PRESS CLUB C Podcast with Ray Keating – Episode #42: St. Patrick Deserves More Than Beer, Corned Beef and, Particularly, Cabbage

 In time for St. Patrick’s Day, Ray serves up more than beer, corned beef and the dreaded cabbage. He actually delves into who this guy St. Patrick was, and why he mattered so much that he got and deserves his own day. Tune in here!

St. Patrick’s Day Approaches: How Immigrants Shaped Our Cuisine

 by Chris Lucas

Guest Column

The Keating Files – March 7, 2021

 

March is here, and for many that means the month of green - from flowers and trees just beginning to blossom to Saint Patrick’s Day and everything associated with it.

 

One of the things people think of immediately with Saint Patrick’s Day is the hearty traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage. 

Did you know that, in Ireland itself, corned beef isn’t really a delicacy or traditional? Bacon or lamb is their meal of choice on Saint Patrick’s Day.

 

So why corned beef? Immigration.

 

People have been making corned beef since the Middle Ages. It’s a way to preserve meat using grains of rock salt (which was often called corn in Europe) and potassium nitrate (Salt Peter), which turns the meat bright pink. In some areas they skip the nitrate, and the beef turns gray (sometimes known as New England Corned Beef or Boiled Beef.)

 

Cattle was plentiful in Ireland in the 1600s and 1700s, and corned beef was produced and exported in mass quantities. The problem was that the British were shipping all of the food out of the country and not leaving any for their poor Irish tenant farmers, who relied on potatoes and root vegetables as staple meals, along with pork, which the British disdained. 

 

The famine and blight in Ireland in the mid 1800s wiped out the potato crop, causing The Great Hunger. The Irish were denied education, left with scraps and forced to work long hours doing manual labor for bits of food. 

 

That caused a massive Irish migration to the United States, mostly to big cities on the East Coast, like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Savannah. Some even went west, to places like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago.

 

It was in those cities that the Irish-Americans thrived. Their children were given free educations, and the hope was that they wouldn’t have to work at manual labor jobs causing their shoulders to grow large and their lives to be cut short. This new generation was called “Narrow Backs.” 

 

It was that group who began to mingle with the Italian and Eastern European immigrants who populated the same crowded neighborhoods and tenements. They spoke each other’s languages and ate each other’s food. That’s where corned beef comes in.

Jewish immigrants from Europe discovered that beef in the United States was plentiful and cheap, offering a culinary option other than pork. They cured and pickled the beef in brine, creating New York style corned beef and pastrami.

 

The Irish fell in love with corned beef, which they were denied back home. It was a cheap meal that they could throw in a pot with vegetables and cabbage to feed their family for days.

 

Since New York invented the Saint Patrick’s Day parade in 1762, gatherings after the event became popular. Corned beef and cabbage was the go-to dish. It became so associated with March and the Irish that Abraham Lincoln had it served at the banquet to celebrate his inauguration in March, 1861. 

 

One last corned beef innovation came in 1914 when a Broadway star wandered into Arnold Reuben’s New York restaurant late at night after a show. She demanded a new dish, so he whipped together corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian Dressing, heating and melting it all on Rye. 

 

Thus was born the non-Kosher - mixing dairy and meat is a no-no - Reuben Sandwich. (A hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, also claims to be the birthplace, but New York is more likely.) 

 

Today, some of the best corned beef in the world can still be found in Jewish delicatessens and Irish Pubs. 

 

You can enjoy it on rye (and only on rye, preferably with mustard. As Buddy Hackett once said “Any time a gentile orders corned beef on white bread with mayo, a Jew faints somewhere.”) with an ice cold Coke or with a green beer. 

 

When you do, be sure to say a quiet thank you to all of the immigrants who made corned beef an American staple.

 

_________

 

Chris Lucas is the author of Top Disney: 100 Top Ten Lists of the Best of Disney, from the Man to the Mouse and Beyond.

 

On the PRESS CLUB C Podcast, enjoy Ray’s discussion with Chris Lucas about his career as an actor, author and Disney expert. Tune in right here!

