Posted on 06/20/2021 2:44:05 PM PDT by Copernicus
Have you ever considered that Ireland (both, really) has been a colony for over 200 years, occupied by people that wanted to wipe them out? So, is it really a surprise they only have culinary traditions that were imposed on them?
On the Big Bang Theory Howard’s mother thought it was high class fine dining. :)
Most people I know say it’s because of the salad and breadsticks.
Well, I guess she straightened that mess out.
Irish have some foods associated with them
Bangers and mash
Bacon and cabbage...not corned beef and cabbage
Soda Bread
Black pudding
Irish stew
Not exactly like Italian or Spanish or French
More like English....blandish
Same could be said about Sicily but where would you rather eat?
1. Soda bread
Soda bread with slice cut and buttered
Every family in Ireland has its own recipe for soda bread, hand-written on flour-crusted note paper and wedged in among the cookery books. Some like it sweet with a spoonful of honey, sugar or dried fruits. Others prefer sprinkled-in seeds, bran and oats for a health boost, or treacle and Guinness for the opposite effect. However, the basic ingredients don’t change (bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk form the raising agent, which is mixed in with flour) and nor does the way it’s eaten: sliced and spread liberally with butter. Try making your own… Irish soda bread, fruit & spice soda bread or our rustic oat & treacle soda bread for a twist on a classic.
2. Shellfish
Oysters on ice with apple dressing in bowl
Visit Ireland outside of summer and your chances of seeing the sun may be slim. On the plus side, you’ll be able to feast on the west coast’s plump native oysters (Ostrea edulis), which come into season in September, and pay a visit to the Galway Oyster Festival (28-30 September). Shellfish abound in Irish cuisine, from clams in Connemara to Molly Malone’s famed cockles and mussels, and Dublin Bay prawns, which have their own festival held in Howth.
3. Irish stew
Meat and vegetable stew in bowl
One-pot cooking doesn’t get much simpler than Irish stew, traditionally made with mutton, onions and potatoes (the addition of carrots can be a divisive issue). To avoid the stew being watery (a childhood horror for many of us), some recipes recommend adding pearl barley, a spoonful of roux or sliced potatoes, while others reduce the liquid by leaving the stew to simmer. These days, you’re more likely to find Irish stew made with lamb (as the more flavourful mutton is harder to come by), with stock and herbs – such as thyme, parsley and bay leaves – adding depth of flavour.
4. Colcannon and champ
Colcannon with ham and a fried egg in bowl
Potatoes transformed the Irish diet when they were introduced from the New World in the late 16th century. Ireland’s population boomed with this cheap and plentiful food source, but was later decimated when potato harvests were hit by blight in the 19th century. Potatoes are still a staple at most mealtimes, with traditional dishes remaining popular. Colcannon is a classic, comforting mash of potatoes, cabbage (or kale) and butter (or cream), flavoured with spring onions. Champ is a similar, mashed potato favourite, flavoured with spring onions, milk and butter.
5. Boxty
Boxty, eggs, bacon and tomatoes on plate
Potato dumpling, potato pancake and potato bread are all descriptors for boxty; some say the name originates from the Irish phrase arán bocht tí, meaning ‘poor-house bread’. The recipe calls for grated raw potato to be mixed with mashed potato and then either: mixed with flour and salt and boiled before being sliced and fried in butter (‘boxty dumplings’); added to a pancake-like batter before being fried (‘boxty on the pan’); or added to a pancake-like batter before being baked in a loaf tin and then sliced and fried (‘boxty in the oven’). Whichever way you choose, your boxty can be teamed with just about anything. Try it alongside bacon and eggs or smoked salmon and crème fraîche.
6. Boiled bacon and cabbage
Boiled bacon, carrots and cabbage
Boiled bacon, boiled cabbage and boiled potatoes might not sound all that appetising but it remains a firm family favourite. Traditionally, salted pork – a cut from the shoulder or back of the pig – would have been soaked overnight (depending on how much desalting was needed) before being boiled, with the cabbage added to the cooking pot in the last 10 minutes. A silky parsley sauce is the classic accompaniment. Try making your own… Boiled bacon with cabbage & carrots
7. Smoked salmon
Smoked salmon with potato cakes
Smoked salmon is another must-try – the oak-smoked salmon from the Burren Smokehouse, the beechwood-smoked salmon from the Connemara Smokehouse, and the unusual turf-smoked salmon from The Haven Smokehouse are all worth looking out for.
