How to Serve a Traditional Irish Dinner for St. Patrick's Day

Get your family into the spirit of the holiday by serving them a traditional Irish meal.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Crystal Vases
• Fresh Flowers
• Irish Beers
• Irish Breakfast Tea
• White Cut-lace Tablecloths
• CD Of Irish Music

1. Set the table with simple dishes, a cut-lace tablecloth and fresh flowers in a crystal vase.

2. Buy several pints of Guinness for the adults and serve it at Irish room temperature (which is colder than ours ' about 60 degrees). Serve Harp Lager for those who do not like stout.

3. Serve a hearty main dish such as corned beef and cabbage with horseradish sauce, or a warming dish such as Irish stew.

4. Choose a side dish such as colcannon (a winter vegetable casserole) or black pudding, and don't forget to make some Irish soda bread to round out the meal.

5. Brew a pot of Irish breakfast tea after dinner (see "How to Brew a Pot of Tea," under Related eHows) and serve a glazed Irish tea cake for dessert. You can make the tea cake a day or two beforehand and keep it wrapped in foil.

6. Play Irish tunes. Consider a CD of traditional Irish music, or create a lighter mood with Irish pub songs playing in the background.

Tips & Warnings

• If children are going to be present, you may want to go with Irish stew. Kids tend to balk at anything with the word "cabbage" in it, no matter how good it is.
• If you buy Guinness, get the cans with the nitrogen dispensers rather than the bottles. They have a more traditional taste. Take the beer out of your refrigerator about half an hour before serving to achieve Irish room temperature.

[AllanaBaroni]

on 4/19/2008 Add some party activities to the menu to get in the Irish spirit! Here are a few ideas:

- Best Irish outfit contest
- Chug contest
- Fill a large glass jar with new pennies or fake gold coins and have everyone try and guess how many are in the jar. Winner get the gold!
- For the kids set up a station where they can die carnations green. Just have green food coloring, water, small glasses or vases, and white carnations
- Don't forget the classic potato sack race, if you have the space

[writetruth]

on 4/19/2008 We still ate and eat CB&C ~ Some Irish don't like bacon with cabbage... : )

on 4/19/2008 If you are truly Irish, do not let the Americans tell you we eat corned beef and cabbage. We eat bacon and cabbage, served with floury potatoes and parsley sauce.

To make your potatoes floury; after you drain the water off the cooked potatoes (steam them as we say in Ireland), replace them on the heat, cover with the lid again, shake them around until the desired effect is achieved. Make sure have real Irish butter on the table too. Kerry Gold is the best, and available in the US, too.

on 3/16/2006 I think the title should be "How to Serve a Traditional Irish-American Dinner for St. Patrick's Day." I know a lot of people in Ireland have never even tasted corned beef.

on 4/19/2008 Corned beef and cabbage is not a traditional Irish dinner. It was not until the 1900's, when Irish immigrants came to America (where beef and the salt for preserving it was cheaper), that the Irish became fond of CB&C, and even then it was the Irish-Americans and not the actual Irishmen.