THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF FOOD BLOGS, BUT ONLY ONE CULINARY NO-NO!

For the Fischer family it’s an obligatory ritual every August.

We must attend Milwaukee’s Irish Fest, the largest and best Irish festival in the world. For more than 20 years yours truly has been the emcee for the children’s freckle and red hair contests.

While on the Summerfest grounds a must stop at the north end is McBob’s.

Check out the first item on the menu. Yes, indeed. Gotta have it.

Juicy and scrumptious. McBob’s is incredibly yummy.

Summer in Milwaukee won’t be here for another 14 months but the next opportunity to feast on corned beef is not far off. Even though there’s nothing traditionally Irish about corned beef that won’t stop the masses from making it their meal of choice on St. Patrick’s Day.

The day of the wearin’ of the green. It’s a big deal.

To celebrate we crazy Americans seek out corned beef.

Wait a minute.

Let’s look at that calendar one more time.

Notice anything that jumps out at you.

I see a problem.

A serious no-no.

 

 

This year St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Friday. A Friday during Lent. That’s going to throw  a monkey wrench into party plans for Irish Catholics.

No corned beef on St. Patrick’s Day?

That’s like waking up on Sunday craving Chick-fil-A.

And it’s not just corned beef that will be off limits. There’s lamb, shepherd’s pie, beef stew, bangers, Irish bacon.

The Associated Press reported in March of 2006:

(Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee) is among dozens of bishops — from Green Bay, Wis., to Arlington, Va., to Chicago to Boston — granting one-day dispensations from Lenten rules that prohibit Roman Catholics from eating meat on Fridays to observe the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In many cases, the bishops are asking for a similar day of penance in exchange for relaxing the rules this Friday.

While eating meat on a Friday in Lent isn’t considered a mortal sin — the gravest category — it does take a dispensation for the church to lift the rule. At least 67 of the country’s nearly 200 dioceses provide such dispensations, said Rocco Palmo, a Catholic commentator who has been keeping an informal count on his blog “Whispers in the Loggia.”

Such relief is not a given. As the article indicated Sioux City Bishop R. Walker Nickless  declined to grant a dispensation in 2006, saying giving up meat on Fridays in Lent is a penance Catholics are willing to make.

So how about it, Archbishop Jerome Listecki?

Bend that rule and pass the brisket.

Save