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ByNancyLindahl I'm no more Irish than Barack Obama, but I do en- joy a wee bit o' the corned beef and cabbage once a year while celebrating St. Patrick's Day. The trick is to cook it so it's better than a soggy hunk of pink meat with a side of slimy cabbage while you wonder what corned beef has to do with driving the snakes out of Ireland? First we might as well get the corned beef started: the only way to cook it is low and slow, and it takes hours. This recipe comes from the late West Side hostess, Thelma White. Everyone knew her as Timmy, the di- minutive wife of bean mag- nate and founder of Sacra- mento Valley Milling Co., Wilbur White. Gracious and soft-spoken, she man- aged to make her pres- ence felt both as a school- teacher and mother of five on a ranch across the river in Ord Bend. Her sense of style was simple and dra- matic, her hospitality was legendary, and she was a great cook. She counted Edith Heath of Heath Ce- ramics a close friend as well as the Henning broth- ers, both Gene, the architect and his brother, Jack, then president of Sunset maga- zine. Inspired by Old Hutch and Clarence McIntosh, history professors at Chico State, Timmy wrote a weekly series of histor- ical articles for the Wil- lows Journal. Her Amer- ican Pen Women friends, Dorothy Hill, Lois McDon- ald and Ethel Baker, helped her turn the articles into a book, Glenn County Sketch- book, 1995. You can catch a glimpse of early Califor- nia life in Glenn County and the Sacramento Valley while you enjoy her corned beef recipe. TimmyWhite'sbaked corned beef Bakeat325degreesfor4-6 hours Line loaf pan with double thickness of foil. Place one or two pieces of corned beef on foil. Place one sliced orange 1carrot 2stalks of celery 1cup white wine Pinch of pickling spice Directions were scant in the old days, but I did peel the orange and carrot, and covered everything before putting it into the oven. When the corned beef reaches an internal temper- ature of 200°, and pierces easily with a fork, it's done. Pull it out of its cradle of foil and put it on a plate to rest, or you can brown it under the broiler. Pour the juices in the foil into a pot and add water until you have enough to boil the new potatoes, carrots, and wedges of cabbage. Serve with a good, grainy mustard and a glass of Guinness Stout. If you're not a fan of boiled cabbage, try this yummy calorific cabbage casserole in its place. The recipe comes from Tom Grell, one of the original owner-partners of The Red- wood Forest Restaurant in Downtown Chico. Tom's culinary heritage is Swed- ish and Midwestern, which explains the creamy good- ness of this recipe which even the cabbage phobic will love. Tom's scalloped cabbage Make a white sauce with the following ingredients: 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup flour 2cups half & half 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Melt butter in a small saucepan, and add flour, whisking to combine. Slowly add half & half, whisking continuously until incorporated. Cook, stirring constantly until smooth and thickened. Add 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, and stir until melted into the white sauce. Remove from heat and set aside. Butter a 2-quart casserole. Halve and core one large green cabbage and slice into 1/2-inch strips. Layer the strips in the cas- serole alternating with the cheesy white sauce. Top with an additional 1cup grated cheddar and buttered bread crumbs. Bake covered at 350degrees for about 45minutes, until cabbage is done. Remove cover and crisp the top. Ever wonder why we eat corned, (salt-cured), beef and cabbage on St. Pat- rick's Day while in Ireland they eat lamb and bacon, close the pubs and consider the day a religious holiday? The Irish never really ate beef, and considered the cow an almost sacred symbol of wealth for its strength in the field, milk and dairy products, ac- cording to Smithsonian Magazine. When Ireland was con- quered by the beef-loving British, "Herds of cattle were exported by the tens of thousands each year from Ireland to England. But, the Cattle Acts of 1663 and 1667 were what fueled the Irish corned beef industry. These acts prohibited the export of live cattle to England, which drasti- cally flooded the Irish mar- ket and lowered the cost of meat available for salted beef production. The British invented