Irish cuisine

The Irish cuisine is traditionally simple and hearty in the sense of home cooking . Important products in the country are lamb and beef , poultry , eggs , butter and other dairy products , trout and salmon, as well as crabs and mussels . Due to the humidity, grain cultivation is only possible to a lesser extent, but vegetables (especially potatoes and cabbage ) are of great importance.

history

Since the beginning of the settlement, Irish cuisine was primarily geared towards providing sufficient food for the residents. The food supply was not very rich. There have been several major famines in the history of Ireland , and basic necessities were not always guaranteed. It is estimated that more than a million people died during the Great Famine in Ireland between 1846 and 1851, caused by poor potato harvests . As a result, the country's population decreased by up to 25%. Another 1.5 million people emigrated and tried their luck in Canada, Australia, the USA and the industrial centers of England.

Irish Cooking Basics

For a long time , the most important grain was oats , which were used for baking bread and as the basis of porridge . Wheat was also grown, but was reserved for the upper classes. White bread was a privilege of the wealthy. Dairy products have always played a prominent role . Fresh milk was considered tasty and nutritious and was served to guests as refreshment. In addition, were butter , cottage cheese and cheese important staple food. Whey diluted with water was mainly drunk in the monasteries.

Until the 20th century, meat was rarely available to the majority of the population and had the status of a luxury food. Beef and lamb have been eaten since the settlement of Ireland , later pork and poultry and eggs were added. Fish naturally also played an important role on the coast, especially haddock . Traditionally, edible algae were also part of the food here. The best-known species is Palmaria palmata ( dulse ), which is eaten raw as a salad or cooked as an accompaniment to potatoes or bread. Porphyra ( sloke ) is boiled and refined with butter and spices and eaten as a vegetable with potatoes.

The potato was introduced to Ireland in the late 16th century and was eaten by all classes. Due to the strong population growth that began around 1600, nutrition was very much dependent on grain products. Rising grain prices meant that the poorer classes increasingly lived on potatoes. The bad harvests from 1845 to 1848 resulted in a great famine with many deaths. Everyday Irish food still consists mainly of potatoes, vegetables, meat, milk, bread and butter.

Meals

breakfast

Full breakfast as served in Ireland, but also England and Scotland

A traditional Irish breakfast consists of bacon ( bacon ) and Black & White Tard (one slice each of fried black pudding and liver sausage ), as well as Irish pork sausages. These are eggs than scrambled or fried eggs, fried potatoes or soda Farls ( potato pancakes ), fungi such as mushrooms , baked beans and fried tomatoes served. Toast , Wheaten or Farmhouse Soda Bread (a dark, unfermented soda bread ), butter and various jams round off the breakfast. Scones , which are eaten with butter, jam, honey or maple syrup, are also very popular .

Irish black tea ( Irish Breakfast ), a malty, Assam- based tea mixture, and orange juice are drunk for breakfast . As in Great Britain , tea in Ireland is always drunk with milk.

However, the meal advertised as “traditional” was mostly only consumed by the upper classes, as the Irish population often could not afford meat. Even today, breakfast is only consumed by tourists, hardly by Irish people.

Main meal

Although the waters of Ireland are rich in fish, relatively little fish is eaten compared to other coastal countries . Only with increasing prosperity did the rather expensive fish and other seafood become a regular part of the Irish menu. The basic nutritional basis was and is the potato . Even in small shops you can find up to ten different varieties. Also qualifies beef as a valuable meal. It is offered as a steak ( sirloin , striploin , fillet ), roast ( stewed and roasted pieces) and stewing beef (goulash). Foreigners need to get used to the fact that in Ireland cheaper meat parts, which are actually not suitable for short frying due to a higher proportion of connective tissue, are sliced ​​as "steaks" ( round steak ). These are often mechanically processed to make them more tender ( tenderised ). Uncured pork is mainly offered as pork fillet ( pork steak ) and loin ( pork loin ). All other parts of the pig are cured and as fat ( bacon ) and ham ( ham offered), where the bacon (richer) abdominal parts and ham denotes the (lean) leg parts. About 20% of the meat consumed in Ireland is lamb , although lamb offal (liver and kidneys) is also popular. Domestic fowl (chicken and turkey) also make up a large part of the Irish diet, with roast turkey traditionally being cooked whole on festive days when family and relatives gather for a feast.

For Stew ( stew ), steak or roast usually potatoes (in the form of fried potatoes, baked potatoes, French fries or mashed potatoes) served. There are also vegetables, peas , carrots , leeks , parsnips , turnips and various types of cabbage , as well as bread and butter. At Christmas, Brussels sprouts are traditionally served as a vegetable side dish. Lettuce and other leaf salads are usually only dressed with vinegar and oil. A salad plate also includes coleslaw ( coleslaw made with mayonnaise), potato salad ( mashed potatoes served cold with spring onions , vinegar and mayonnaise) and raw and pickled vegetables (especially beetroot ).

Irish soups are characterized by a thick, almost pulpy consistency and are always pureed. Classic soups are vegetable soups, chicken soups and beef soups, although clear soups are completely unknown in Ireland.

beverages

During the Middle Ages, milk and whey were the main everyday drinks, while beer was a festive drink. However, mead made from fermented honey water had the highest prestige .

Guinness is drunk in the pub in the evenings and not with meals. There is mineral water or lager beer with the meal .

In the evening you drink the Guinness already mentioned , but also Smithwicks (not to be confused with Kilkenny , which is better known on the continent ), a malty tasting ale , or cider .

Irish whiskey has a tradition at least as long as the even more famous Scotch . Single malts are also distilled in Ireland . Whiskey production has been documented since the 13th century.

In Ireland, poteen (Irish: Poitín ) is also drunk, which is black-distilled whiskey (more rarely also potato schnapps , similar to vodka ), which, depending on its origin, is either of good quality or is only suitable to a limited extent.

In the 19th century, tea became the most important everyday drink for the Irish, just as it was in England.

Specialties

Irish stew , the traditional cumin- flavored stew made from potatoes , carrots, onions, and mutton or beef , is not eaten as often in Ireland these days .

Colcannon is a stew made from potatoes and kale .

The restaurants' fine dining is now heavily influenced by other cuisines, including French and Italian . The lamb and beef used in high gastronomy come from free-range farming .

Irish fine dining is now known for its seafood : oysters , clams , scallops , lobsters , crabs and numerous fresh and salt water fish. Irish salmon in particular is popular. Salmon is both grilled and poached and smoked .

For preserving freshly laid are eggs sometimes with butter rubbed. This seals the porous eggshell and prevents it from drying out and pathogens from entering . If preserved in this way , buttered eggs can be kept for up to six months.

literature

• Jürgen Schneider: Irish cuisine (= dishes and their history. ). 2nd Edition. Verlag Die Werkstatt et al., Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-249-6 .
• Elisabeth Bangert: Irish cuisine. Experience and enjoy. Edition XXL, Reichelsheim 2003, ISBN 3-89736-141-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alan Eaton Davidson : The Oxford Companion to Food . Ed .: Tom Jaine. 3. Edition. Oxford University Press , New York 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-104072-6 , keyword “buttered eggs” .