Hamburg - Ireland is famous for its green landscapes, its traditional pubs and friendliy people. The reputation of its cuisine, on the other hand, does not always conjure up the same positive images. Irish cooking usually gets a lukewarm reception, though it should be mentioned that Guinness attracts fans all over the world as a top Irish export worth savouring. But in fact Irish cooking has been improving and is better than its reputation outside the country.
Up until a few years ago, Ireland was not considered a destination for gourmets. The Irish were rumoured to be only moderately interested in culinary finesse, wrote Juergen Schneider.
Irish cuisine has always been peasant cuisine - the kind of food that for centuries first and for most was aimed at filling hungry bellies. Stews and porridge or sometimes just potatoes served as the basis for the country's standard fare.
There is now, however, a new pride in traditional Irish cooking combined with new approaches led largely by cooking guru Darina Allen, whose Ballymaloe House and Cookery School recently won the top Good Food Ireland Award.
Only in the last few decades, going back to 1983 when Allen offered her first cooking classes, and especially coinciding with the prosperity that began reaching Ireland in the early 1990s, have the Irish become more conscious of quality and the possibilities that their cuisine offers. This comes through most notably in the staying power of country cooking, which features regional recipes and ingredients.
"Country cooking with high quality regional ingredients has enjoyed growing popularity over the past two decades and is providing for a culinary revolution on the Emerald Isle," said Schneider.
Allen's success best represents the new cooking trends sweeping Ireland. A chef and cookbook author, she writes a food column and is frequently referenced in Irish media on the subject of food.
Her website (www.cookingisfun.ie) informs about the current trends in Irish cooking, while in her weekly column she recently wrote about the distinctive taste of blackface lamb and the virtues of organic food. Her school is located on an organically-run farm in County Cork, southern Ireland.
Aidan O'Hanlon, and Irishman who manages The Irish Rover pub in Hamburg, speaks glowingly about the quality of Irish foods. The country's favourable climate and natural environment have a positive effect on the cattle and sheep raised there, he said. This helps make Irish beef and lamb incomparably good and for this reason, he uses ingredients imported from Ireland almost exclusively for the food served in his pub.
Potatoes were the basic staple on the Emerald Isle in the 19th century and they still appear today in almost every dish, but with a slight difference nowadays.
"Previously in Ireland, floury potatoes were used in Irish cooking. They gave Irish dishes their own unique taste," said Patricia Wimberger of the German-Irish Society in Bonn. This type of potato has a disadvantage: They spoil much faster than waxy potatoes. So people in Ireland have switched over in recent years to eating almost exclusively waxy potatoes. Their longer shelf life, however, is at the expense of the typical taste of the food.
Irish cuisine also tends to be hearty and very filling. Wimberger, originally from Dublin, remembers a dish that was always served around the end of October and consisted of potatoes, savoy cabbage, milk and onions. The potatoes and cabbage are first cooked separately. Then they are added to the fried onions along with the milk and seasoning and the mixture is then mashed.
A certain amount of expertise is necessary to cook the best-known Irish dish, