Savoring    Irish     Legacy Jennifer Eno

Illustration: Adam Powell

Corned beef and cabbage rarely appears as a meal on American dinner tables, except on St. Patrick's Day. When cravings occur throughout the year, most people are sated by a trip to the local deli for a pre-season sandwich ... few actually make the meal. It's more likely to be found featured in way-outdated home economics textbooks along with exotic jello molds and such homemaker rules as, "it's always good to put a ribbon in your hair before he gets home."

Known as the classic "New England boiled dinner," corned beef and cabbage is about as cosmopolitan as a pot roast, or a Studebaker, or Joseph McCarthy - not to mention cholesterol-heavy. Whereas other holiday-associated meals get to progress with the times and enjoy a liberated menu of enhanced ingredients, most incarnations of the Irish American feast are stuck in the '50s - like a favorite aunt or eccentric neighbor or the entire population of Mattydale, New York - and consists of a tasteless meat-veggie combo boiled beyond its original form and taste. Last St. Patrick's day, I was lucky enough to attend Mary King's annual feast in Berkeley, California and experience her exquisite rendition of corned beef and cabbage. Since the late '70s, Mary has taken the pleasure (and hard labor) of introducing 40-50 of her colleagues, friends, and neighbors to her Irish American heritage every St. Patrick's Day. Rife with mirthful tradition, Mary's feast takes on the classically stodgy recipes and updates them in simple ways that leave an eclectic group of guests wondering "why don't I ever make this meal?" This week, I was able to catch up with Mary to learn what she was preparing for this year's feast.

[Note: Before anything bless yourself and down 1 oz. Irish whiskey.] Appetizers Mary's place to break from tradition and experiment is the appetizer course. Each year she changes the appetizers, but maintains one festive element: they all must match the colors of the Irish flag. This year, Mary's planning an asparagus platter, an artichoke dip, and sun-dried tomato bruschetta - always with ample bread and dipping stuffs. The appetizers, as the main courses, are served buffet style because at Mary's it's as much about the party as it is the food.

Irish Soda Bread This year, Mary is preparing a sweet and a savory soda bread to accompany the main course. She works from a traditional Irish recipe of few frills: Combine 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 2-4 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, and some salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add a pre-mixture of 1-1/2 cups buttermilk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 egg to the mixing bowl and stir with a fork until the ingredients are moistened and come together. Turn out the dough and knead on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth. Shape the dough into a 7-inch round, flattened on the top and cut the signature cross across the top surface. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes in a cast iron pan for a crust that's crisp yet chewy. For the sweet variation, Mary adds 2 cups raisins and 2 tablespoons caraway seeds to the dry mixture in the first step. Be sure to plump the raisins first by placing them in a saucepan of water and bringing it to a boil, then drain, pat the raisins dry, and add to the mixture for a soda bread studded with sweet juicy gems.

The savory version calls for 2 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats soaked in buttermilk for 1 hour, 1/4 cup brown sugar instead of the granulated sugar, and 1 cup toasted walnuts (toasted in a pan, for a couple minutes, until fragrant) to be added to the dough. Whether sweet, savory, or plain, brush the bread with melted butter and dust it with powdered sugar, and serve after it's sufficiently cooled. Soda bread is a classic companion to stews and soups, but has multiple lives as toast or tea-time treat.

Corned Beef and Cabbage (Main Course) Mary adheres to the traditional boiling method for cooking the corned beef brisket. For the party, she cooks 10 5-lb briskets - she swears by Shenson's Old-Fashioned cure for a commercial brand. Rather than washing off the corning (as suggested by most brands), she adds it into the water (just enough to cover the beef) along with some onion, garlic, peppercorns, cloves, and a couple pinches of dry mustard seed to further flavor the meat/augment the corning flavor.The concern here is whether the brine of the corning dries out the brisket. But the succulent, meltaway texture of Mary's corned beef is a testament to her successful process. She then cooks the meat 3-4 hours, careful to skim any scum rising to the surface. She serves the sliced corned beef with different homemade mustards - a Chardonnay mustard or hot & sweet mustard, for instance. Preparing these mustards is as easy as getting dry mustard and combining it with your liquid of choice - Chardonnay, Champagne, ale, or even honey. Mary notes that some fellow Irish Americans have taken to roasting or barbecuing the corned brisket. I followed up on this with Dennis Kelly, a Bay area food and wine consultant of true heritage, who slow-roasts and sometimes barbecues the brisket. This allows for the opportunity to apply an aromatic glaze of mustard and currant or apricot, adding a whole other dimension to the meat. The Veggies Rather than throwing it all in the pot, Mary does her vegetables separately. She reserves the cooking liquid from the meat for the cabbage only. After coring and quartering the cabbage, boil it in the corned beef broth until it's soft but still has some bite to it. The broth lends the cabbage a mellow, round hearty flavor. Serve the cabbage cut up in a large bowl garnished with chopped scallions. Another interesting side-note: Our compatriot Dennis Kelly strays from tradition and prepares his cabbage devoid of the broth. He slices the cabbage into chiffonade ribbons and tosses it in a pan over medium heat with a bit of oil, water, and some light lager - just enough for some moisture - then covers it and cooks until cabbage just turns soft. serve with chopped onion and fresh dill. Whole red potatoes and carrots are cooked (steam, boil, whatever) and served separately with fresh herbs of choice: parsley, dill, or chives in this case.

Mary's St. Patrick's day party is quite the opposite of the typical overboiled disaster. Festive and refreshing, a thoughtfully prepared Irish Americam meal raises the spirits and imparts the flavor of a unique heritage. You'll find no maudlins at Mary's, only mirth.

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