Ireland | I Can Cook That

A Taste of Ireland

With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching I have been thinking back to my trip to Ireland quite a bit. I had such a great time that I wanted to relive a little piece of it, through food of course! I was chosen to be a part of Foodbuzz’s 24×24 for March so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make some Irish treats. I invited my Dad, boyfriend and Aunt who all came on the trip with me to Ireland as well as my grandpa, who grew up in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, and my mom, who didn’t get to do the trip with us. I honestly was a bit nervous about this undertaking, I didn’t want to disappoint my grandpa or mess up a traditional meal!

We began with a mini traditional Irish breakfast for an appetizer. An Irish breakfast consists of black and white pudding, bangers (sausage), rashers (bacon), a fried egg, baked beans, and a fried tomato. Because this was just an appetizer, I used quail eggs instead of traditional eggs. I found the black and white pudding, bangers and rashers on foodireland.com, a great website for Irish food products.

A traditional Irish breakfast is quite the meal. In my grandfather’s words “you should eat a good breakfast, because you don’t know when you’ll eat again.” My appetizer version still included all parts of an Irish breakfast in much smaller portions. I personally am not a fan of black pudding or bangers, but I love the rest of an Irish breakfast and was so happy to have this as an appetizer.

The main course was a beef stew. I used my Irish stew recipe I made last year, but substituted beef instead of lamb and omitted the peas.

The Guinness adds such a nice flavor to this stew. I suggest making this ahead of time and freezing it. Stew always tastes better when the broth has had time to thicken.

I also made some Brown Soda Bread to eat with the Irish breakfast and the stew. Soda bread contains flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, butter and buttermilk. My version also had raisins and caraway seeds for extra flavor.

Soda bread is traditionally served with Irish butter and/or jam (I’m a fan of black currant jam, yum!)

We were pretty darn full from the stew and Irish breakfast but there was still dessert to be had. I went off of the traditional for dessert, making a Black and Tan brownie based off of a Cooking Light recipe, but made them in a 9×9 pan and cooked them for 45 minutes. I also cut them into huge pieces, making 9 total.

They were served with a scoop of ice cream and some Irish coffee and tea. The phrase Black and Tan comes from the nickname given to English soldiers that came to Ireland to suppress the 1916 Easter Rising, which eventually became the name of a half Guinness and half Bass beer in America. Black and Tans really aren’t popular in Ireland, but they still make a cute idea for a brownie! (I decided these yummy brownies needed their own post. Check it out here)

My family seemed to really enjoy the meal. The Irish breakfast was a big hit but I think the Irish soda bread was the real star of the night. My grandpa even requested to take some home with him. I am glad we were given the chance to sit down, enjoy some Irish food, and talk about Ireland again. Now, to plan our next trip over there…

My Long Lost Ireland Post

I can’t believe I’ve already been back from Ireland for a month. I meant to write a post about my experience as soon as I came back and kept forgetting to sit down and write it. So here is my severely delayed post. It is really stilted and not well written, so bear with me…

We took a red eye flight to Ireland and landed around 9:30 am. So where would our first stop be?

The Guinness Brewery at St. James Gate of course! The tour was pretty extensive, teaching you about the ingredients, the history of Guinness marketing, and much more , but the best part was learning to pour the perfect pint.

Waiting for the beer to settle

It’s all set to be topped off

The Perfect Pint

My boyfriend and I, jet lagged but enjoying the perfect pint

Guinness really does taste different in Ireland (and definitely for the better!). I am actually a fan of Guinness, but since tasting it on this trip, I’ve been reluctant to order it in the U.S. because I know it won’t taste the same. Sigh.

The next stop was to grab some food at a pub down the street from our hotel.

Only the Irish would serve Shepard’s Pie (meat and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes) with a side of more potatoes. The meal wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was our first meal in Dublin so I had to include it.

While in Dublin, we also went on a tour about the 1916 Easter Rising, which was really interesting. The Rising, although unsuccessful, got the ball rolling on Ireland’s independence from Great Britain. The tour brought us down O’Connell Street where the majority of the Rising took place. You can still see damage caused during the Easter Rising on the statue at the beginning of O’Connell Street.

Bullet hole on bottom right

The sword has been blown off

I had my first Magners/Bulmers at a pub off of O’Connell Street. It was tasty, but I can’t really imagine drinking more than one of those in a sitting, it’s really sweet!

