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In the United States, corned beef is associated with Saint Patrick's Day, when many Irish Americans eat a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage.

While cabbage has long been a traditional food item for the Irish, corned beef serving as a substitute for Irish bacon first became traditional in the late 1800s. Irish immigrants living in New York City's Lower East Side sought an equivalent in taste and texture to their traditional Irish bacon (similar to Canadian bacon), and learned about this cheaper alternative to bacon from their Jewish neighbors.

Corned Beef and Cabbage
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One store-bought corned beef…you want to corn it yourself, start a week earlier and soak it covered in brine, refrigerated. We got better things to do.

Potatoes
Cabbage
Carrots Onions
Garlic
Cut off as much fat as possible. Put in a big soup pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Skim the gray stuff off and turn down to simmer, covered for a couple of hours. About an hour before eating put in peeled quartered potatoes, cut up cabbage, cut carrots, onions and garlic. In an hour transfer to a serving platter and serve with our incredible gravy…otherwise it’s a bit bland…as Irish foods tend to be.

S&E’s Gravy to make Irish food taste better
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4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
½ finely diced onion
4 tablespoons pureed tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock…or chicken, beef or mushroom

Melt butter in a pan. Add flour and stir for a minute. Add onions and cook on medium heat a few more minutes. Add tomato. Stir. Add stock slowly to make into a gravy. Cook til thick and srve on side of corned beef and cabbage., If its too thick, add some more stock. If its too thin, let it cook down a little. See how easy this is?

Next Day Corned Beef Hash
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Cooked corned beef
Cooked potatoes
Gravy
Onions
Olive oil

Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan. Add some diced onion. Cook a few minutes over medium heat. Add cut up potatoes. Cook a few minutes to get them a bit crispy. Add diced corned beef. Heat some more. Add a couple tablespoons of last night’s gravy and heat thoroughly. Serve with a poached egg on top.

How to Poach an Egg
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Bring three inches of water to boil in a pot or skillet. Add a tablespoon of vinegar. Break an egg or two or three into the water, turn down to simmer. Cook til done. Take out with slotted spoon and put on top of hash.

Irish Soda Bread
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One hundred fifty years ago it was common to make bread using baking soda rather than yeast in parts of rural Ireland. That's where Irish soda bread gets its name.
The practice of using baking soda started out of necessity. Yeast won't make dough rise unless the baker uses "strong" flour, which was scarce in parts of Ireland. Baking soda, however, could be counted on to leaven bread. The baking soda has to be combined with something acidic in order to do its magic. In this case, we've used buttermilk.

So, not only is this a historic and tasty recipe; it's pretty foolproof, too.

2 cups white flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. butter, chilled
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt

Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Cut in the butter until it is pea-sized. Stir in the raisins and buttermilk or yogurt. Turn the dough onto a floured surface, knead 1 minute, and shape into a disk.
Cut an "X" in the top and bake on a greased baking sheet for 45 to 50 minutes.
Makes one 8-inch-wide loaf.