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Besides corned beef and cabbage, what are some other traditional Irish meals prepared for this fun holiday?

Colcannon is delicious --mashed potatoes with cabbage and scallions. Also boxty (pancakes made from a mixture of mashed and shredded potato), soda bread, and beef stew with Guinness in it.

We still have corned beef in the chest freezer from the sale last year after St Patrick's Day. I like Irish beef stew- sorry, maybe it was lamb?- and my FIL really liked oatmeal with Irish Cream when we took a trip there. It was about 20 years ago, and we arrived the day after St Patricks Day in a touristy area. We couldn't figure out why nothing was open, and the towns were dead. We were totally clueless. Great trip. Beautiful country!

[This message edited by KitchenDepth5551 at 11:08 PM, Friday, March 6th]

These all sound pretty amazing. I'm going to try a few of these this month in honor of my 4-5% Irish DNA! 😂🤣

Our church used to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a group dinner serving traditional corned beef, red potatoes, carrots, cabbage and soda bread. The cook would go to a wholesale restaurant supply place and buy a jumbo piece of corned beef that he would cook (somehow, boiled?) with the included spice packets and then he would add the root veggies and finally the cabbage to the same cooking water until they were all tender enough to serve and had picked up the flavors and spices - First Class! I know Allspice berries were one of the spices, because we would see them sometimes in the bit of cooking liquid we'd get. Memorable! (Sadly those days ended just as the Covid shutdown of our church functions started and have never again resumed.)

As far as soda bread, our church cook's wife used to make this for our St. Patty's and it is was so great, even cold, with KerryGold Irish butter...rich and simple. Wish I had that recipe, too...

Now if anyone has the recipe for "Beef stew with Guinness in it" I'm all ears...

Hint hint StillLivin....

Superesse,

Beef stew with Guinness sounds amazing. I have never made it but I can check on Pinterest and see what I can find. I make a MEAN shepherd's pie with ground lamb. I dont make it the traditional way anymore, though. I played around with seasonings, etc. and now I've perfected it. I use the normal thyme, and other traditiinal spices and herbs, but then I add just a hint of saffron, Sumac, mint, and basil. I also use a couple of parsnips in the potatoes for a little bit of sweetness.

If I find a good recipe for the stew, I'll come back and post it. Im making my corned beef tomorrow. It will be gone by St Patrick's Day, but i want to try a fee of these other suggestions too before March is over.

I bought an Irish baking soda bread from Sprouts. OMG it was great. They put Caraway seeds in it and it gave it a hint of brightness and sweetness in the flavor. I had never heard of Caraway seeds in it before, but now I think I'm going to try recreating it with some good Irish Gold butter. Now I want a Guinness dammit.

[This message edited by StillLivin at 1:26 PM, Wednesday, March 11th]

Making me hungry is what you are good at, StillLivin! I actually have a package of ground lamb in the refrigerator that needs to be used. Was thinking of trying some little empanadas with lamb and ?? even though I have never made any kind of dough pies, for a breakfast bite. But now that you talk about Shepherd's Pie with potatoes and turnips, I think we need that recipe! Do you use peas, too?

What about using mashed potatoes mixed with mashed parsnips? We have some big fat parsnips waiting to be roasted.

Superesse, Yes, I meant to say parsnips. I thought I did. Maybe I typed it in wrong or that damn autocorrect got me if infat fingered it.
And make sure you use a potato ricer instead of mashing. It incorporates the potatoes and parsnips better.
I use all the basics for the ground lamb: onions, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, coriander seed, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, worcestershire sauce, tomatoe paste, rosemary, and then a tiny bit of saffron and Sumac, along with finely chiffonade mint and basil. As for vegetables, yes I love peas, but also carrots, parsnips, corn, sometimes if I'm in mood, even celery. Then I steam or boil parsnips and potatoes. Once, I used sweet potatoes instead of potatoes, another time purple potatoes (Korean). I like to experiment sometimes. I have even added cumin chili flakes and declared the meat with a splash of red wine a few times for a little extra.

Thanks! It was a middle of the night post and I must have been thinking of those turnips my Scots-Irish inlaws used to grow. Parsnips are underappreciated! I gotta do this one. Although no sumac in the house, isn't that a Middle Eastern spice?

[This message edited by Superesse at 3:43 PM, Wednesday, March 11th]

Sumac is a highly underrated spice.I love it on vegetables. It adds a bright citrusy taste. Worth adding to your spice rack IMO.

And yes parsnips are also underrated. Love roasting them with carrots.

I’ll be making the world’s smallest corned beef and cabbage (and carrots) in a couple days :-)

Superesse, Yes, Sumac is a middle eastern spice but it adds a bit of tangyness to my shepherds pie that seems to "brighten" the flavor. I only add about a pinch or two.

