Beef in Guinness

The Guinness in this recipe has the same function as the wine in Coq Au Vin - the acid and moisture combined with the long, slow cooking help tenderize the tough but flavorsome meat.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cut the beef into chunks and peel and slice the onions and carrots. Toss the beef in the flour and brown quickly in hot fat. Remove the beef and fry the onions gently until transparent. Return the beef and add the carrots and the liquid. Bring just to the boil, reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer, cover closely and cook for 1½ - 2 hours.

Check that the dish does not dry out, adding more liquid if necessary. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with plainly boiled potatoes.

Serves 4


Soda Bread

This bread is popular throughout Ireland. Because it is easily and quickly made it is often baked fresh for tea or even breakfast. At home we used to call the loaf made with white flour soda bread, while that made with whole meal was wheaten bread. In other parts of the country wheaten bread is referred to as brown soda or, confusingly, soda bread!

Ingredients:

Directions:

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a pre-heated oven, gas mark 8, 450°F, 230°C, for 30-45 minutes. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

Wheaten bread or brown soda is made in exactly the same way but with whole meal flour replacing all or some of the white flour; this mixture will probably require less buttermilk. Another variation is to add 1/2 cup of sultanas to the white bread - this loaf is known as Spotted Dick.


Boxy

This is a traditional potato dish, celebrated in the rhyme:
"Boxty on the griddle,
 Boxty in the pan,
 If you can't make Boxty,
 you'll never get your man."

Ingredients:

Directions:

Grate the raw potatoes into a bowl. Turn out onto a cloth and wring, catching the liquid. This will separate into a clear fluid with starch at the bottom. Pour off the fluid and scrape out the starch and mix with the grated and mashed potatoes. Sieve the dry ingredients and mix in along with the melted butter. Add a little milk if necessary to make a pliable dough. Knead lightly on a floured surface. Divide into four and form large, flat cakes. Mark each into quarters but do not cut right through, and bake on a griddle or in a heavy pan.

If liked, more milk and an egg can be added to make a batter which can be fried in bacon fat like drop scones.


Dublin Coddle

This is a very popular dish, especially in Dublin, and has been so for many years. It is nourishing, tasty, economical and warming - what more could you ask? Although it is best made with a good stock water in which a ham has been boiled, or even a ham bone - a light stock cube will substitute.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cut the bacon into 1 inch squares. Bring the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan which has a well-fitting lid, add the sausages and the bacon and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the sausages and bacon and save the liquid. Cut each sausage into four or five pieces.

Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. Skin the onions and slice them. Assemble a layer of potatoes in the saucepan, followed by a layer of onions and then half the sausages and bacon.

Repeat the process once more and then finish off with a layer of potatoes. Pour the reserved stock over and season lightly to taste. Cover and simmer gently for about an hour. Adjust the seasoning and serve piping hot. 

Serves: 4


Corned Beef and Cabbage

Corned beef is brisket, topside or silverside which has been pickled in brine. It is especially popular around Dublin. It is best to soak a joint overnight to remove excess salt.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Quarter the cabbage and put aside. Peel and slice the other vegetables. Cover the meat with the water and bring to the boil. Skim the surface, add the vegetables (except the cabbage), the bay leaf and the pepper and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Serve the meat surrounded by the vegetables with additional mashed potatoes.

Serves 4 to 6


Gooseberry Crumble

This dish is an easily prepared and economical dessert, especially at the time of year when gooseberries are plentiful. The basic method can be used for other fillings, such as rhubarb, apple or apple and blackberry.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Using your fingertips, rub butter lightly into the flour in a large bowl. When the texture resembles fine breadcrumbs, mix in the brown sugar. Top and tail the berries and cover with the crumble mixture in an oven-proof dish, pressing the surface down lightly. Bake for 45 minutes in the center of a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4/180° or C/350°F.

Serve hot with cream.