the term "corned beef" in the 17th century to describe the size of the salt crystals used to cure the meat." Corn was a word used to describe anything granular "After the Cattle Acts, salt was the main reason Ireland became the hub for corned beef. Ireland's salt tax was almost 1/10 that of England's and could im- port the highest quality at an inexpensive price. With the large quantities of cat- tle and high quality of salt, Irish corned beef was the best on the market. It didn't take long for Ireland to be supplying Europe and the Americas with its wares." During the Great Po- tato Famine around 1845, many Irish immigrated to the United States where they primarily settled in urban areas like New York City. As they assimilated and began to make a little money, they could afford to eat some beef — corned beef was what they could afford, but it was quite dif- ferent from the traditional Irish corned beef. The Irish immigrants "almost solely bought their meat from kosher butchers. And what we think of today as Irish corned beef is actu- ally Jewish corned beef thrown into a pot with cabbage and potatoes. The Jewish population in New York City at the time was relatively new immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe. The corned beef they made was from bris- ket, a kosher cut of meat from the front of the cow. Since brisket is a tougher cut, the salting and cook- ing processes transformed the meat into the ex- tremely tender, flavorful corned beef we know of today." In America, Irish immi- grants transformed St. Pat- rick's from a religious feast day to a celebration of Irish heritage with a celebratory meal consisting of their ko- sher neighbor's corned beef, their beloved potato, and the most affordable vegeta- ble, cabbage. The tradition continued in the United States — it was Lincoln's chosen menu for his first Inaugural Lun- cheon March 4, 1861 — and accumulated more celebra- tory steam with St. Patrick's Day parades and festivals, but didn't cross over to Ire- land until the late 1970s, possibly fueled by tourism and Guinness. Long before the Irish American hoopla about corned beef, Northeastern Pomo Indians harvested salt in a tiny picturesque valley 3 miles north of Stonyford. In Glenn County Sketchbook, Timmy White writes, salt gathering was preceded by dancing and ritual, a singing of the salt song and scattering of beads as an offering to the Great Spirit in pay- ment for that which was taken away. "To the Indian, salt was money, medicine, and a preserver of life's vi- tal necessities." They used it to make jerky, dry and preserve salmon, and cure hides. "It was likewise trea- sured by the first settlers. Its uses included salting stock, corning beef, cur- ing hams and bacon." The Indian salt song was never recorded, and no one living remembers the song. "The superstition of its power to protect the Indian from turning into a block of salt is still strong. Old Indians who once participated in the salt rit- ual and who have forgot- ten the song, refuse to go to the salt beds, even today, for fear of offending the Great Spirit." All good tales to tell over an after-dinner Irish cof- fee, or a Crème de Menthe Parfait. St. Patrick and the snakes? The snakes were allegori- cal not the result of climate change in Ireland, but that's a story for another time. Crème de Menthe parfait Fresh-baked brownies 1cup whipping cream Small bottle Crème de Men- the liqueur Vanilla ice cream. Fresh mint for garnish. Bake a pan of brownies and cool. Whip cream, adding 1 teaspoon va- nilla and a Tablespoon of sugar. Select 4-6freezer-safe glasses and fill the bottom third with vanilla ice cream. Smooth the ice cream and re-freeze. When ice cream is hard, top with a thin layer of Crème de Menthe and re-freeze. Just before serving, layer crumbled brownie on top of the Crème de Menthe and top with whip cream and a sprig of fresh mint. Happy March — love the storms! SWEET BASIL AND THE BEE St.Patrick'sDayeats Corned beef, cabbage ... and dessert! PHOTOS BY NANCY LINDAHL Timmy White's baked corned beef ready to go in the oven. Creme de Mènthe parfait is a great end to a St. Patrick's Day feast. 734MainStreet 530-690-2477 11am-9pm Mon.-Thur. 11am - 10pm Fri. & Sat. 11am-8pm Sun. 9 CRAFT BEERS ON TAP Pizza Restaurant FOOD » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, March 9, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B4