St. Patrick's Day: Dining on Corned Beef and Cabbage

St. Patrick’s Day is a time for celebration, parades, green beer and that dish served at least once a year, corned beef and cabbage.

Though it is associated with St. Patrick’s Day and the Irish, it’s said the dish is not really Irish. It’s an Americanized version of an Irish dish created when Irish-American’s in the Northeast began serving it in the late 19th century. In Ireland, the dish was bacon (similar to Canadian-style bacon or ham) and cabbage. The pork was replaced with corned beef.

For at least one local deli this week is the week of corned beef. At , owner Howard Bender sells massive quantities of the product throughout the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Corned beef may be tied to the holiday, but it is a Jewish staple.

On St. Patrick’s Day alone Schmaltz Deli will sell more than 3,000 corned beef sandwiches and hot corned beef meals, deliver catered hot meals of corned beef and cabbage to area offices, and slice up corned beef for diners to take home, Bender said in a news release.

He said many offices were planning celebrations Thursday, because many people do not eat meat on Friday during Lent.

“Our most popular sandwich by far is the corned beef on rye with mustard, plain and simple,” Bender said. “Corned beef is also on three of our next four most popular sandwiches.”

Grocery stores around the area are catering to shoppers seeking to cook up the meal in honor of the holiday. Sales can be found on all the fixings for St. Pat’s. Some of the local sales are:

(with card)

Reuben corned beef brisket point cut: $1.99/pound

Fresh cabbage: 3 pounds for $.99

Red potatoes:  3 pounds (bag) for $1.99

Irish soda bread: $1.99

(with card)

Safeway corned beef brisket point cut: $1.99/pound

Cabbage: 39 cents/pound

Red potatoes: Two, 3 pound bags for $5

Meijer

USDA choice flat cut corned beef brisket: $2.19/pound

Cabbage: 24 cents/pound

Guinness: 12 pack bottles $11.99

USDA Choice corned beef points: $2.29/pound; flats, $3.49/pound

Red potatoes: 17 cents pound

Cabbage: 17 cents pound

Green River soda: 99 cents/liter

Red potatoes: 5 pound bag, $1.49

Cabbage: 10 cents/pound

USDA choice Boar’s Head corned beef: $4.49 pound

 Corned beef: $6.49 pound

Organic green cabbage: 99 cents/pound

Irish soda bread: $3.99

For recipes on how to make corned beef and cabbage visit The Food Network

Learn more about corned beef and cabbage and St. Patrick's Day on the Huffington Post or Wikipedia.

For more information on Schmaltz Delicatessen visit the website or call 630-245-7595.