8. Black and white pudding
Black pudding salad with red cabbage
The Irish weren’t the only ones to discover the delights of black pudding (pork meat, fat and blood mixed with barley, suet and oatmeal in an intensely flavoured sausage). White pudding (similar, but minus the blood) may be less common around the globe, but no full Irish breakfast would be complete without a slice of each. Beyond breakfast, black pudding is just as likely to appear on the menu of smart Irish restaurants nowadays, served with sautéed scallops, in croquettes, under poached eggs, in salads and risottos and as a garnish to soups.
9. Coddle
Pork and apples with vegetables on plate
With roots as a working-class Dublin dish, the name coddle comes from the slow simmering or ‘coddling’ of ingredients in a one-pot stew. The leftovers at the end of the week would be slowly stewed in the oven for hours, with slices of pork sausage packed in alongside bacon rashers or leftover boiled bacon and sliced potatoes and onions. To make a superior version, use top-quality pork sausages and bacon, and serve the coddle with slices of soda bread to mop up the juices.
10. Barmbrack
Enthusiasts make this fruity tea loaf all year round, serving it smothered in butter with a cup of tea in the afternoon. It’s at Halloween, however, that you’d find a charm in your slice foretelling the future: a rag foreshadowed bad luck or poverty; a ring meant you’d be wed within a year; a pea that you wouldn’t be wed in the coming year; a coin brought wealth; and a stick foretold quarrels. Raisins, candied peel (sometimes steeped overnight in black tea and whiskey) and mixed spice all go into the mix.
Olive Garden used to serve chocolate gelato which was terrific.
But they dropped it from their menu along with other goodies like the chicken - pasta - in apricot sauce.
Sicily was eventually freed. (More or less) Ireland is still a colony. And the Arabs (etc.) were much more lenient.
“It’s just strange that Italy would have such a wide variety of food dishes yet from Ireland...basically nothing.”
French food is the child of Italian food.
Years ago I was wandering around a used book store and found an “Irish Cookbook”.
It was about 10 pages long and mostly huge glossy photos taking up the “recipe” pages, I kid you not.
We made a culture out of starvation.
:D
Lucky Charms makes up for any deficiency there. Ha!
Just yesterday, I went to Gettysburg with my daughter. We stopped for lunch at a place called Earl's. It's sort of a biker bar and grill - definitely mom & pop. We ate at the bar, which was almost completely full and consisted of regular local customers. Never met a single one of these people previously, but they stuck up conversations with us and it was like being welcomed in a home. It was also a hard-core MAGA crowd that this place. No political correctness, no wokeness. I could swear these people were reading FR, but I highly doubt it. They were up-to-date on the audits, Xiden in Europe, Cameltoe, and the BLM co-founder buying real estate. We were there a couple hours, having a few drinks and by no means did politics dominate the conversation, but politics were not avoided. People spoke their minds and had no fear in doing so.
I had a fried-oyster sandwich that was to die for. My daughter had a Cuban. She said she liked it. So this little hole in the wall, didn't only have bar burgers, the menu was decent. I can tell you that I'd choose an Oyster sandwich there over anything on the lunch menu at Olive Garden.
The last time I ate at an Olive Garden I ordered Fettucine Alfredo. That was a good 7 or 8 years ago. I specifically recall the dish because it was delivered late to the table and was sitting under a heat lamp. The Alfredo sauce was crusted on top and was a gluey, tasteless mess. Nothing compared to what I can whip up during the time it takes pasta to cook. The meals that other people in our party were received at different times. My mother-in-law received hers almost 10 minutes after everyone else. I asked to talk to the manager, and I was polite, but the manager made it sounded like we were expecting too much and this was normal. That was the last and final time that I will frequent an Olive Garden.
I married a Sicilian.
I dragged him to local Highland Games every chance I got, way back when and his question was always “Where’s the food”?
The events were mostly fighting, throwing poles and stones, singing sad songs and the like with very little grub to be had.
Then they had an Italian Festival east of us and there was nothing BUT food happening.
Pfffft.
I like my ancestors better.
:)
“They should send whoever made this to jail.” lol.. my sides. These two are hilarious.
I like the Olive Garden for two reasons
1) The wait staff service is always perfect
2) The meal arrives HOT.
Consistent quality/service at every one I’ve ever been to. It may not be the best food available, but when travelling you know the service will be perfect, and the food will be the same. THis mattters when travelling with children.
Too many places the food arrives cold, and the waitstaff is nowhere to be found.
I refuse to eat at Olive Garden. It’s absolute garbage.
For the Tuscan soup.
Which I have reproduced in my kitchen and I thank Olive Garden for giving me the idea.
Olive Garden is the largest Italian restaurant chain.
In 2019 they had gross sales of $4,287,000,000.
Someone must be going there.
Potatoes 🥔
Tuck into a potato
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