Cooking Irish can also be found at PETITCHEF and Pinterest.
I have written a cooking blog called The Irish Cook since January of 2006 at the CD Kitchen Blog. That blog has now been deleted, and I am transferring all 140 posts to this new site. The Irish Cook was and now this new blog Cooking Irish has been accepted on the American version of the French cooking website PETITCHEF. I hope you enjoy reading this blog Cooking Irish as much as I enjoy writing it. It is bringing back such wonderful memories of my time in Ireland. I miss that island every day. I also have included this site on my Pinterest along with some great recipes. http://www.pinterest.com/marianneabry/.
For years Irish cooking was considered an oxymoron, but Irish cooks have long endured a bad rap. Our ancestors did more than boil their stews. I enjoy the story behind the recipe as much as the recipe itself--sometimes more. Laughing and cooking go hand in hand--that's my philosophy. So for each recipe on this blog, there is a story of some type: personal, historical, travel. There is a link if you are in need of traditional Irish recipes. Written from the heart, happy reading and happy eating.
I lived in Ireland in the eighties with my two children Erin and Eli. I packed lightly for our adventure, and so I remember I would frequently borrow cookbooks from the village library. I learned many interesting recipes while there and hope to share them all with you as well as "the story" that goes along with the ingredients.
While living in Ireland, I also kept a cooking journal. Whenever I found a dish I especially enjoyed, I would ask the chef to divulge any secrets. Sometimes I got lucky. When I got the full recipe, I will include that here. If not, I have spent mounds of time over the years duplicating the recipes. So many of the dishes here are a close replica of the original dish. Sometimes Irish ingredients are difficult or impossible to purchase so substitutions have been made, but never enough to destroy the final taste of the product.
You may notice that most of the recipes are fish, chicken, and dairy products. That's because these are Ireland's best products. The beef when I lived there was not flavorful. My Irish friends told me that since the cattle fed on the grass, the beef was tasteless. Meat importation was prohibited by law. The burgers at McDonald's® and Burger King® tasted like cardborard. I'm sure things must have changed by now since Ireland has "come into the new century" and is really quite modern. In the mid-80's when we lived in fairly rural Ireland, I sometimes felt we were living the life of the Irish of the 1930s.
You also will not find one dish for which the Irish are famous: lamb stew. That is because one of the results of my living in Ireland was I no longer could eat any baby meat. The most beautiful memories I have of the island were the daffodils and baby lambs covering the lush, green April hills all over the countryside. It was simply breathtaking. And I would watch and moo to the cows and calves in the farmer's field just outside my kitchen window. I no longer eat lamb and veal. Let babies have a life at least before going to slaughter. I would not disagree that both meats are wonderful, but with all the other choices, I can forego them.
Daughter Erin and son Eli in the courtyard of the Natural History Museum in Dublin on 2 November 1984.
I also have studied the recipes of the Irish chef Theodora FitzGibbon. Her books are considered bibles of traditional Irish cooking. If anyone would like any of her recipes, just ask.
For those of you who would like to see an Irish website with many traditional Irish recipes, I would suggest Irelandseye.com. Some of the recipes there include: apple jelly, barmbrack, beef in Guinness, boxty, Irish breakfast, champ, Dublin coddle, corned beef and cabbage, gooseberry crumble, Limerick ham, Irish coffee, Dublin lawyer, mutton broth, Irish pancakes, pea and ham soup, porter cake, pot of tea, rhubarb crumble, bakes salmon, brown scones, soda bread, blackberry sorbet, spiced beef, Irish stew, potato farl, potato soup, dulse and yellowman, buttermilk scones, chocolate cake, lemon and vanilla curd cake, currant squares, flakemeal crunchies, Kerry apple cake, oatcakes, potato bread, and country rhubarb cake.
I have written a cooking blog called The Irish Cook since January of 2006 at the CD Kitchen Blog. That blog has now been deleted, and I am transferring all 140 posts to this new site. The Irish Cook was and now this new blog Cooking Irish has been accepted on the American version of the French cooking website PETITCHEF. I hope you enjoy reading this blog Cooking Irish as much as I enjoy writing it. It is bringing back such wonderful memories of my time in Ireland. I miss that island every day. I also have included this site on my Pinterest along with some great recipes. http://www.pinterest.com/marianneabry/.
For years Irish cooking was considered an oxymoron, but Irish cooks have long endured a bad rap. Our ancestors did more than boil their stews. I enjoy the story behind the recipe as much as the recipe itself--sometimes more. Laughing and cooking go hand in hand--that's my philosophy. So for each recipe on this blog, there is a story of some type: personal, historical, travel. There is a link if you are in need of traditional Irish recipes. Written from the heart, happy reading and happy eating.
I lived in Ireland in the eighties with my two children Erin and Eli. I packed lightly for our adventure, and so I remember I would frequently borrow cookbooks from the village library. I learned many interesting recipes while there and hope to share them all with you as well as "the story" that goes along with the ingredients.
While living in Ireland, I also kept a cooking journal. Whenever I found a dish I especially enjoyed, I would ask the chef to divulge any secrets. Sometimes I got lucky. When I got the full recipe, I will include that here. If not, I have spent mounds of time over the years duplicating the recipes. So many of the dishes here are a close replica of the original dish. Sometimes Irish ingredients are difficult or impossible to purchase so substitutions have been made, but never enough to destroy the final taste of the product.
You may notice that most of the recipes are fish, chicken, and dairy products. That's because these are Ireland's best products. The beef when I lived there was not flavorful. My Irish friends told me that since the cattle fed on the grass, the beef was tasteless. Meat importation was prohibited by law. The burgers at McDonald's® and Burger King® tasted like cardborard. I'm sure things must have changed by now since Ireland has "come into the new century" and is really quite modern. In the mid-80's when we lived in fairly rural Ireland, I sometimes felt we were living the life of the Irish of the 1930s.
You also will not find one dish for which the Irish are famous: lamb stew. That is because one of the results of my living in Ireland was I no longer could eat any baby meat. The most beautiful memories I have of the island were the daffodils and baby lambs covering the lush, green April hills all over the countryside. It was simply breathtaking. And I would watch and moo to the cows and calves in the farmer's field just outside my kitchen window. I no longer eat lamb and veal. Let babies have a life at least before going to slaughter. I would not disagree that both meats are wonderful, but with all the other choices, I can forego them.
Daughter Erin and son Eli in the courtyard of the Natural History Museum in Dublin on 2 November 1984.
For those of you who would like to see an Irish website with many traditional Irish recipes, I would suggest Irelandseye.com. Some of the recipes there include: apple jelly, barmbrack, beef in Guinness, boxty, Irish breakfast, champ, Dublin coddle, corned beef and cabbage, gooseberry crumble, Limerick ham, Irish coffee, Dublin lawyer, mutton broth, Irish pancakes, pea and ham soup, porter cake, pot of tea, rhubarb crumble, bakes salmon, brown scones, soda bread, blackberry sorbet, spiced beef, Irish stew, potato farl, potato soup, dulse and yellowman, buttermilk scones, chocolate cake, lemon and vanilla curd cake, currant squares, flakemeal crunchies, Kerry apple cake, oatcakes, potato bread, and country rhubarb cake.
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