From Irish stew to chocolate Guinness cake, the best dishes to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day 2023
I once interviewed Irish chef Richard Corrigan. When I told him about the food of his childhood, he said before almost every memory, “I know it sounds romantic. I started with the phrase “…” I am writing about Irish food – especially st patrick’s dayI can’t help but feel like I grew up carrying buckets of creamy fresh milk between the cool, quiet dairy farm and the warm kitchen (my grandparents were dairy farmers).
Not everything was idyllic. Corrigan remembers that the bacon was too salty with his platter of cabbage, but with a twinkle in his eye, he describes taking the rabbit and roasting it in good butter and wild garlic. can talk to you
I grew up in Northern Ireland, where we were familiar with food, albeit not as extreme as it is now. It was just part of life. My memories are of eating wheat bread with raspberry jam so soft it sticks out the edge, and shelling Dublin Bay prawns from the local fish market. Wild salmon that someone wrapped in newspaper and delivered to my father.
The greengrocer can tell you what varieties of potatoes are in it. A family friend made jam. Her mother cans her homemade cakes and “tray bakes.” Not everyone was a great cook – my paternal grandmother turned beef into leather on Sundays – but by and large the home cooking was very good. I made a seasonal dish. This was due to the lack of big supermarket chains (my hometown she didn’t have a Tesco until 1997). The only food available was local and seasonal.
We weren’t particularly proud of our food as Irish people tend not to think much about themselves or their produce. There was no restaurant culture, as in the Nordic countries of the time. Restaurants tend to be ‘grill rooms’ selling quality steaks and average shrimp cocktails. The luxury ones in Dublin and Belfast were French. A vibrant restaurant culture with chefs who care about their terroir gives the country its charm. Consider what Rene Redzepi and his ilk have done for Scandinavian cuisine. Not everyone cooks with moss, but he takes pride in the whole area.
In Ireland, a similar pride grew, but much more slowly. Ballymaloo House in County Cork. She is a home cook and in 1964 she turned part of her home into a restaurant. She was surrounded by farms and large fish were landed in nearby Ballycotton. Instead of serving French cuisine, she cooked the best local ingredients and left them as untouched as possible. For example Hollandaise with asparagus I had her cheese but they were minimal.
I had a very emotional reaction when I first dined at Ballymalue. Big mealy potatoes that crumbled like snow under the fork, whole cooked carrots tasted as though they had just been pulled from the ground (usually there is a Wellington at the back door, where the chef would pick more from the garden). I was able to get vegetables). service), these were the strong flavors of what I knew. Alice Waters – simple and seasonal – but she described it more than a decade ago. The number of chefs and great chefs is steadily increasing.
When I was weaning my first child, a health visitor expressed shock that I wouldn’t eat potatoes.’Imagine! ‘ she cried. “And you are Irish!”
trust me st patrick’s dayIrish food is not just about potatoes.
