Traditional Irish Dishes to Try on St. Patrick's Day

Traditionally, Irish bacon, a lean, smoked pork loin similar to Canadian bacon, was the most ubiquitous meat on the table in Ireland, namely because it was cheap, says McKane. But when Irish immigration to the United States exploded, immigrants found the cost of pork in this country to be prohibitively expensive, so they began cooking beef instead. As a result, bacon and cabbage is technically the more traditional Irish dish; corned beef and cabbage is the Irish-American variant.