We then traveled to Belfast. While there, we went on a bus tour of Belfast, which included a lot of information about the Troubles. They even showed us the peace line and a lot of the murals around the city.

Before leaving, we had to make sure to go kiss the fish! They say if you kiss the fish, you’re sure to return to Belfast.

Little fun fact: The Titanic was built in Belfast at the old Harland and Wolff site. We went to see the dry dock where the titanic sat before her maiden voyage.

Close up of the dry dock

And yes, I did take photos of photos. It shows you the Titanic actually sitting in the dry dock.

Belfast is very proud of the Titanic, but many people always ask them why. Their response? “She was fine when she left here.” Hehe.

We then drove up the Northern Coast of Northern Ireland, which is absolutely beautiful.

In Northern Ireland, I had my first Ulster Fry! An Ulster Fry is the Northern Ireland version of an Irish breakfast. All that food below it for one person. A traditional Ulster Fry includes rashers (bacon), 1 egg, bangers (sausage), grilled tomato, potato bread (which is more like a hash brown to us Americans) and mushrooms.

Imagine eating this every day. Whew.

Continuing our touristy trip, we went to a rope bridge that used to lead to one of the best locations for salmon fishing. But it’s been over fished so there really aren’t any left.

This bridge used to be only a single handrail and large gaps between the slats. Eek.

This seems much safer!

It’s 23 meters above the water, and and 20 meters long.

So after that little adventure, we needed a drink. Off to the Bushmills Distillery!

The distillery was unfortunately shut down because of the August holiday, but it was nonetheless an interesting tour. We were able to taste at the end, and I have to say I am still not a whiskey aficionado.I did enjoy the hot toddy though.

We also stopped at Giant’s Causeway.

Legend has it that the Irish warrior Finn McCool built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner.

Giant’s Causeway was actually formed by an ancient volcanic eruption, making 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea.

See how they look like stepping stones?

We wanted to check it our from above, so we headed up.

So. Many. Stairs.

But the view was worth the effort!

Next stop: Dunluce Castle.

The castle dates back to the 13th century.

It is so close to the edge of the cliff that parts of the walls have fallen into the water below.

We stopped in Donegal and headed to the hat factory: Hanna Hats.

We picked up a few souvenirs.

We spent the night in Kinsale, what a gorgeous town!

Here’s a (modified) Irish breakfast. A traditional breakfast has rashers, bangers, 1 fried egg, black and white puddings, tomato, mushrooms and baked beans. I really wasn’t a fan of the black and white puddings, so I started asking for my breakfast without them when I could.

We then ended up in Limerick to visit some family and visited Adare Manor while we were there.

We also visited the Cliffs of Moher. What wonderful views!

One of my cousins, Aisling, baked this beautiful cake for our arrival. She is ten, and bakes better than I can ever hope to! Just look how amazing this looks!

We once again headed to Northern Ireland to visit the farm that my grandfather grew up on.

View from the farm

It is still in use today, and is primarily a dairy farm.

When I last visited (I was about 10), I was asked to go collect the eggs from the hen house with my cousin. She dropped an egg, but they blamed me, the American!

We also went to see my grandfather’s old school. Yes, that is a tree growing straight through it.

Sadly, we were at the end of our journey. We flew out of Dublin, so we spent our last night in Ireland at the iconic O’Donoghues.

I had an absolutely wonderful time in Ireland. My family was so accommodating and were fantastic tour guides as well. Although it took me 15 years to return from my original trip, I hope the next time I visit is much sooner than that!

“If you are lucky enough to be Irish, then you are lucky enough”

For the next week or so, my posting is going to be few and far between. Why you ask? Because I Can Cook That is going on vacation to Ireland and North Ireland! Which means I will temporarily be more appropriately named “I Can Eat That.” Tee.

After reading The Culinary Lens‘ about the changing food scene in Dublin, I am so excited to eat my way through the country. I don’t know if I’m prepared for the Irish breakfasts, but something tells me I will manage. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be inspired by traditional Irish food and will come back with great soda bread recipes and new ways in incorporate Guinness into everything I make. 🙂 The Culinary Lens also has wonderful photos from Ireland; it is such a beautiful country.

Source: https://www.my-secret-northern-ireland.com

I haven’t been to Ireland/North Ireland since I was a kid, so I am excited to actually remember everything I see and the people I meet. I will write a post when I return about my travels with some photos to go along with it. Until then, please forgive the minimal posting and enjoy my only kind of Irish-themed post: Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey’s Icing .