I'm cooking for St. Patrick's Day as well, but of course I always have to go off the reservation even though my mother's family came from Donegal. So, no corned beef and cabbage. I'm serving up Boeuf Carbonade Irlandaise---well it does have Guiness in it. But corned beef is such a cliche that I can't stand to even think about it around St. Patrick's. So I'm calling my menu "Happy French Patrick's Day". They were supposed to show up and free us from the English, but the tossers never arrived.

Both sound like great choices. I tend to make corned beef as I rarely cook it more than once a year. Suzanne Goin has a wonderful method in Sunday Suppers at LLuques--it comes out so tender. Don't skip making her parsley mustard sauce.

I assume for St Patrick's day? Is this formal or informal? Corned beef sure makes it sound Irish.