Food: Irish 'cuisine' no longer an Irish joke

By EWAN MCDONALD

As James Joyce wrote in Finnegans Wake: "The more carrots you chop, the more turnips you slit, the more murphies you peel, the more onions you cry over, the more bullbeef you butch, the more mutton you crackerhack, the more pot-herbs you pound, the fiercer your fire and the longer your spoon and the harder you gruel with more grease to your elbow, the merrier fumes your new Irish stew."

Your man was a much better writer than a cook. Try following his recipe and you'll end up with some kind of a stew but it won't be the classic dish.

In fact, "Irish cuisine" used to be ... well, a bit of an Irish joke. But over the past decade or so there has been a revival of respect for the country's once derided traditional food.

Many New Zealanders will have eaten these recipes at their grandmother's table.

Sure, much Irish food is homely, and many visitors - particularly Americans - would look twice at something like the famous breakfast of Ulster Fry and turn up their noses at "the heart attack on a plate."

The restaurant scene is improving as Ireland takes its place among Europe's burgeoning economies; a cafe society has evolved in Dublin, Belfast and Galway.

But for many visitors, the pubs, the old-fashioned tearooms and coffee houses - particularly Dublin's famous chain, Bewley's - retain their charm.

RECIPES

Ulster Fry

2 slices of bacon

2 sausages

2 slices black pudding

2 slices white pudding

2 eggs

2 tomatoes

2 slices bread


Fry.

This breakfast tastes best the morning after the night before.

Irish Stew

500g lamb (you can use beef)

1.5kg potatoes

225g carrots

225g parsnips

2 or 3 onions

Oil for sauteeing

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 cups water or stock

Salt, pepper

5 bay leaves

1 tsp basil

Optional: 1/2 cup barley and an extra cup of water/stock.

For a more meaty, traditional stew, increase the proportion of meat to vegetables. You can also add turnips.

Cut meat into 2.5cm cubes. Brown the onions and the meat with a bit of oil.

Slice up the carrots and parsnips. Saute them for a few minutes and then add just a little bit of brown sugar to glaze them.

Peel and slice the potatoes into quarters (big ones into 6 or 8 pieces). Put them in a casserole dish with the meat and onions and add the water or stock. If desired, add some barley, but only a handful, as it swells, then add the extra liquid. Add salt and pepper, bay leaves, some basil and other herbs if desired.

Cover the dish and bake the potatoes and meat at 180 deg C for about 40 minutes, then add carrots and parsnips.

Cook for about an hour to an hour and a half: it's ready when the potatoes are tender.

Colcannon

500g cabbage

1/2 tsp mace

1 tsp salt

Salt and pepper to taste

1kg potatoes, scrubbed and sliced, with skins left on

2 garlic cloves

2 medium leeks, thoroughly washed and sliced

8 Tbsp butter

1 cup milk

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and boil the cabbage until tender (about 12-15 minutes). Drain off water and chop the cabbage. Set aside. Bring another pot of water to the boil and boil the potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside.

Put the leeks in a saucepan, cover with the milk, bring close to boiling, then simmer until tender. Set aside.

Add mace, salt, pepper and garlic to the potatoes and mash well. Add the leeks and their milk to the potatoes and mix, taking care not to break the leeks down too much.

Add a little more milk if needed to make it smooth, mash in the cabbage and lastly the butter.

Transfer the whole mixture to an ovenproof dish. Make a pattern on the top by running a fork across the whole surface one way, then criss-cross it the opposite way. Place under the grill to brown for about 5-8 minutes, checking frequently till the fork-furrows are nicely browned. Serves 6 or more.

Potato Pancakes

3 boiled potatoes

2 tsp flour

2 Tbs milk

Butter, salt and pepper

Peel and cook the potatoes. Mash them well, and add the flour and milk until mixture is moist but not wet. Mash in the butter, salt and pepper. Shape into discs about 10cm wide and fry in a saucepan with butter over medium heat until browned and heated through.