Stewing over a recipe? Baffled by an ingredient? Hilary Biller answers your food questions. Send your queries to food@sundaytimes.co.za or post them to PO Box 1742, Saxonwold, 2132

Q: I've been asked to prepare a main course for a St Patrick's Day celebration. One of the party is making an Irish stew and wondered if you could suggest something else? - Margaret, Johannesburg

A: For all things Irish, I turn to Irish food writer and owner of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Darina Allen. I was lucky enough to visit the school a couple of years ago, where I shared a delicious lunch with Allen of the finest organic spring lamb, raised on the farm, which the students had roasted. It was served with a wonderful array of seasonal vegetables, all sourced from the school's vegetable garden. In her book, Irish Traditional Cooking, Allen writes about a corned beef and cabbage recipe - "the almost forgotten flavour in Ireland" - and describes how it was once an extremely popular and important classic. She goes on to say that, in the days before refrigeration, corning (preserving in salty brine) was essential for storing meat. Historically, beef was slaughtered and corned before the winter and was served with the first fresh spring cabbage to break the Lenten fast on Easter.

I believe a dish of corned beef and cabbage would be fitting for St Patrick's Day. Here I share Allen's recipe.

• Corned beef and cabbage

Ingredients:

• 2kg piece of corned beef
• 3 large carrots, cut into large chunks
• 6-8 small onions
• 1 teaspoon dry English mustard
• Large sprig of fresh thyme and some parsley stalks, tied together
• 1 large cabbage
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Place the beef into a saucepan with the carrots, onions, mustard and herbs. Cover with cold water and bring gently to a boil. Simmer, covered, for two hours. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage, cut in quarters and add to the pot.

Cook for a further one to two hours or until the meat and vegetables are soft and tender. Serve the corned beef in slices, surrounded by the vegetables and cooking liquid.

Serve with lots of floury potatoes and freshly made mustard.

On the pulse

Q: I've been using a lot of dried pulses in my cooking, but have recently discovered the selection of cooked pulses, found in cans on the supermarket shelves. Most of the recipes I use only give the dry weight of the pulses and I wanted to know the ratio of, say, dried beans when substituting with cooked ones? - F Bennet, Hillcrest

A: Very healthy and high in fibre, canned pulses are supremely convenient and make excellent storecupboard stand-bys. If you use canned beans for example, double the quantity, as 60g of dried beans will cook to a little over 120g.

Buttermilk

Q: Many recipes, particularly baking ones, call for buttermilk. What is it and can I use a substitute? - Frances Lane, Benoni

A: Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after cream had been churned into butter. These days, I believe buttermilk is a low-fat milk that has been thickened with a culture. You can replace it with equal quantities of plain yoghurt or milk (use less as it's thinner), to which you would add some lemon juice or white vinegar (15ml of lemon juice to 250ml of milk). Stir it through and allow to thicken.