. Stopped for Tim Horton Tea Biscuits on the way
home and that was the sum total of our irish dinner. lol

Debbie

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:23:34 -0700, 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. But Lin is going out to buy corned beef
> anyway, since the prices are so low. We'll have it sometime in the near
> future, and I'm positive that corned beef hash will be made shortly
> thereafter. I like corned beef hash with poached eggs and a mild mustard.
> Tonight's menu is:
>
> Cheddar with Sage
> Pickled Onions
> Irish Soda Bread
>

how did you do the pickled onions, bob?

your pal,
blake

blake wrote on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:01:54 GMT:

> On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:23:34 -0700, 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. But
>> Lin is going out to buy corned beef anyway, since the prices
>> are so low. We'll have it sometime in the near future, and
>> I'm positive that corned beef hash will be made
>> shortly thereafter. I like corned beef hash with poached eggs
>> and a mild mustard. Tonight's menu is:
>>
>> Cheddar with Sage
>> Pickled Onions
>> Irish Soda Bread
>>
> how did you do the pickled onions, bob?

I'm not Bob, but I was given a recipe for English Pub Onions on this ng.
They were great but took a month (really!) to prepare so I usually steel
myself and pay the excessive store prices when I want them.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:13:04 GMT, James Silverton wrote:

> blake wrote on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:01:54 GMT:
>
>> On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:23:34 -0700, 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. But
>>> Lin is going out to buy corned beef anyway, since the prices
>>> are so low. We'll have it sometime in the near future, and
>>> I'm positive that corned beef hash will be made
>>> shortly thereafter. I like corned beef hash with poached eggs
>>> and a mild mustard. Tonight's menu is:
>>>
>>> Cheddar with Sage
>>> Pickled Onions
>>> Irish Soda Bread
>>>
>> how did you do the pickled onions, bob?
>
> I'm not Bob, but I was given a recipe for English Pub Onions on this ng.
> They were great but took a month (really!) to prepare so I usually steel
> myself and pay the excessive store prices when I want them.

i did clip and save your recipe, james, but i haven't tried it yet. but
another wouldn't hurt.

your pal,
blake

blake asked:

> how did you do the pickled onions, bob?

It was an experiment, based on the recent discussion about the Food Tumbler,
which made me wonder if vacuum-packing could expedite the pickling process.

I used the little "boiling" onions: Peeled and the root end cut off, but
otherwise left whole. About a cup and a half of cider vinegar, then added
sugar and salt until the brine tasted "right". Added the onions, brought the
brine to a boil, then let it cool to room temperature in the pan. Put the
brine and onions into a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-packed it. This process was
completed around 8:00 AM. By 5:45 PM, the onions were nicely pickled.

Bob

Bob wrote on Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:30:52 -0700:

>> how did you do the pickled onions, bob?

> It was an experiment, based on the recent discussion about the
> Food Tumbler, which made me wonder if vacuum-packing could
> expedite the pickling process.

> I used the little "boiling" onions: Peeled and the root end cut off,
> but otherwise left whole. About a cup and a half of cider
> vinegar, then added sugar and salt until the brine tasted
> "right". Added the onions, brought the brine to a boil, then
> let it cool to room temperature in the pan. Put the brine and onions
> into a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-packed it. This process
> was completed around 8:00 AM. By 5:45 PM, the onions were
> nicely pickled.

The time producing part of the process in the original recipe is the
long brining time. If I ever get a vacuum sealer, I'll have to try it to
see if the texture comes out as I want it.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

On Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:30:52 -0700, Bob Terwilliger wrote:

> blake asked:
>
>> how did you do the pickled onions, bob?
>
> It was an experiment, based on the recent discussion about the Food Tumbler,
> which made me wonder if vacuum-packing could expedite the pickling process.
>
> I used the little "boiling" onions: Peeled and the root end cut off, but
> otherwise left whole. About a cup and a half of cider vinegar, then added
> sugar and salt until the brine tasted "right". Added the onions, brought the
> brine to a boil, then let it cool to room temperature in the pan. Put the
> brine and onions into a FoodSaver bag and vacuum-packed it. This process was
> completed around 8:00 AM. By 5:45 PM, the onions were nicely pickled.
>
> Bob

interesting, thanks.

when i get around to trying something, i'm going to use frozen pearl onions
(defrosted, of course). i haven't seen anyone say you could do this, but i
haven't heard you couldn't, either.

i did some refrigerator pickles with frozen cauliflower that turned out
tolerably well. (the brine i came up with was a little too sweet.)

your pal,
blake

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

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

And this is so YESTERDAY NEWS! Can't we keep our cooking
conversations relevant and current?

Fresh new ideas...the wave of the future.

Mr. Bill whined:

>>> Since I learned that corned beef and cabbage is not an authentic
>>> Irish dish, I decided not to have it this year.
>
> And this is so YESTERDAY NEWS! Can't we keep our cooking
> conversations relevant and current?
>
> Fresh new ideas...the wave of the future.

Thank you for your stale post, in which no fresh new ideas were mentioned,
while you recycled your same menu from last year. Now **** off, hypocrite.

By the way, the of mine that you quoted was sent *on* St. Patrick's Day, at
1:23 PM. You quoting a two-day old post and then decrying it as "yesterday's
news" is pretty STUPID, then, isn't it?

What's the matter, Billy? Are you feeling a bit upstaged? Did your "Reuben
Casserole" not turn out as well as you had hoped?

Bob