Whether you’re going on a laid-back holiday or an actively adventurous experience, your vacation isn’t complete if you didn’t get a dose of the country’s culture. Forget about those artifacts in the museum; food is a sure way to experience a country’s traditions and culture. Ireland has an exciting cuisine scene offering different delicacies for the season. Here are five of these mouthwatering dishes you must try.
Irish stew
The Irish stew is one of the most famous delicacies on the Emerald Isle. The stew is made up of beef or lamb that has been cooked to be very tender and vegetables like celery and carrots in brown gravy.
Courtesy: Simply Recipes
The rich gravy always tastes good; you’ll be scraping the bottom of the bowl for seconds. The Irish stew is usually served with mashed potatoes on the side. Every restaurant offers this lip-smacking delicacy.
Boxty
While some refer to this Irish meal as potato pancake or potato bread, others call it potato dumpling. The difference comes from the different methods of making it. However, what doesn’t change is that grated raw potato is mixed with mashed potato.
Courtesy: The Daring Gourmet
Then, the mixture can be added to a pancake-like batter before being fried or mixed with flour and salt, boiled, and then sliced and fried in butter. Whatever your choice, you can enjoy boxty with smoked salmon or bacon and eggs.
Black and white pudding
Black pudding, which consists of pork meat, blood, fat, oatmeal, barley, and suet, is a popular delicacy in different parts of the world. However, the white pudding, which excludes the blood, isn’t so common.
Courtesy: Your Guardian Chef
In Ireland, a combination of both puddings makes up a typical breakfast. Aside from breakfast, black pudding is served under poached eggs, in salads, and with sautéed scallops in many Irish restaurants.
Shellfish
Shellfish is a prominent figure in Irish cuisine, from Molly Malone’s cockles and mussels to clams in Connemara. If you happen to be in Ireland around September, you should totally indulge in shellfish, which comes into the season then.
Courtesy: The Irish Times
The plump native oysters of the West Coast are usually incorporated into several mouthwatering dishes like the famed mussels steamed with bacon and cider. Every restaurant always has delicious shellfish delicacies. You shouldn’t miss the Galway Oyster Festival, which occurs from the 28th to 30th September.
Colcannon
Potatoes, which were a cheap food source, became relatively scarce due to the 19th-century blight. However, some potato-based recipes couldn’t be forgotten- colcannon and champ is one of those unforgettable Irish dishes.
Courtesy: Happy Foods Tube
The dish features potatoes, butter/cream, cabbage, and spring onions. Potatoes are mashed with cabbage and butter or cream and spiced up with spring onions—some restaurants also top colcannon with fried eggs.
