Americans often celebrate St. Patrick's Day by consuming copious amounts of green beer, but the holiday is also a great opportunity to explore authentic Irish food culture.
Whether you're a transplant pining for the Emerald Isle or just curious about Irish foods, here are some recipes to fuel you up on St. Patrick's Day.
Soda Bread
There's no more quintessential Irish recipe than soda bread. Americans doctored the simple carb with raisins and caraway seeds, but this version from Fine Cooking returns the loaf to its original four ingredients: just flour, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk. The beautiful resulting bread is all about technique -- and good Irish butter.
Get the recipe on Fine Cooking
Irish Stew
Fill up before your St. Patrick's Day revelling with a beefy (or lamby) Irish Stew. While recipes vary, this version hits all the classic ingredients, supplementing the meat with potatoes, onions, celery and carrots. It's comforting no matter the season, but especially appropriate for an Irish celebration.
Find the recipe on Blue Bowl
Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes)
The Irish and Scottish share Colcannon (over in Scotland it's called rumbledethumps), likely because the love of mashed potatoes and cabbage is universal. This simple version comes together quickly in an Instant Pot, but Natasha of Salt & Lavender also provides a stove-top version with bacon.
Find the recipe on Salt & Lavender
Coddle
You can trust Olhausen Sausages, a Dublin brand dating back to 1896, to put together a decent recipe for coddle, the traditional Irish stew of sausage, gammon (ham), potatoes, onions, and other vegetables (and cheese!). For ease of use, the brand posted the entire recipe on Instagram.
Boxty
A favorite for St. Patrick's Day in the U.S., boxty are the Platonic ideal of potato pancakes. A blend of raw, grated potatoes and boiled, mashed potatoes give the pancakes their devine texture. Top with fresh herbs, a creamy topping, or just devour them straight.
Find the recipe at Christina's Cucina
Porter Cake
"Porter" and "cake" are the most beautiful words in any language. Put them together to make this quintessential St. Patrick's Day dessert, packed with Guinness (or your preferred porter) along with dried fruit and spices. The cake is best made a day or two ahead of time to let the flavors really blend.
Find the recipe on Foodandwine.ie
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