 

Throwback Thursday: St. Patrick Spread the Christian Faith

by Ray Keating

St. Patrick’s Day is upon us, so I thought it was perfect for a Throwback Thursday column to look at who St. Patrick was, and what he actually accomplished during his life. It turns out St. Patrick was a humble Christian who followed Jesus’ directive: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Here’s a Newsday column of mine from March 2004 on the subject …

Who was this guy St. Patrick, and why does he have his own day? I admit to never really thinking much about the person behind St. Patrick’s Day. 

I discovered through a limited, highly unscientific survey at a St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday that I was not alone.  With a wee nip in the air, ‘twas a grand day for a parade, and everyone lining Main Street in Center Moriches seemed to be wearing the green.  This scene has been replayed year after year in towns from one end of Long Island to the other. 

I asked dozens of revelers: What do you think of when St. Patrick’s Day is mentioned?  The most prevalent answers were parades, beer, corned beef and cabbage, shamrocks, green, and Ireland or their ancestry.  Two women amusingly said they felt like St. Patrick’s Day widows because their husbands played in bands during a variety of parades throughout the month of March.

A couple of people mentioned snakes in Ireland, and just one said she thought of the church.  Only one individual actually mentioned St. Patrick specifically.

The two things that St. Patrick is best known for – driving the snakes out of Ireland and explaining the Holy Trinity using a shamrock – are legend.  But what little we know of the real Patrick is no less dramatic or inspiring.  Most of the information comes from two surviving letters Patrick wrote.  One is the “Letter to the Soldiers of Corocticus” and the other is called the “Confession of St. Patrick.”  Both are included in a new biography St. Patrick of Ireland  by Philip Freeman, who does an excellent job in bringing alive the world and times in which Patrick lived.

Patrick was born some time in the late fourth or early fifth century, and at the age of 16, was kidnapped from Britain by Irish raiders and forced into slavery.  During six years as a slave in Ireland, his Christian faith took root and grew through extensive prayer.  After escaping and returning to Britain, he received a vision in a dream calling him back to Ireland to spread the good news about Jesus Christ.

Patrick became a priest, later a bishop, and did return to Ireland, where he had been enslaved, to spread Christianity in that predominantly pagan land.  At considerable peril, he followed Jesus’ directive: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)  In his “Confession,” Patrick wrote: “I even went to the most remote parts of the island – places at the very edge of the world, places no one had ever seen before – to baptize and ordain clergy and confirm people in the faith.”

This also was no holier-than-thou, self-important churchman.  He recognized his own sinfulness.  The “Confession” opens: “I am Patrick – a sinner – the most unsophisticated and unworthy among all the faithful of God.”  His message emphasized God’s grace and forgiveness, and the importance of prayer and faith.  He concluded about his life’s work: “You must understand – because it is the truth – that it was all the gift of God.”

For good measure, Patrick, according to scholars, was one of the first Christians to speak out strongly against slavery, and played a role in putting an end to human sacrifice in Ireland.

I’ve heard it said that you don’t have be Irish to wear the green on St. Patrick’s Day.  You also don’t necessarily have to be a Roman Catholic to embrace St. Patrick.  Heck, a sign outside the United Methodist Church in Center Moriches highlighted a St. Patrick’s Day dinner this past Saturday night.  All Christians certainly should be able to appreciate Patrick’s commitment to spreading the faith.  Most people should be able to see the merits of his humility, courage and conviction. 

So, before taking a bite of corned beef, or a gulp of beer on St. Patrick’s Day, at least a pause is warranted to think of the important lessons offered by a very real man named Patrick.

______________

Mr. Keating is an economist and novelist who writes on a wide range of topics. His Pastor Stephen Grant novels have received considerable acclaim, including The River: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel being a finalist for KFUO radio’s Book of the Year 2014, and Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel nominated for Book of the Year 2015.

The Pastor Stephen Grant Novels are available at Amazon…

Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

The River: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

An Advent for Religious Liberty: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Root of All Evil? A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel