Corned Beef And Cabbage Recipe

So why do we eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day?
St. Patrick"��s Day, (also known as St. Paddy's Day) falls on March 17 every year and is celebrated in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and of course Ireland.

There are many traditions on St. Patrick's Day such as wearing green, shamrock symbols, going out drinking (for all you college students) and the main one that I like, making my corned beef and cabbage recipe.

But do you know why we eat corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day? Well after you read this article not only will you know why, but I'll show you a simple corned beef and cabbage recipe you can do, and if you are daring enough, you can visit my site link at the bottom to find out how you can get a great Irish cookbook.

But first a little history lesson.

St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat during the 4th century in Britain to a wealth family. During his mid teens, his home was attacked by raiders whom kidnapped him and forced him to become a slave as a sheppard.

While in slavery he turned to God and eventually had a dream of escaping, which he did, and returned to his homeland. There he spent the next 15 years studying to become a priest and chose the name Patrick as his Christian Saint name.

So why does everyone take out their corn beef and cabbage recipe on St Patrick's Day?

Well, in the early century, beef was mostly eaten by the wealthy and on special occasions. The lower class had cows that they used to provide them with dairy products, both to sell and for the family. They were a very valuable animal to have. It wasn't until the cattle couldn't produce milk that they ate beef, (sad but true).

Pork at the time was much more affordable and since Ireland's climate is good for growing cabbage, they ate pork and cabbage. It wasn't until later, when the Irish migrated to America that they found corned beef to be more affordable than pork, hence, corned beef and cabbage. (A little side note, it's called corned beef because the beef is rubbed with salt the size of corn kettles, which helps to preserve the beef and keep it from going bad).

Today, you can buy corned beef for about 3.99lb, and .80 cent a lb. for cabbage, still affordable.

So here's the simple corned beef and cabbage recipe:

Boil your corned beef for about 1 hour per pound. Throw in your potatoes, carrots and cabbage leaves during the last half hour of cooking.