Limerick Ham

To the Irish, ham is a cured leg of pork. The preserving process is carried out in a number of different ways: salting, smoking, immersion in brine or even honey. Traditionally, Limerick ham is smoked over juniper branches. Whole hams should be steeped in cold water overnight before cooking but this is not necessary with smaller joints. The ham in this recipe is not really baked but rather finished off in the oven after having been cooked by simmering in cider.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cover the ham with cold water and bring slowly to the boil. Throw out the water and replace with cider. Bring this just to the boil and lower the heat, keeping the liquid barely simmering for 20 minutes to the 1 lb/½ kg. Remove from the heat and allow to stand in the liquid for 30 minutes.

Take out the ham, skin it and score the fat with a sharp knife in a diamond pattern. Stud with whole cloves. Mix the sugar and mustard and rub well into the surface of the ham. Bake in a pre-heated oven for a further 10 minutes to the 1 lb/½ kg at gas mark 6, 400°F or 200°C.


Irish Coffee

Ingredients:

Directions:

Fill a stemmed whiskey glass with hot water then throw out, refilling it with boiling water. Throw this out, fill the glass somewhat more than half full with coffee and add sugar to taste. Stir to dissolve, then add the whiskey. Pour the cream over the back of a spoon to float on top.

Drink the hot liquid through the cool cream. If double cream is not available use lightly-whipped single (whipping) cream.


Hot Whiskey

This is also known as 'hot Irish' or just 'punch', is a favorite winter drink in Irish pubs.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Heat a stemmed whiskey glass as above. Pour in fresh boiling water to more than half full, dissolve sugar to taste, add the whiskey, a slice of lemon and the cloves. Serve at once.


Pea and Ham Soup

This soup is made with dried peas; these generally have to be soaked overnight, though it is possible to buy some that need only a few hours immersion. It is slightly less trouble to make the soup with split peas - which have no skins - and here there is a choice of green or yellow. Although there is no difference in the taste, the latter give the soup a pleasant golden color.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Soak the peas as directed on the packet. Chop the onion, if used, and soften in a little fat over a low heat. Add the peas and water or stock and the ham bone if used.

Cook gently until the peas are soft - about an hour. Remove the bone and strip off any meat. This should be cut into small dice and reserved. Puree the peas in a blender or pass through a sieve.

Adjust the seasoning. Add the diced ham and serve with a swirl of cream or a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top.

Serves 6


Rhubarb Fool

A fruit fool is a simple and delicious dessert, rich and creamy - but not overly so.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cut the rhubarb into chunks and sweat with the sugar and butter over a low heat until cooked but not mushy. Liquidize or pass through a food mill. When cold, fold into stiffly-whipped cream. Allow to set in the fridge and serve with Lady finger or Boudoir biscuits.

Apple or gooseberry fool is made in exactly the same way, except that in the case of gooseberries the purée should be sieved to remove pips. It may be necessary to adjust sugar to taste.

Serves 4


Spiced Beef

Spiced beef is traditionally eaten at Christmas time. It tends to be rather expensive to buy as it is quite labor intensive to make, though it uses a modestly enough priced cut. It can be made at home, but it does take time.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients except the beef, water and Guinness. Place the beef in a bowl and cover with the mixture. Rub it in once or twice a day for a week. Tie up the meat into a good shape and place in a pan. Cover with cold water to which a bottle of Guinness has been added. Simmer gently for 5-6 hours. When cool, press lightly between two plates. The beef is usually served cold, thinly sliced.


Potato Soup

The basis of a good soup - especially a simple soup such as this - is a good stock. The soup should be made with a white stock, that is, water in which a chicken, ham or bacon has been boiled. Alternatively, stock can be made from a ham bone or chicken carcass boiled with a few root vegetables and herbs as available, and an onion. The stock should be drained, allowed to cool and the fat removed from the surface.

Ingredients:

Directions:

Peel and dice the potatoes and chop the onions. Melt the butter and gently cook the onions and potatoes in a covered saucepan until soft but not colored. Add the liquid, adjust the seasoning to taste, sieve if wished and serve in bowls decorated with a little chopped parsley.

Serves 6