The Story Behind the Recipe

As you savor the salt meat of the Jiggs Dinner in front of you, you begin to remember all the times you've enjoyed it from the very beginning, when you were just a kid curled up by the wood stove -- the only source of heat in your tiny house -- with your 6 siblings, inhaling the familiar scent of salt meat, carrots, potatoes, cabbage and turnip.
Root vegetables were the only ones that could be grown on Bell Island, the small mining town where you lived.  Plus, you didn't have a refrigerator, so anything you bought or grew had to be able to keep for a long time in the cold cellar. So it was Jiggs dinner every Sunday, like almost all the other households in Newfoundland, but you didn't mind -- you loved it so much you could eat it every day. When you were eating Jiggs Dinner there was such a sense of family, of wholeness, of home.
You were the first in your family to go to university. You moved away from home and could only come back on holidays, but when you did there was always Jiggs Dinner, and always that same feeling.
Older still, you would visit with your wife and 4 kids, not once a week anymore, but often enough. You were grown; no longer a kid at the table. 
You recall when you were 78 and visited Newfoundland with your daughter and granddaughter, and visited the mines where your dad had worked for 30 years of his life, that had now been turned into a tourist attraction. Everything was different -- you could even buy Jiggs Dinner in restaurants! ->
And when you turned 81 and your family made you a big Jiggs Dinner for your birthday.
​And finally now, when your granddaughter made Jiggs Dinner for a recipe project, so you drove over and picked it up from her house wearing your mask, and are eating it at your own home. You delve into the peas pudding, your favourite part of the meal, thinking about how much times have changed, but how Jiggs Dinner stays the same- the same feeling of family, wholeness, home, and now, tradition. You hope it will continue to be passed on for generations to come.
Serves: 6       
Time to make: Must be started the night before, 4-hour cook time on the day it's served.

Ingredients

(Refer to images at the bottom of the page for instructions on how to prep the vegetables.)
  • One 3lb piece of boneless salt meat (some use corned beef, but it's not the same)
  • ​​1 1/2 cup yellow split peas
  • 1 medium head of cabbage, quartered
  • 1 medium turnip or a small rutabaga, peeled and cubed
  • 8 medium carrots, peeled and cut in chunks,
  • 8 large potatoes, peeled and quartered or halved depending on size
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions

(Images of these instructions are at the bottom of the page)
  1. Take the salt meat out of its container and put it in a pot or dutch oven. Cover it with water. Put it in the refrigerator and leave it there to soak overnight.
  2. Drain the salt meat, then cover it again with fresh water.
  3. Put the split peas in securely tied cheesecloth or a pudding bag. Put it in the water along with the salt beef.
  4. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for approximately an hour and 20 minutes. 
  5. ​After an hour and 20 minutes, add the chopped carrots, turnip/rutabaga and cabbage.
  6. Leave them to simmer for 25 minutes, then add the chopped potatoes.
  7. Simmer for another 25 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender. 
  8. Turn off the stove, retrieve the peas in the cheese cloth bag, and empty them into a bowl. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter and some ground pepper, and mash it.
  9. It's now ready to be served!​ When scooping it out make sure to drain out the liquid. (often served with gravy, stuffing, and homemade bread)

Images 
Your finished project should look something like this : 

Enjoy!!