With very little fresh meat, or cold storage for keeping it, early Newfoundlanders used corned or salted meat in many meals. Using home-grown vegetables and dried yellow split peas, jiggs dinner became one of the most common of these meals. It remains a favorite today.
Corned or Salt Beef (or Spareribs)
These are chunks of beef or spareribs that have been cured or pickled in brine. For a meal like jiggs dinner, the meat is soaked in cold water overnight to remove some of the salt. Otherwise, the meal would be too salty to eat.
The Vegetables
In early Newfoundland, most people kept a vegetable garden to grow their own food. The vegetables were usually stored in an underground or sod cellar. The most common vegetables used in a jiggs dinner are potatoes, carrots, turnip, cabbage and parsnips.
Yellow Split Peas Pudding (or Pease Pudding)
The dried peas for the pudding are placed in a cloth bag and soaked in cold water overnight. They are cooked along with the salt beef and vegetables. When the pudding is ready, it is often mashed with butter and black pepper.
Traditional Newfoundland Jiggs Dinner
Ingredients:
- 1 lb salt beef
- 1 1/2 cups yellow split peas
- 6-7 medium potatoes
- 5-6 carrots (sliced in half if large)
- 2-3 parsnips (sliced if large)
- 1 medium turnip (sliced into thick slices)
- 1 medium cabbage (cut into 4-6 wedges)
Steps:
- The salt beef and peas in the cloth bag are covered with cold water and soaked overnight.
- The following day, the overnight soaking water is drained from the salt beef and pudding bag. They are covered with fresh water in a large pot, then boiled for 2 hours.
- All of the vegetables (except the potatoes) are added to the pot after it has been cooking for 1 hour. The potatoes are added to the pot for the last half hour.
- When everything is cooked, the pudding is placed in a bowl and mashed with butter and black pepper. The salt beef is cut into small pieces. Everything, except the pudding, is served on a large platter. The peas pudding is served in a bowl.
- The stock from the pot is often spooned over the vegetables, or saved to make gravy if a roast of meat has been cooked to accompany the meal. A jiggs dinner is often served with sweet mustard pickles or sweet pickled beets.
Vegetable Hash from Leftover Jiggs Dinner
Many people use the leftover vegetables from a jiggs dinner to make a vegetable hash the next day. A little salt pork is fried in a pan. The chopped up vegetables are added to the rendered fat and mixed together. Oil can be used in place of the pork.
Many restaurants in Newfoundland serve jiggs dinner. It is also a favorite at events like church suppers and community festival days. Jiggs dinner is a warm, hearty meal on a cold day.
For more articles on Newfoundland and Labrador see The Thomas Howe Demonstration Forest, Moor-Crafts and Gifts Offers Homemade Fudge, and Toutons Made by Frying Bread Dough.
Sources:
Ultramar collectors recipe books: Traditional Recipes of Atlantic Canada, Target Marketing Inc., St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Jesperson, Ivan F., Fat-back and Molasses: A Collection of Favorite Old Recipes from Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John’s, Newfoundland: Jesperson Press, 1974.
Hines, Sherman, Newfoundland Pictorial Cookbook. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing Limited, 1990.
Stella Walsh - Stella Walsh is a Christian writer, student of theology, elementary school teacher, committed church volunteer and photography ...
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