St. Patrick and the Tale of Irish Corned Beef

St. Patrick’s Day typically brings to mind all things Irish: pots of gold, shamrocks, and leprechauns decked out in Irish green. Traditional Irish food may also come to mind: Shepherd’s Pie, Irish soda bread, cabbage, and corned beef. Parades, festivals, Irish music, and church services are all common ways to celebrate this international holiday, around the globe.

But who was St. Patrick? What exactly are we celebrating? And did you know that a few of these traditions are actually not attributed Ireland at all? Read on to learn more!

By Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Who was St. Patrick?

The patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, is credited for bringing Christianity to the island during the 5th century. Patrick’s first trip to Ireland, however, was not by choice. At the age of 16, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders, and worked as a shepherd slave in Ireland for 6 years. During this time, Patrick, whose father and grandfather were clergymen, found God. Eventually, Patrick received a divine message: flee to the coast; a ship will be there to take you home. Patrick did as instructed, and did indeed make his way home to Roman Britain. After becoming a priest, Patrick felt called to return to the land of his captors, to share the gospel that had brought him peace.

Patrick’s work made an indelible mark on Irish culture. After his death on March 17 (circa 461), legends began to grow around the beloved bishop, and St. Patrick’s Day began as a way to honor him, as well as Irish culture and heritage, celebrated on the anniversary of his death.

Currently, St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, certain Canadian provinces, and the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat. St. Patrick’s Day is also widely celebrated in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, most heavily where there is a lot of Irish culture.

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is very much a religious holiday, as is traditionally celebrated as such, with church services, and religious people engaging in practices like fasting and liturgical prayer. Historically, formal banquets were hosted in recognition of the beloved saint. In the 1700s, American celebrants began hosting St. Patrick’s Day parades, a practice that did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century. In Ireland, March 17 is the final day of a two week long festival called “Seachtain na Gaeilge,” celebrating the Irish language.

So… where are we going with this? Keep reading to find out how Vintage Meadows is acknowledging St. Patrick in 2025!

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Many think of corned beef as a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal, and in many countries, it is… but NOT Ireland! However, the world knew Ireland as the primary source of corned beef for centuries.

Traditionally, beef was not a common food in Ireland. Cattle were seen as sacred, a tool rather than a source of food. Only the very wealthy regularly ate beef; the rest of population primarily consumed pork. When England conquered most of the country, the sacred cow was changed into a commodity, beef production ramped up, and the potato was introduced. High taxes on salt and beef led to the British outsourcing their beef to… you guessed it: Ireland. Corned beef gets its name from the large salt crystals that were used to cure the beef. Within a few decades, Irish corned beef was known internationally, exporting hundreds of thousands of pounds every year. Production began to decline in the early 1800s when the newly liberated United States began producing their own. Through all of this, the Irish people themselves could not afford to eat the very cuisine they were producing.

Until 1845, when the Potato Famine forced thousands of Irish families across the Atlantic ocean to New York City, where they settled with other immigrants. Smithsonian Magazine writes,

“The Irish may have been drawn to settling near Jewish neighborhoods and shopping at Jewish butchers because their cultures had many parallels. Both groups were scattered across the globe to escape oppression, had a sacred lost homeland, were discriminated against in the United States and had a love for the arts. There was an understanding between the two groups, which was a comfort to the newly arriving immigrants” (Esposito, 2013).

Because of these close quarters, Irish people bought most of their meat from kosher butchers. “What we think of today as Irish corned beef is actually Jewish corned beef thrown into a pot with cabbage and potatoes… The corned beef they made was from brisket, a kosher cut of meat from the front of the cow. Since brisket is a tougher cut, the salting and cooking processes transformed the meat into the extremely tender, flavorful corned beef we know of today” (Esposito, 2013).

☘️Get 17% off Brisket and Green Cabbage Sauerkraut!☘️

It all comes full circle. Throughout this corned beef saga, spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years, here we are today, offering you 17% off premium Vintage Meadows brisket to make your own corned beef, however you want to prepare it! To eat with it, promoting a healthy gut and good digestion, enjoy a jar of green cabbage sauerkraut, also at 17% off!

The discounts are already applied, and they will stay discounted through March 2. Why so early you ask? Corned beef takes a week to brine, and we wanted to give you plenty of time to get your briskets brining before celebrating St. Patrick!

Check out these instructions from The Spruce Eats to DIY your own corned beef.

Reference

Esposito, S. (2013, March 15). Is Corned Beef Really Irish? Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/is-corned-beef-really-irish-2839144/