I'd agree with Bridget !! The traditional meal was / is Bacon, Cabbage and Spuds in the form of New Potatoes!! Lamb would also have been a popular Easter dish... served as above with butter and wild bog mint on the New Potatoes. Corned beef would have been an exotic rarity !! Kind regards, Stuart www.irelandandirish,com/forums However other Irish people feel that Corned Beef and cabbage is about as Irish as Spaghetti and meatballs. That beef was a real delicacy usually served only to the kings. According to Bridgett Haggerty of the website Irish Cultres and Customs she says that their research shows that most likely a "bacon joint" or a piece of salted pork boiled with cabbage and potatoes would more likely have shown up for an Easter Sunday feast in the rural parts of Ireland. Since the advent of refrigeration, the trend in Ireland is to eat fresh meats. Today this peasant dish is more popular in the United States than in Ireland. Irish-Americans and lots of other people eat it on St. Patrick's Day, Ireland's principal feast day, as a nostalgic reminder of their Irish heritage. Corning is a form of curing; it has nothing to do with corn. The name comes from Anglo-Saxon times before refrigeration. In those days, the meat was dry-cured in coarse "corns" of salt. Pellets of salt, some the size of kernels of corn, were rubbed into the beef to keep it from spoiling and to preserve it. Today brining -- the use of salt water -- has replaced the dry salt cure, but the name "corned beef" is still used, rather than "brined" or "pickled" beef. Commonly used spices that give corned beef its distinctive flavor are peppercorns and bay leaf. Of course, these spices may vary regionally. http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/aCBeefCabge.html http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/CornedBeef.htm -- Pat Connors, visiting Port Charlotte FL http://www.connorsgenealogy.com ====Irish American Mailing List===== Add/check your surname to the Irish-American mailing list Surname Registry at: http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/IrishAmerican/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

My mother and father from Swinford, Co. Mayo and Aclare, Co. Sligo never had corned beef until they came to this country. And, my mother never served it as I was growing up. We had spare ribs, cabbage and potatoes and smoked butt, cabbage and potatoes, but never corned beef. The first time I had corned beef was in a sandwich from a deli. Kay Kathleen Brennan Mammoser Researching BRENNAN, BRETT,GALLAGHER & KENNEDY in CO MAYO>CHICAGO and BRENNAN in CO SLIGO>CHICAGO also MAMMOSER in Schoenenbourg, FRANCE>CHICAGO http://www.mammoser.com