Bearly Breathing, we may be in competition for the smallest corned beef brisket!

I'm making mine tomorrow and not waiting for St. Patrick's Day. When it runs out, I'll be making the stew. When that runs out, it will be the roast beef!!! I have a nice six pack of Guinness ready!

[This message edited by StillLivin at 6:43 AM, Saturday, March 14th]

It was BraveSirRobin who first mentioned Guinness....

StillLiving you must either get your spices through mail order or live in a much more cosmopolitan area than I do, because every time I try to copycat one of your fabulous recipes I first must hit all the local stores where I might find them and so far, Sumac is not on anybody's shelves, even though the brand they do carry does sell it (online). I haven't given up, eventually we will be nearer a fancier, upscale arean and I will make a point of spice shopping.

I still need to do those ground lamb empanadas, and don't want them as large as a "Cornish pasty." Just little bites. What would you put with the ground lamb for a little appetizer bite?

Ironically, I don't eat beef, but I was throwing a party that included several people who do. I Googled Guinness beef stew, chose a highly rated recipe, and followed it to the letter because I couldn't taste test the results.

It was a hit, but that's all I can tell you.

BraveSirRobin, Thanks, that's how I "learned to cook," as well, before StillLivin came along!

I sometimes make corned beef with lima beans. I put the beans right in with it. It's really good. Think ham and beans, only with corned beef instead of ham.

I freaking love corned beef with cabbage, too.

Oh, wow. Sumac grew wild where I grew up in Pennsylvania. We used to make "sumac-aid." We soaked the fronds in water overnight, then strained it out and added sugar. It was so good! Not a lot of people know about using sumac to make juice or cook with.

Of course you gotta be careful not to use the poisonous varieties, lol.

Superesse, I live in Tucson and we have a ton of Mexican, Persian, and Asian stores. I hit them all up for my spices. But we also have Whole Foods and Sprouts and you would be surprised at what they have in their bulk and spices sections.

Hmmm for the Cornish pasty, if I wanted it savory, lots of garlic, thyme, and a hint of mint and potatoes and maybe peas. If I wanted it sweeter, bits of sweet potato, garlic, mint, and maybe some tiny apple bites, or make an apple compote/apple mint jelly for dipping. I would cheat and cut small squares of puff pastry and fill it in that or put a square in a cupcake tin and bake. I have regular sized cupcake tins and the tiny cupcake tin I use for making pecan tassies. Maybe tomato paste or bits of finely chopped sun dried tomatoes or dried and soaked in olive oil. Now I'm making myself hungry.

Pogre, yes, Sumac is highly underrated. I never heard of using it in a tea or beverage. Sound pretty good. I love lima beans. Which is why they never end up in anything because I'll eat them cold out of the can or heated up. I usually eat canned, but occasionally I'll make them from scratch. I love fava beans too. OK, I just love beans, period!

BSR, If I find an interesting recipe and I have never made it before, I'll actually follow the recipe...mostly. Then I decide how I can improve it for the next time. Unless I am baking where it's important to follow baking soda, yeast, or salt proportions, I usually cook by smell and taste. If it tastes like it needs more of something, I'll add more. If I think I can add something and make it better, I do that too. I don't eat a lot of meat, but I'm not a vegetarian so I can try my meat dishes. But I love vegetarian meals too! Best of both worlds!

[This message edited by StillLivin at 7:00 AM, Saturday, March 14th]

StillLivin, I most want to try your savory lamb bite, with a pastry roll. I got some of those tubesxp just to try this out...will attempt, tomorrow. We had occasion to drive 4 hours away to the Eastern edge of Virginia today and in the State Capital region they have upscale grocery stores like a Wegmans, one of only 2 or so in the whole state. There, we found your Juniper berries! They were next to Harissa and Za'atar jars. But no sumac! Then at the checkout, the helpful clerk used her cell phone to precisely locate Sumac berries on the next aisle over, which we had not noticed also was full of spices - they have just unbelievable varieties of everything! And we found it, grouped with Indian spices. SCORE!

Continuing to "expand taste horizons"....perhaps a good cookbook title?

BSR, If I find an interesting recipe and I have never made it before, I'll actually follow the recipe...mostly. Then I decide how I can improve it for the next time.

I'm honestly not much of a cook, but I'm pretty good at tweaking cocktail recipes. 🍹

and in the State Capital region they have upscale grocery stores like a Wegmans, one of only 2 or so in the whole state.

We are SOOOOO lucky to have two Wegman's within 10-15 minutes of our house. I was first exposed to it when each of our daughters attended college in New York and Pennsylvania where they had Wegman's. So I was thrilled when we moved east and now I have such easy access to them!