Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner

In the Beginning

The Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner has been a major event at St. Patrick Parish since the first dinner was held in 1947. The first dinners were held at the Wentzville Community Club then located where Crossroads Square Shopping Center is now on Pearce Blvd. The families of the parish prepared most everything for the dinner from scratch, including the horseradish.

"The parish used to make homemade horseradish. Someone would go over to Illinois and bring back big bags of horseradish roots that they bought. Parishioners went to Schroeder's to peel it and grind it. Dad always said that there was a green cloud of fumes where they were grinding it. Nobody complained about sinus problems." —Jim Schroer

In the beginning, members recall Alma and Pres Heady cured the beef at their house. In 1951, they started cooking the beef in cauldrons over open fires at Schroeder's farm. The first year, 200 pounds of beef were prepared. There were 2,400 pounds of corned beef prepared for the dinner in 2004.

Present Day

The parish now orders and prepares over 2,800 pounds of beef and 450 pounds of ham for the one-day event and is still cooked in kettles over the fire.

In preparation for the dinner, many volunteers gather early the day before the dinner, to wash, peel, and cut up 1,000 pounds of cabbage, 600 pounds of carrots, and 1,100 pounds of potatoes, all of which gets cooked fresh that Sunday. Cornbread is also mixed that day and hundreds of homemade cakes, pies, and loaves of bread are delivered. 

Even though it takes a lot of preparation and work by many volunteers, it is also a great source of fellowship by all those working together and the results are delicious.