[monsoonJournal.com] The main method of cooking food was long and slow in a large pot or cauldron or on spits over an open fire. This cauldron was also sometimes used as a crude type of oven, sometimes being turned upside down over hot stones or the cooling embers.
Next came The Vikings (c794 AD) who introduced more complex sea fishing techniques, enhancing and enlarging on the seafood consumed, but it was probably the arrival of the Anglo Normans around the 12th century AD who had a more profound influence on Irish cuisine. Not only did they introduce many vegetables and herbs from the Mediterranean, but also the all-important Potato in the 16th century, which was to become an important staple in the diet, particularly of rural Ireland. Unfortunately, so much so that The Potato Blight of 1845 made famine and the death of many unavoidable.
It’s interesting to note that cattle wasn’t always slaughtered for its meat, butused for dairy purposes. This can be explained by the fact that a man’s wealth was judged by the amount of cattle he owned.
Current Day Cuisine
What most people consider to be today’s traditional Irish cuisine originated in the kitchens of the farmers of the past, not from the nobles or gentry. It is good, wholesome food made from locally grown/reared produce. Ireland’s lack of natural (industrial) resources back in the late 1800’s meant that, unlike much of the rest of western Europe, its agricultural practices remained in tact, thus preserving a unique culinary identity.
Potatoes still feature prominently in today’s diet and old time recipes like Irish Stew and Dublin Coddle remain firm favorites. Lamb and pork or bacon are still popular meats as well as fish such as salmon and shellfish.
A Full Irish Breakfast (very similar an English breakfast) consists of bacon rashers, eggs, sausages, baked tomatoes, mushrooms, white pudding, black pudding, fresh fruit, toast or scones with butter and marmalade. In Northern Ireland (still part of the UK) they add fried potatoes or Potato Farl to it and call it an ‘Ulster Fry’ .
Lunch in rural Ireland is usually the largest meal of the day consisting of meat with vegetables and potatoes although most city dwellers would substitute this with sandwiches and/or soup and have their main meal in the evening. The Irish are also famous for their soda bread and teatime favourites such as barm-brack and boxty bread, not to mention Guinness and whiskey….both of which are excellent when used in certain dishes. renowned as the only fare for subsistence farmers in the first half of the 19th century, a time when a significant portion of the population lived in agricultural
Irish Food - More Than Potatoes
Ask anyone if there is an Irish national food and the answer, more than likely, will be the “potato”! The potato is certainly poverty. The blight, which hit in 1845 and raged on and off for the next five years resulted in the death of an estimated one million Irish, and the emigration of another 1.5 million.
Still, it is important to remember that the potato was unknown in Ireland prior to the 16th century when Sir Walter Raleigh is credited with bringing it to Ireland from America. Ironically, it was at first considered too much a luxury for peasant farmers and was reserved for the tables of the wealthy. Before long, however, it was apparent that the potato was immensely suited to cultivation in Ireland’s climate. It thrived throughout the island, even in those areas with relatively poor soil in western Ireland that had become home to the rapidly growing Irish population. With the forced subdivision of a farmer’s holding among his surviving sons under the conacre system it became typical for a family to subsist off the potatoes grown on less than an acre of land.
While the potato was obviously the mainstay of Ireland’s poor, the more prosperous lived on a more varied diet of food grown on larger Irish farms. These foodstuffs exceeded the needs of the larger farmers and were in fact exported from Ireland as others were starving.
Cattle had always been valued in Ireland, back to the time of the Celts. They were held not for their meat but as a source of dairy. Buttermilk was a supplement to the potato diet that actually meant that the peasant diet was reasonably sound nutritionally.
Pork, and lamb, were the more affordable meats. Easy to manage, the Celts let the pigs range outside year round. In later centuries, a pig could often make the difference in a farming family’s standard of living. Raised within their home, it would be sold when grown to provide cash for rent payments or to buy food during the lean summer time when the potato crop was not ready for harvest. Meats were generally roasted or prepared in some sort of stew (such as the well-known Irish (Lamb) Stew). The importance of seafood in the Celtic and Irish diets can’t be overlooked. Not only were fish harvested from the seas surrounding the island but in the rivers and lakes as well. Like meat, they were grilled, roasted, or prepared in stews.
Oats, barley and wheat were the primary grains raised on the island. The oats, eaten as porridge in the style of Ireland’s Celtic neighbor, Scotland, was the subsistence fare before the potato took hold. (The presence of mills in the Griffith’s Valuation is likely evidence that grain was being grown in the area.) Barley, of course, wound up in beverages like stout. Bread was baked, with honey as a primary sweetener.
Root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, and leeks, were commonly grown, both before and after the potato’s introduction. Other produce either grown or collected from the wild included sorrel, nettles, watercress, and various fruits such as wild cherries and an assortment of berries. Apples were the primary cultivated fruit.
Beef in Guinness Stew
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.
2 1/2 lb/ 1 kg shin of beef
2 large onions
6 medium carrots
2 tbsp seasoned flour
a little fat or beef dripping
1/2 cup dry cider
1/2 pt/ 250 ml/ 1 cup Guinness with water
sprig of parsley
(serves four)
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 1 1/2 - 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.
Contributed by Chef Nate and Scott