Corned Beef At Whole Foods And Alfalfa's

It fortunately has been years since I've bought a prepackaged corned beef filled with nitrates, nitrites, phosphates and other nasties for my Saint Patrick's Day feast. I've opted instead for the marvelous in-house brined brisket that Whole Foods always offers, and have always loved it. This year is an experiment; having been at Alfalfa's yesterday for their St. Paddy's Day preview celebration, I decided to pick up their own in-house brined brisket for a change (it's $8.99 a pound at both Whole Foods and Alfalfa's). Interestingly, while the ingredient lists from both stores contain only things that might come from your own garden (with the exception of the brisket, unless you happen to be a rancher), the list on the Whole Foods corned beef is much longer, with items like clove and mustard seed not mentioned in the Alfalfa's list. Thinking I might be disappointed in my new purchase, I took a peek under the wrapper, and while not as heavily coated with seasonings as the Whole Foods ones are, it definitely looks to have everything I want.

By the way, the Saint Patrick's Day celebration at the Boulder Alfalfa's was a bit of a bust yesterday, at least while I was there. They were certainly selling tons of the Odell's beer bangers at $1 each, but there were no Irish dancers (possibly a schedule conflict as they were dancing at the Shortest Parade a few blocks away, and maybe turned up later), and Irish samples promised throughout the store were nonexistent, unless chips with salsa and caramel popcorn are somehow Irish. But I did hear from a friend that the Louisville Alfalfa's did somewhat better with their Saturday celebration, and that the Irish dancers were great there.