Talk of the Town: Ah! The smell of corned beef and cabbage!!

Corned beef and cabbage is a popular Irish dinner, and it’s often served on St. Patrick’s Day—in the good old USA!

If you think of corned beef and cabbage as Ireland’s unofficial national dish, you may be surprised to hear that many on the Emerald Isle have never tasted it. They eat their cabbage with bacon (actually, it’s a kind of ham).

In the late 19th century when the Irish emigrated to America and Canada, where both salt and meat were cheaper, they treated beef the same way they would have treated a “bacon joint” at home in Ireland: they soaked it to draw off the excess salt, then braised or boiled it with cabbage, and served it in its own juices with only minimal spicing - maybe a bay leaf or so, and some pepper.

This dish, which still turns up on some Irish tables at Easter, has become familiar to people of Irish descent as the traditional favorite to serve on Saint Patrick’s Day.

Certainly, there will be many restaurants in Ireland that will be serving corned beef and cabbage Monday, but most of them will be doing so just to please the tourists.

In 1925, “corned beef and cabbage” was voted to be the favorite dish of New York City.

“Corned beef and cabbage” was popularized by the character “Jiggs’ in the comic strip “Bringing Up Father” by George McManus. It ran from Jan. 12, 1913 to May 28, 2000.

The strip was about an Irishman named Jiggs living in the United States who comes into wealth but still wants to keep his old pals, eat corned beef and cabbage (sometimes called Jigg’s dinner), and hang out at the tavern, much to the consternation of his wife, Maggie, a social climber.

One of McManus’s friends, restaurateur James Moore, believed he was the inspiration for the character Dinty Moore, owner of Jiggs’ favorite tavern. The real Moore changed his name to Dinty and founded a real-life restaurant chain. The restaurant owner, however, did not begin the successful line of canned goods that still exists today.

McManus died in 1954 and the strip continued under a number of other artists, including Bill Kavanaugh and Frank Fletcher. In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative US postage stamps.

So there you have it, loyal readers. I hope that you’re not too disappointed to learn that corned beef and cabbage is about as truly Irish as spaghetti and meatballs. That said, when it’s cooked properly, it is one of the most satisfying and tastiest of dishes.

President Grover Cleveland once noticed the smell of corned beef and cabbage coming from the servants’ quarters at the White House. He asked to trade his dinner for that of the servants. He commented that this was “the best dinner I had for months...”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all you Irish folk out there, especially my pals here in Green Valley— Bernie “Hail Caesar!” Sullivan and Dick Feeney.

The always popular Big Band Sounds of Green Valley conducted by Allan Riding with vocalist Erin Howell will be in concert at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 20, at the West Center. Sponsored by Green Valley Recreation, the concert is open to the pubic. Tickets are $10 for GVR members, $12 for guests and $14 for the general public and on sale at all major GVR centers.

Big Band sounds was formed in 1991 to play band dance and concert music for Green Valley area audiences.

The orchestra features five trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones and piano, bass, drums and guitar.

The band’s library has grown to more than 400 orchestrations, including arrangements played by such great bands as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Glenn Miller, Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

In choosing programs for dances and concerts, the band focuses on standard tunes which audiences will know well, and they will select special arrangements which add interest and demand more of the musicians.

Back by popular demand! Magician Rodney Housley and his wife, musician Kimberlee Housley will be performing again, Saturday, March 22, at the Madaras Theater at the Amado Territory Inn, off Interstate 19 at Exit 48, south of Green Valley.

Dinner starts at 6 p.m. by Chef Charles Deeby, followed by a must-see show staring the Housleys. Cost is $40 per person and includes dinner and the show. Seating is limited. For reservations call (520) 398-8684

Visit The Housley’s Magical Entertainment @ www.spademagic.com: watch videos, read biographies, and get to know the magic between the Housley’s.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740