The Irish Cookbook
To celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 17 March, editor Keith Kendrick cooks traditional Irish stew from JP Mcmahon’s comprehensive new book
Even if you aren’t from the Emerald Isle, St Patrick’s Day is one of the events of the year for gathering with friends, sinking a few pints of the black stu and tucking in to some hearty grub. Few nations do comfort food as well as the Irish. Its dishes are the stu of legend; creamy, cabbagey colcannon; the full Irish fry-up; boxty (that super-satisfying potato pancake dish); scrumptious soda bread; and, of course, traditional Irish stew. Chef and restaurateur JP Mcmahon, based in the city of Galway, says, ‘Lamb stew, or Irish stew, as it’s come to be called around the world, is probably one of the best-known dishes that people associate with Ireland.’ Explaining its origins, he says, ‘If a sheep was killed at the landlord’s house, the o cuts (neck or scrag-end and ribs) would come down to the tenants and would be put into a pot with whatever was to hand, i.e. potatoes, onions and possibly carrots.’
I had to ask my butcher for scrag-end, but you can use lamb chops. When it comes to cooking the recipe (see right), it is simplicity itself and eating it, as comforting as a cuddle. It is, pardon the pun, craicing!
That said, The Irish Cookbook is about much more than the dishes we all (think we) know and love – it’s a celebration of the country’s amazing food heritage going back to hunter-gatherer settlements 10,000 years ago, as well as its produce and cooking methods. From cheese and potatoes to oysters and seaweed, to beef and wild boar, everything is covered. (I was drawn to the sheep’s head cooked in ale.) Building up to the present day, JP says, ‘Irish food and its culture is growing, in terms of chefs, restaurants and the many producers who grow the fine produce that Ireland has always been noted for. For the first time, I think it would be fair to say that “Irish cuisine” exists or is beginning to exist.’ He rounds o by looking ahead to what else is possible. ‘With a focus on the sea and the land, we can begin to craft food for the future. As an island, and the western-most point of Europe, we are pitched for the next great food revolution. Let’s just hope it involves seaweed!’