Is Corned Beef and Cabbage even Irish? ☘️ No… and yes.

[amayakawaii]

Fun fact: the Irish word for road translates roughly to "cow path" or wide enough for two cows to pass each other. Cows were VERY important to the Irish!

[gerardacronin]

Thank you for explaining that, Max. I’m Irish and I never heard of corned beef and cabbage until I visited my American relatives. At home, bacon and cabbage would be the default combination.

[AmunRa]

It's amazing how much of of Irish history is "And then the British came and took that away."

[blairhoughton]

There's a whipsaw missing here.

The Irish are known to have had corned (or salted) beef in the 12th century, but had mostly given it up by the 17th. Then England banned cattle imports from Ireland, causing a domestic glut (it was here that the English in fop-splaining the ways the Irish could deal with the glut started calling salted or brined beef "corned beef"). The Irish started making a lot of corned beef, and exporting it, and Irish corned beef became the benchmark for quality, driving competitors out of international trade. The English and French started buying that in high quantity for their navies and colonies. Which made corned beef too expensive for the Irish, so they gave up eating it again. American producers started making their own, and English and French demand waned, and of course the Irish had lost a taste for it, so the Irish corned beef industry withered by the 19th C. Then, mid-19th C., along come the famines and emigration and readoption of corned beef by the Irish in America.

Begorrah. I need a beer and a nap.

[willowdelosrios]

Fun fact: In the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley, sort of the Irish equivalent of the Illiad, the war is ostensibly being fought over a prize bull called Donn Cuailnge. cows are a major freaking deal in ancient Ireland, much like in many other parts of the world, with religious, cultural, and economic significance.

[erynkrieger]

As an Irish Jew i am so impressed by this fact!

[richiebee]

I was chatting about this with one of my buddies. He asked why the Irish, he’s Jewish, eat corned beef on Saint paddy’s. I pointed my finger at him like the monkey from family guy and he was rightfully confused. Told him this story. He googled it to make sure I wasn’t lying. lol. In Ireland my friends and (distant) family eat lamb on Saint paddy’s (edited: autocorrect correction). They don’t do pork or beef.

[Demogrim]

Here in Newfoundland we have what we call "Jig's Dinner". Some families use corned beef and cabbage, but most families just use an assortment of root veggies(Carrots, rutabaga, potatoes), roast beef and/or turkey or chicken, cabbage, salt beef, and peas pudding. My family adds greens(can be dandelion or turnip greens) and blueberry duff.

Gravy was usually an option, too.

The table will also always have mustard pickles and pickled beets.

But this "Jig's Dinner" was often eaten every Sunday at Nan's house around noon.

[melissadunton]

Thank you for explaining this. I grew up eating it for St. Patrick’s Day and when my non-Irish friends would ask about it I would have to explain that it was actually an Irish-American thing and not an Irish living in Ireland thing. You explain it much better! 😂❤😊

[MomirViggwilv]

In the very early middle ages, the cornerstone of Ireland's economy was cattle-herding (and also cattle-raiding). A switch to more high-density aggriculture came only near the high middle ages, and also the invasion by the English.

[phaedrapage]

I had my bacon and cabbage early, by request. Wednesday night I made cabbage fried in bacon grease with the bacon crumbled back in at the end. My best friend was craving it so made enough for her household and mine. And it was delicious.

[NieroshaiTheSable]

The _tradition_ of eating it _on that day_ is an Irish-American invention, though.

[nicolejenkins]

Colcannon is my Irish food of choice. Backyard chef on YouTube has been making all of my favorite ways to combine potatoes, leeks or green onions, bacon, booterr (butter), and eggs😊

[tylerboyce]

Ooooh, I didn't know that about corned beef. In honor of my Irish ancestors and their Jewish neighbors, I'm going to make a nice beef brisket. 🍖🇮🇪

[kelseyjaffer]

this is so interesting! gotta show this to my partner. he’s from ireland, and likens the irish opinion of st patrick’s day in the usa to the mexican opinion of cinco de mayo—it’s not really a thing, and americans just celebrate it so they can eat different food and have something to celebrate 😂

[professornuke]

My family is Irish, and my Grandfather was born in Australia in 1904. He told me all the family ate a lot of corned beef and cabbage because a lot of butchers didn't have refrigeration when he was a boy, and so they corned everything left over at the end of the day to preserve it. Can you believe that the cut of beef everyone fights for these days, Brisket was the cheapest cut of meat in the 70's ? I grew up eating it rolled, and corned. It was cheaper than mince.

[danielsantiagourtado]

Always learn something new from you max! Thanks! And love irish food! 🍀🍀🍀🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

[devinm.]

So the important part is the cabbage...

[mockturtle]

When I was a kid in Australia (English but mostly Irish ancestry, but the butcher family was mostly Irish) we'd eat something called a pumped leg of mutton. This was the only mutton we ate; plenty of lamb, but no mutton. Pumped meant somehow syringed with saline. It was similar to corn beef or ham, but not as salty, and there would be small grey patches of meat that missed the salt; the rest was pink.

Not closely related, but might be useful for something you look at in the future. Pumped leg of mutton gets results in google.

This was mostly 60s and 70s. Yes, I could feasibly be your nanna!

[hbsjkwm]

This needs to be seen by the whole world.