Ireland: Cuisine and Recipes

While Ireland was long known as a country of famine and privation--even a cautionary tale--it has recently turned a new culinary corner. With this Celtic renaissance has come a reawakening of interest in historical Irish cuisine and a desire to carry it into the future.

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Irish Recipes

Barmbrack

(Irish fruit bread)

Barmbrack is a tea bread popular in Ireland, especially around Halloween. It is best served toasted with a smear of butter and a cup of Irish tea. Read more »

Boxty

(Irish potato pancakes)

Boxty comes from the northern regions of Ireland and goes well with a breakfast of sausages, bacon and eggs or as a side dish to Irish stew. Read more »

Champ

(Irish mashed potatoes and scallions, see Mashed Potatoes recipe variations)

Colcannon

(Irish mashed potatoes and kale; see Mashed Potatoes recipe variations)

Corned Beef and Cabbage

(Irish-American braised brisket with vegetables)

Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patricks Day dish for Irish Americans, but not for the Irish themselves. The meal became popular with immigrants from Ireland in the 19th century. The word "corned" comes from the Old English for "grain" or "pellets," and pellets of salt were originally used to cure the beef for this dish. Read more »

Dublin Coddle

(Irish potatoes braised with sausages and bacon)

Dublin coddle, as its name implies, is a warming dish particularly popular in the Irish capital city of Dublin. Often simply known as coddle, this simple and filling mix of potatoes, sausages and bacon often serves as a hearty dinner. Read more »

Irish Coffee

(Irish whiskey, coffee and cream cocktail)

While coffee cocktails have been around for some time, the Irish coffee is said to have been invented in the 1940s on a cold winter's night at an Irish airport to warm up some recent arrivals. An American imbiber brought the recipe back to the United States, where a team perfected it at the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco. Read more »

Irish Soda Bread

(Irish soda-leavened bread)

This is the traditional recipe for Irish soda bread, containing only flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Soda bread became a popular hearth bread in Ireland in the mid-19th century when baking soda became available as a leavener. A baked loaf of bread is called "cake," while flattened wedges baked on the stovetop are called "farl." Read more »

Irish Stew

(Irish lamb and potato stew)

Even though this dish — known as ballymaloe, or stobhach gaelach in the Irish language — started out as a meal for hard times, its delicious flavor belies its humble origins. In the old days, this hearty stew was made with simple mutton neck bones and meat scraps for flavor. Sometimes actual mutton or young goat meat was used. In the last few decades it has become much more common to use milder flavored lamb. Read more »

Mashed Potatoes

(Irish and American potato puree)

Mashed potatoes are popular on both Irish and American dinner tables, particularly with meals of roast beef or fried chicken. The basic recipe arrived on American shores with Irish immigrants in the 1800s. Mashed potatoes are often served topped with a dollop of butter or a richly flavored pan gravy. Read more »

Shepherd's Pie

(English-Irish meat pie with mashed potato topping)

Shepherd's pie is a traditional and satisfying British and Irish meal of meat and vegetables topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked until bubbling and browned. The dish is called "shepherd's pie" when made with ground lamb. Use ground beef and it becomes "cottage pie." Read more »