Plenty of Irish Food Options for St. Patrick's Day
by Kalyn Denny
When you think of Irish food, is corned beef and cabbage the first thing that comes to mind? This dish symbolizes St. Patrick's Day for many of Americans, although it's actually favored by Irish Americans more often than it's served in Ireland. But if you don't eat meat or don't like the idea of salty cured beef, there are plenty of St. Patrick's Day options besides green beer that might be fun to try.
Let's start by finding out what's truly eaten by the Irish. Deborah at The Humble Housewife in Ireland talks about Ireland's true national dish of bacon and cabbage, and why Irish Americans made Corned Beef and Cabbage popular in the U.S.
Family Cooking with Chef Mom is doing a series of posts featuring Irish recipes including Dublin Coddle (sausages, bacon, onions, and potatoes), Treacle Scones, and since she's Irish American, she's including Corned Beef and Cabbage, pictured in the photo above.
Colcannon is an Irish dish of mashed potatoes combined with greens such as cabbage or kale, and seasoned with onion. June at Bread, Water, Salt, Oil from England offers Helen Mirren's Recipe for Colcannon which gives the option of cabbage or kale, while Catherine at Albion Cooks has a vegetarian recipe for Colcannon made with Kale.
A slightly different Irish potato dish is Champ, which is mashed potatoes combined with spring onions, butter, and milk. You can see a beautiful photo of Champ at Bron Marshall, where it's served with corned beef, but cooked separately. There's also a rustic version of Champ at I'm Mad and I eat, inspired by the traditional Champ Recipe found on Ms. Celliania.
Irish Stew is definitely a classic, often made with lamb or mutton, although there are many other variations of favored ingredients. The Irish Beef Stew at Simply Recipes features dark Guiness, beer and red wine. Irish Stew at The Greasy Spoon starts with lamb chops, and adds carrots and potatoes. Finally, Dianne at Gluten-Free Journey has a husband who's half Irish and offers her version of Irish Stew.
Another food Americans associate with St. Patrick's Day is Irish Soda Bread, and I gave plenty of recipe options in an earlier BlogHer post.
If you'd like a meatless alternative to traditional Irish dishes, there are lots of good ideas around. Susan from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen made Vegan Corned Beef and Cabbage last year, and said the recipe was a definite keeper. At Got No Milk you can find Irish Seitan Beef Stew Soup, which looks tasty.
Finally, in a bit of pure Irish whimsy, Cupcake Project has Corned Beef and Cabbage Cupcakes, which really do contain corned beef and cabbage. Stef admits they got mixed reviews.
Blogher Food Editor Kalyn Denny also blogs at Kalyn's Kitchen, where she makes Corned Beef with Veggies and Horseradish Sauce once a year to celebrate her slightly-Irish heritage.
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Comments
bwhahahaha on the corned beef cupcakes
that is all.
--steph
A Year of CrockPotting
Yes, but . . .
You have to admit it was a very unique idea! I hope everyone will click through and see the photo of the cupcakes, which are garnished with little pieces of corned beef.
I just have to smile.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Ha! That reminds me of some
Ha! That reminds me of some of the wacky sushi I have seen lately, though I know the corned beef is cooked.
I made soda bread for the first time last year. I am not much of a baker but I was surprised how easy it was. I am Irish so this post is making me very happy!
Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.
Want to try it
I've never even tasted soda bread, but I've been wanting to try it for two years now.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Woo-hoo for vegan Irish recipes!
Kalyn, I love, love, love you for this post! Thanks so much for directing us to great vegetarian and vegan Irish recipes. Although my bits of Irish heritage are way back, I do love all things Irish, and I'm excited to now be armed with a few fantastic-looking recipes. Can't wait to try them!
Stephanie
-------------------------------------
http://vidadepalabras.blogspot.com
A Vegan Editor's Life of Words (and animals and nature and politics and family and food)
You're welcome
I'm only about 1/8 Irish, but I still loved the thought that there's Irish food for everyone. Hope you enjoy it.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Great round up
What a great recipe round up! Thanks for the mention!
You're welcome, and you get the prize
Your Corned Beef and Cabbage Cupcakes are definitely the most unique St. Paddy's Day food I've seen so far. Very creative! I'd love to taste them.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Family Cooking with Chef Mom
Thanks for the mention, Kalyn! I've added the recipe for Tea Brack to the blog, which is to-die-for, and will continue with one recipe per day up until (drum roll puleeze) St. Paddy's Day!
Now, if someone could explain to me how us Irish-Americans got hooked on corned beef, I'd be eternally grateful. It seems to me that our corned beef has to be a spinoff of Ireland's "bacon", which is brined pork. Corned beef is really just a simple brined beef with some spices. Does anyone have the answer?
BTW...to show my true Irish roots, I did work for Guinness for a long while. Sláinte!
Had to go see what Tea Brack was!
For anyone else who doesn't know, here's the link for Tea Brack which from the recipe ingredients, I would describe as a little bit like Irish fruitcake. Very interesting.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Soda Bread and such...
Thank you for the mention Kalyn! Great roundup there, some really fun stuff! Champ is a big favourite in this Irish household!
On the soda bread issue, American's typically butcher it. For authentic recipes visit Odlums.ie - they would be our equivalent to say King Arthur flour. I would use bread flour in these recipes though, as our regular flour would have the gluten content of US bread flour.
Thanks for leading us to a true Irish Soda
Bread recipe!
You're very welcome, your post was so perfect for what I wanted to talk about.
It figures that the American version is not much like the real thing. For anyone who wants true Irish Soda Bread, here is the recipe for Brown Soda Bread from that Irish baking site Deborah is referring to. (Don't you just love the internet.)
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
I couldn't wait on the corned beef...
I picked up a corned beef but was unable to wait for St. Pat's, so now I have to think of something else! Here's what I found, in case any one else is looking for a fresh idea:
http://www.irishabroad.com/Culture/Kitchen/recipes.asp
: )
Boxty on the griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
If you can't make boxty,
You'll never get a man.
Great collection of Irish Recipes you found!
Now I have to find out what boxty is!
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
what a great collection of irish recipes
Delicious content, and thanks so much for the mention!
Thanks!
You're welcome. I had so much fun finding some (relatively) authentic Irish recipes.
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I just wanted to stop back to wish everyone a Happy St. Paddy's!
In case you didn't know, the Roman Catholic Church changed the date of St. Patrick's Day for 2008 only to March 15th so that it doesn't conflict with Holy Monday which just happens to fall on March 17th this year!
Time for a big old pot of corned beef (or bacon) and cabbage!!!
Can't wait to tell my students!
Oh goodie, I can't wait to tell the kids tomorrow that St. Patrick's day is actually over for this year. (Wearing green and pinching everyone else who doesn't wear green is one of the high points of the year for an 8 year old!)
Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen