With St. Patrick's Day fast approaching, it's more than ever time to get ready for this traditional festival celebrating Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick, every March 17. While some will be rushing to the costume stores of Paris to find the perfect green wig or leprechaun costume, others will be busy discovering the most famous dishes of Irish gastronomy and, why not, trying to reproduce them at home.
Although tasty, Irish cuisine is not the most famous in the world. Cabbage is a key ingredient, as is lamb, which is widely used, and beer, which is often used in sweet and savoury dishes.
Introduced to Ireland in the 15th century, the potato is also an integral part of Irish gastronomy. Despite the great famine of the 19th century, also known as theIrish potato famine, the potato is still found in many traditional recipes.
And while breakfast - combining sweet and savoury flavours, and hearty enough to keep the belly going all day long - is a must, fish and seafood have never really found their place on the country's tables, despite Ireland being an island; pretty crazy, isn't it?
Irish stew, colcannon, coddle, boxty... Let's discover these traditional specialities straight from Eire, to accompany a pint of Guinness or any other stout!
Although its name evokes a pie,"shepherd's pie" in French means"shepherd's pie", this traditional dish is actually closer to our national hash brown. Originally from England, this dish was so successful in Ireland that it quickly became a classic of the local cuisine .
Looking like a hearty gratin, this Irish specialty consists of a layer of lamb or beef - known as cottage pie - and a layer of vegetables, usually carrots and peas. The whole thing is topped with a layer of mashed potatoes au gratin made from breadcrumbs and cheese.
Easy to prepare, economical and nutritious, colcannon is a thick mashed potato made with potatoes, green cabbage or kale cut into strips, an onion fried in butter and milk. Some families add crème fraiche, ham or bacon for an even more delicious taste.
Served as aside dish throughout the winter, this dish is particularly popular at Halloween. According to tradition, a coin, thimble, button or ring is hidden in the dish, and once found, brings good luck to the guest who missed breaking a tooth. A sort of Irish "galette des Rois", in short.
Better known as Dublin Coddle, coddle comes, as the name suggests, from Dublin. This economical and popular dish is a sort of broth into which leftovers are slipped at the end of a working week.
Although recipes vary from family to family and depend on what's available in the fridge, coddle generally consists of pork sausages, bacon, potatoes,onions- in other words, the star ingredients of Irish cooking - cooked in chicken stock. A hearty, comforting stew usually enjoyed on a Saturday evening, accompanied by a pint of beer.
Also known as poundy, the boxty is a pancake-like patty with a crunchy-melt texture, made from mashed potatoes, grated raw potatoes, buttermilk, flour and salt.
Boxties are usually served at breakfast with eggs and bacon, at dinner with a nice slice of smoked salmon, or as an accompaniment to many dishes.
Yes, another potato-based dish! Bangers and mash is the flagship dish of Irish pub grub.
It's a simple potato and onion mash with sausages, similar to the equally simplistic mashed potatoes and sausages still found today in Parisian brasseries and bouillons.
Bacon and cabbage, too, is a dish you'll find on the menu of any Irish roadhouse or pub. Like our steak and French fries, this economical dish is easy to make at home, and consists of slices of cooked bacon with mashed potatoes and cabbage, topped with a garlic and herb sauce.
At last, some fish! Similar to the chowder of Charente-Maritime and Vendée, seafood chowder is a thick soup made with several fresh fish from the day's catch, usually salmon, haddock or hake. Shellfish, vegetables - potatoes, carrots, celery - and spices are then added.
A creamy dish to be eaten piping hot in Ireland's small coastal villages, to comfort you after a cool or rainy day.
It's no secret that the Irish love beer. But they also love to cook beer-based recipes! The best example is Guinness pie, a meat and stout pie. Beneath the golden pastry crust is a beer-flavored beef stew, simmered for hours.
A hearty dish found in pubs across the country, accompanied by a good pint, of course. The sweet counterpart to this Guinness pie is chocolate Guinness cake, a chocolate and beer dessert served in Irish homes on special occasions.
As in England, breakfast in Ireland is an important part of the day. Generous, easy and quick to prepare, the traditional Irish breakfast should keep you going all morning. This"Irish fry" includes many of the same dishes as their English neighbors.
On the menu: scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, black or white pudding, potato pancakes, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and porridge. Accompanied by a cup of black tea or coffee.
The Irish also have many bread recipes, such as the slightly tartIrish soda bread, made with bicarbonate of soda, buttermilk, flour and salt, to which dried fruit, seeds and spices can be added; barmbrack, a sweet bread with dried fruit traditionally eaten at Halloween; and of course brown bread, a dark bread with a thick, fragrant crumb and a strong taste.
When it comes to sweet treats, the Irish loveIrish apple crumble cake, a moist yet crunchy cake eaten for breakfast or tea, accompanied by a cup of tea. The cake is made with melting apples and topped with a crisp, golden crumble crust.
Another sweet specialty is theIrish tea brack, a traditional cake made with dried fruit macerated in black tea. A moist dessert, it's usually served as an afternoon snack duringHalloween and St. Patrick's Day.
Enjoyed in most English-speaking countries with tea or coffee, hot cross buns are equally popular in Ireland, where they are also served with a cold beer.
Available in bakeries or homemade, these sweet rolls with spices, dried fruit or candied fruit such as citrus, are a traditional Easter treat.
It's impossible not to mention the quintessential Irish drink - alongside beer, of course - Irish coffee. Made with coffee, Irish whiskey, cane sugar and freshly whipped cream, this hot cocktail can be sipped at any time of the day, as a refreshing drink after a tiring day.
So, which of these Irish specialities appeals to you most?
