Jiggs dinner — Canada

Jiggs dinner, also called boiled dinner or cooked dinner, brings together corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, turnip and carrot, all simmered in one pot alongside a separate pudding of split peas tied in a cloth bag. Each element is cooked in the same broth but kept distinct enough to serve as separate components on the plate. It is reported from many parts of Canada's Atlantic provinces, cooked and eaten most often on Sundays, a habit widespread enough that the meal is closely tied to that day of the week in local memory. Its name is said to come from corned beef and cabbage being the favorite dish of Jiggs, a character in the comic strip Bringing Up Father by George McManus and Zeke Zekley. Preparation starts the night before or early in the day by soaking the split peas for the pudding. Corned beef is simmered slowly in a large pot of water, and the peas, tied loosely in a cloth bag to allow for swelling, are added partway through. Root vegetables go in next, timed so the harder turnip and carrot cook alongside the potato without turning to mush, and the cabbage is added last so it stays only just tender. What distinguishes this version from a plain pot roast or a vegetable soup is the separately cooked pease pudding, mashed with butter once removed from its bag, and the practice of serving the meat, vegetables and pudding side by side on the plate rather than combined into a stew, each spooned with a little of the cooking broth.