Flavors · Terra Nova e Labrador

Jiggs dinner

Salted beef cooked with cabbage, potato, carrot and rutabaga, served with pea pudding and gravy. It is the traditional Sunday dinner in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Traditional dish from Terra Nova e Labrador

Also known as: cooked dinner

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Jiggs dinner — Terra Nova e Labrador, Canada
Jiggs dinner
Jiggs dinner — Terra Nova e Labrador, Canada
Jiggs dinner
Jiggs dinner — Terra Nova e Labrador, Canada
Jiggs dinner
Jiggs dinner — Terra Nova e Labrador, Canada
Jiggs dinner

Jiggs dinner — Terra Nova e Labrador, Canada

Jiggs dinner is the Sunday dinner of families in Newfoundland and Labrador. Everything is cooked in the same large pot: the salted beef, soaked overnight, and the vegetables that survived the island’s winter — cabbage, potato, carrot and rutabaga. The dried-pea pudding is cooked inside the pot, in a cloth bag, together with the rest.

The dish dates from a time when fresh meat was scarce on the island and preserved, salted food arrived by sea. The name, according to the most cited explanation, comes from Jiggs, a character in an early-20th-century American comic strip who loved salted beef with cabbage.

Jiggs dinner is served with gravy and often with blackberry or raisin pudding. It is Sunday, Christmas and family-gathering food, and also appears on the menus of St. John's restaurants as a provincial specialty.

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Where it comes from

Terra Nova e Labrador

Ingredients

Salted beef, cabbage, potato, carrot, rutabaga, dried-pea pudding; gravy.

How it is eaten

On the plate, with everything together and gravy on top; at the table, with family.

When it is eaten

On Sundays, at Christmas and at family gatherings.

Your questions

Questions about Jiggs dinner

What is Jiggs dinner?

It is salted beef cooked with cabbage, potato, carrot and rutabaga, served with pea pudding — a traditional dish of Newfoundland and Labrador.

When is Jiggs dinner eaten?

Traditionally on Sundays, at Christmas and at family gatherings.

Where does the name Jiggs dinner come from?

The most cited explanation links the name to Jiggs, a character from an American comic strip who loved salted beef with cabbage.

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