Almost forgotten Great Irish dishes

foodaholic

username123 wrote: »

Ray deep fried in batter was another popular favourite in our home, I remember it would make your lips itchy.

Ray makes my chin itchy, whats with that ???

Drake66

This is version of a dish I saw Regina Sexton doing on a T.V programme

Sea Pie with Soda Bread Crust-

2 lbs of stewing beef
3 tablespoons of seasoned plain flour
Some vegetable oil
A large onion
A few crushed garlic cloves
8 oz of Swede Turnip
" of Carrots
340ml of a good stout
A good sprig of thyme


Soda Bread Crust
225g of plain flour
half teaspoon of salt
" of bread soda
150ml of buttermilk

Dust the trimmed beef in the flour. Heat the pan, throw the oil in and brown off the meat. Remove the meat and place in a casserole dish. Chop up the vegetables. Add the sliced onion and crushed garlic to the pan and soften. Remove to the casserole dish.

Cover the base of the pan with a few tablespoons of the stout and let it come to the boil; to get the juices out of the pan. Pour it over the casserole contents. Add the remaining veg, thyme and the rest of the stout. Give it a mix and cook for 1 and half to 2 hours at 180c

For the crust
Sieve the flour, salt and bread soda together into a bowl. Pour the buttermilk in. Bring the mixture together to make a dough. Knead the dough well and make it into a circular shape about a half inch thick and about the inside circumference of the casserole. You can trim off any excess if need be.

Remove the casserole from the oven. Place the dough cover on top of the stew- so that it covers the meat and veg completely- and score it into portions. Dust it with flour and replace the lid of the casserole. Turn the oven up to 200c and cook for a further 40 mins. When done cut through the crust and scope out each portion.

CJhaughey

foodaholic wrote: »

Ray makes my chin itchy, whats with that ???

Probably an allergic reaction to Ammonia. Sharks and Rays have lots in their meat/blood.

Euskadi

Yeah,it's pretty pale.

Kat1170

Probably an allergic reaction to Ammonia. Sharks and Rays have lots in their meat/blood.

Also known as pissy ray. Soaking it in water with some vinegar in a bowl in the fridge for a few hours can get rid of it.

thebigbiffo

the beer revolu wrote: »

Proper Irish Stew.

And by proper, I mean:

Lamb or, preferably mutton.
It should be almost clear and unthickened.
It should have onions, carrots and potatoes.
Flavoured with thyme, salt and pepper.

I deviate from this by:
I often add celery, leek, turnip, pearl barley.
A little lovage is really good in it to.
I recently did one with a light golden ale - twas fantastic, if not proper!:eek:
I sometimes very slightly brown the meat giving a golden broth rather than clear.
I like to serve it with flat leaf parsley.

Let the debate begin.

a small can of guinness in this and you're laughing!! something about the deep, malty flavour really adds to the lamb (not so much if you use beef!)

the beer revolu

thebigbiffo wrote: »

a small can of guinness in this and you're laughing!! something about the deep, malty flavour really adds to the lamb (not so much if you use beef!)

Noooooo:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
The debate begins!

Guinness is far too dark and bitter for an Irish stew.
Irish stew should be light in colour.
And if you use beef, then it just isn't Irish Stew at all!!

thebigbiffo

the beer revolu wrote: »

Noooooo:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
The debate begins!

Guinness is far too dark and bitter for an Irish stew.
Irish stew should be light in colour.
And if you use beef, then it just isn't Irish Stew at all!!

ok, that's a fair point - it wouldn't be an irish stew. but you must admit it's still tasty as hell! can a lamb guinness stew be described as irish at all then!?

the beer revolu

thebigbiffo wrote: »

ok, that's a fair point - it wouldn't be an irish stew. but you must admit it's still tasty as hell! can a lamb guinness stew be described as irish at all then!?

It can be described as a stew that is Irish but it's not Irish Stew!;)

Minder

Is Gur Cake a vanishing tradition? Anyone buy Gur Cake? Another tradition largely forgotten is Drisheen - there are slight differences between drisheen and black pudding - the addition of tansy to the blood, breadcrumb is one difference. Tansy - who uses tansy anymore? Used to flavour white sauces or cakes - maybe it fell out of general use due to its toxicity.

