It's not Irish

So it's about that time of year when all things green appear! I love St. Patrick's day. I'm not even Irish. I'm a proud Hungarian with a new-found love for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Which isn't even Irish. Confused? Me too. This morning I was looking up some new recipe ideas for St. Patty's and I found some very interesting history on this tradition.

excerpt from www.BHG.com

In the early 1900s, Jiggs, a character in the newspaper comic strip "Bringing Up Father," proclaimed corned beef and cabbage his favorite Irish dish, even though it may never have graced dinner tables in Ireland. Since then, Americans have embraced it as the meal of choice for St. Patrick's Day, March 17.

Corned beef got its name before refrigeration, when meat was preserved using coarse grains of salt, called "corn." Today, beef is corned with spices strictly for flavor, not for preservation, so the meat must be refrigerated. A wee bit of updating hasn't changed the allure of this all-American favorite. Whether you're Irish or not, boost your luck by celebrating St. Patrick's Day with friends and a feast.

Crazy right?! Leave it to us Americans to get a traditional dish from a comic strip to be passed on for over a century. I leave you with the simplest and most amazing recipe for this "Irish" dish.

Ingredients:
4 pounds corned beef brisket
1 cup brown sugar 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle Irish stout
beer (e.g. Guinness®)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Rinse the beef completely and pat dry.
2. Place the brisket on rack in a roasting pan or Dutch oven. Rub the brown sugar on the corned beef to coat entire beef, including the bottom. Pour the bottle of stout beer around, and gently over the beef to wet the sugar.
3. Cover, and place in preheated oven. Bake for 2 1/2 hours. Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing