Getting the lowdown on St. Patrick

Do you have the shamrocks ready and something green to wear for St. Patrick’s Day next Tuesday?

Corned beef and cabbage are well stocked in our grocery stores for the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal. I doubt wonder whether most of us who celebrate St. Patrick’s Day do so without knowing the background of St. Patrick Day, its traditions, and the origin of food and drink of the day.

Although there are many legends about St. Patrick, and most are not true, he is revered. Historians tell us that St. Patrick was born in England near the end of the fourth century to wealthy parents. He is believed to have died on March 17 around 460 A.D.

There is no evidence that St. Patrick came from a religious family, but the family probably turned to religion as a tax incentive. When Patrick was 16 he was taken prisoner by a group of Irish people who were attacking his family’s estate. They took him to Ireland, where he was a prisoner for six years.

Then Patrick escaped. In a dream, a voice, presumably that of God, told him to leave Ireland. Back in England, he had another vision, which told him to go back to Ireland as a missionary. Thus he began religious training and, after 15 years, was ordained as a priest. Patrick was sent back to Ireland to minister to the few Christians living there and to convert the Irish to Catholicism.

At the time, most Irish people practiced a nature-based pagan religion. Patrick tried to combine some of the pagan symbols with Christian ones. He superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross, creating what is now called the Celtic cross.

Many of the legends about St. Patrick — some of which have become rituals — are not true. He did not drive the snakes out of Ireland, for example, as there were no snakes there in the first place.

Even though St. Patrick’s Day falls in the middle of Lent, a period when no alcohol should be consumed, it is traditional to have a shot or two of whiskey on that day.

A traditional legend

about St. Patrick concerns his being served a shot of whiskey at an inn that was not quite full. He told the innkeeper that there was a monstrous devil in his basement, who fed on the dishonesty of the innkeeper’s pouring of drinks. In order to rid himself of the devil the innkeeper must change his ways.

When St. Patrick returned later the innkeeper generously filled all the glasses. The devil had become emaciated. St. Patrick proclaimed that everyone should have some “hard stuff” on his feast day. It is customary to float a shamrock leaf in the shot glass of whiskey.

St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in America in Boston in 1737. It is still a religious holiday in Ireland and a festive one in the United States.

Two foods that are traditionally associated with St. Patrick’s Day are Irish soda bread and corned beef and cabbage.

Until the mid 1800s, housewives in rural Ireland did not bake bread with yeast, as there was none available. Also there were few, if any, bakeries.

All baking was done in the home. Baking supplies were limited and time, due to extensive farm work, was at a premium.

Thus the use of baking soda as a leavening agent was quick and effective. It produced a much more consistent loaf of bread than yeast.

Soda bread became a staple of the Irish diet until commercial bread production began in the late 1800s. This bread is still popular in Ireland.

Soda bread usually contains flour, buttermilk, baking soda and salt. On the farms, the buttermilk usually was left over from butter making, and the bread was usually served with freshly churned butter.

Today soda bread often contains sugar, butter, raisins or caraway seeds for flavoring. Soda bread is heartier than most yeast breads and goes best with soups, stews and meat dishes. In this country it is often served with corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day.

In Ireland corned beef and cabbage was traditionally served on Easter Sunday in the wealthy homes.

As there was no refrigeration at the time, beef, the more expensive meat, was salted or brined during the winter to preserve it. It was then eaten after the long, meatless Lenten period.

In rural Ireland, however, the country people usually had bacon and cabbage for Easter dinner. Cured bacon, or even pork loin, was boiled together with cabbage and potatoes.

Today mostly Irish Americans eat corned beef and cabbage to remind them of their Irish heritage.

Beef was first used in that dish when Irish living on the lower East Side of New York found that the brisket cut of beef, which their Jewish neighbors enjoyed in other dishes, was much cheaper than any other meat.

Corning is a form of curing. It has nothing to do with corn. The name comes from Anglo-Saxon times when there was no refrigeration. At that time, the meat was dry-cured with coarse pellets of salt.

Some were the size of corn kernels and were rubbed into the beef to keep it from spoiling and to preserve it.

Today, brining, which is the use of salt water, has replaced the dry-salt cure, but the name, corned beef, is still used. Peppercorns and bay leaves are added to the brine to give the meat its distinctive flavor.

So enjoy corned beef and cabbage.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.