Corsendonk

CJhaughey wrote: »

I respectfully disagree, the Irish eat very very little seafood given that we are an Island nation.
I was told by people that Mullet will poison you, same for mackerel. That fish would be the first to poison you.
All manner of old wives tales about fish and seafood in general.
There is no real traditional dishes involving seafood, either which is very strange. Can you think of many traditional Irish cooked seafoods?
Apart from Coddle which traditionally used Cod roe as part of the ingredient list.
Dublin Bay prawns are a relatively recent phenomenon, with Prawns and Monkfish being discarded up to 30 years ago.
Skate in Dublin would be traditional but given the Irish Sea is largely suitable for the catching of Ray species then it is not surprising.
Even these days finding a good seafood restaurant is not easy, even good fish and chips is hard to find.
It is changing but slowly.

Cods Roe that brings back memories! Especially lovely boiled gently then cooled, sliced and lightly floured then pan fried quickly. Use to get it that way as a kid. I still eat it that way today.

Coodle no thanks, reminds me of boiled condoms and tasted some really bad versions of it from different parts of Dublin. Its like Irish stew, everyone has there own version of the recipe most of which are ghastly.

My mam remembers some of her neighbours use to eat the new season cauliflowers raw spread on bread.

Nevyn

Man I haven't had gur cake in years, used to be savage with a mug of tea, tea brack was nice but you couldnt' beat a bit of gur cake.

http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/1361/Recipe.cfm

Comments:
To a young Dublin "jackeen", going on the gur' meant mitching from, skiving off, or taking an unathorizied day off, school. A wise (gurrier) would have acquired the price of a piece of gur cake to sustain him. Gur cake is, of course, an invention of commercial bakeries to use up unsold cakes and breads-by it's very nature the taste and texture changed from day to day. Lefovers are mixed up, with a little extra dried fruit and enough water to bind the lot into a moist gunge (indeed, the Cork version was often called "donkey's gunge"), sandwiched between 2 layers of robust pastry, baked and then cut into good sized chunks. This concoction, always the cheaped item on sale in the bakery shop, was much beloved of Dublin gurriers, especially when hot and steaming from the oven.

Gur cake is still on sale in the city of Dublin, especially in the Liberties. Elsewhere, much the same cake goes by the grand titile of "fruit slice". If you are thrifty and into recycling you might like to try this domestic version. It's good made with tired Christmas cake or pudding, with boiled fruit cake, brack, sponge cake and bread. Obviously, the more bread in the mixture the more dried fruit you need to add.

Ingredients:
280g (10 oz.) shortcrust or puffed pastry
About 350g (12 oz.) leftover cake or bread
60g (2 oz./1/2 cup) unsifted self-rising white flour
90g (3 oz./scant 1/2 cup) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg, beaten (or the equivalent amount of milk or water) to mix with 1-2 teaspoons mixed spice
60-175g (2-6 oz./1/4-3/4 cup) mixed dried fruit, or to taste
A little milk, for brushing top of pastry

Instructions:
Place the leftover cake/and or bread, in a food processor and whiz until you have fairly fine crumbs. Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients using as much fruit as you feel you need to achieve a rich "fruity" mixture. Add the beaten egg/mixed spice (or milk or water) mixture using as much liquid as will make a stiff paste like texture.

Grease a retangular 28cm x 20cm (11x7 inch) cake tin. Roll out the pastry thinly into 2 pieces the size of the tin. Line the bottom of the tin with one layer of pastry. Spread the filling on top. Cover with the second layer of pastry. Prick the top all over (lighly) with a fork, then brush with a little milk.

Bake at 190 degrees C (375 F) Gas Mark 5, for 45-55 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown. Cool in cake tin.

Traditionally, Gur cake is cut into rectangular chunks about 9cm long by 5cm wide (3 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide) .

Source: Best of Irish Home Baking by Bitty White Lennon

dh0661

Thaedydal wrote: »

Man I haven't had gur cake in years, used to be savage with a mug of tea, tea brack was nice but you couldnt' beat a bit of gur cake.

My dad reckons that your gur cake was called chester cake in Cork when he was "a young felllaaa".

Corsendonk

dh0661 wrote: »

My dad reckons that your gur cake was called chester cake in Cork when he was "a young felllaaa".

Kylemore bakery shops in dublin use to sell it as Chester Cake too.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Qualitymark

What about crumpets? You used to be able to buy packets of these, about six to a packet, I think, round cakes the size of the top of a tin of beans or a little bigger, and you put them under the grill and heated them, then put butter and honey on and it dripped down through the holes in the surface.

Kind of a pancakey texture, delicious. Haven't seen them in an age.

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Qualitymark

Plowman wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I'll look - but I think what's sold now is different from the crumpets we used to eat. Same name, totally different cake. Bloody foreigners. Want us to eat the same cake they invented, instead of our improvement of it.

siobhan.murphy

Qualitymark wrote: »

What about crumpets? You used to be able to buy packets of these, about six to a packet, I think, round cakes the size of the top of a tin of beans or a little bigger, and you put them under the grill and heated them, then put butter and honey on and it dripped down through the holes in the surface.

Kind of a pancakey texture, delicious. Haven't seen them in an age.

Aldi sell them

The Hill Billy

And they are English.

Corsendonk

Qualitymark wrote: »

I'll look - but I think what's sold now is different from the crumpets we used to eat. Same name, totally different cake. Bloody foreigners. Want us to eat the same cake they invented, instead of our improvement of it.

I tried the Aldi, Tesco and M & S versions, not the same as Qualitymark says. Very greasy product and you can have a game of handball with them there that rubbery.

I heard from a baker friend of mine that the company that made the irish version went out of business and you needed specialist mould plates so the other bakeries weren't interested in it. There is certainly a market out there for an enterprising bakery down here since most of the pancakes and UK version crumpets are made in Belfast.

Mr Trade In

I wouldn't put carrots or any greens in a coddle,only the following. Two tomatoes,onions,potatoes,sauages(only kearns are good for this), rashers, white pudding and ham or bacon pieces,pepper and salt.I remember reading in Nuts magazine a few years ago it is only eaten in IRA affiliated areas of North Dublin.:D

Corsendonk

Mr Trade In wrote: »

I wouldn't put carrots or any greens in a coddle,only the following. Two tomatoes,onions,potatoes,sauages(only kearns are good for this), rashers, white pudding and ham or bacon pieces,pepper and salt.I remember reading in Nuts magazine a few years ago it is only eaten in IRA affiliated areas of North Dublin.:D

Was it a test to see there dedication to the cause?

Mr Trade In

Corsendonk wrote: »

Was it a test to see their dedication to the cause?

Well I am sure it beats Tea and Crumpets, Coddle is totally unkown to many, don't knock it until you have tried it. You wont be disappointed.

Corsendonk

Mr Trade In wrote: »

Well I am sure it beats Tea and Crumpets, Coddle is totally unkown to many, don't knock it until you have tried it. You wont be disappointed.

Ohh I knocked it cause if you read my earlier post before the crumpet ones I did say I had tried it in serveral locations in Dublin and was disappointed. The Ballyfermot version was realy bad, sausages, onions and whole fatty rashers.

Anyone eat saddle of lamb? Very tasty cut, that usually ends up in kebabs.

brianthebard

the beer revolu wrote: »

Noooooo:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
The debate begins!

Guinness is far too dark and bitter for an Irish stew.
Irish stew should be light in colour.
And if you use beef, then it just isn't Irish Stew at all!!

This is all nonsense tbh, I don't know who started making up these rules but people made stew with what they had in the house and what was in season, not what they decided was Irish stew. Guinness is fine in a stew if you like it, but not from a can. This whole thread has been so funny between people defending our 'native cuisine' and people decrying it. I'm all for the peasant food idea if that's what floats one's boat, but the idea that there was a unique version of this in Ireland is laughable. Bacon and cabbage came up several times but the French eat that too, as does anyone else who can simultaneously grow cabbage and pigs.

Corsendonk

True, and some people had very restricted diets depending on what they could grow.

thebigbiffo

brianthebard wrote: »

This is all nonsense tbh, I don't know who started making up these rules but people made stew with what they had in the house and what was in season, not what they decided was Irish stew. Guinness is fine in a stew if you like it, but not from a can. This whole thread has been so funny between people defending our 'native cuisine' and people decrying it. I'm all for the peasant food idea if that's what floats one's boat, but the idea that there was a unique version of this in Ireland is laughable. Bacon and cabbage came up several times but the French eat that too, as does anyone else who can simultaneously grow cabbage and pigs.

we dont always agree brian but have to here!!

one question though: why not from a can? surely when you're simmering it for a few hours anyway it makes no difference?

brianthebard

I tried cooking with canned guinness before and it left a tinny taste. Since its easy to get bottles of guinness anyways it just makes sense to get bottles and avoid the possibility of a tinny aftertaste, just in case. I also prefer the bottled guinness(es) as a drink but that's another thread.

Drake66

Found my granny's old Brack recipe amongst some old stuff recently

1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of cold tea
1 pound of raisins
3 cups of plain flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon of bread soda
1 tablespoon of mixed spice

Haven't tried it yet. Might give it a blast tomorrow with an amendment or two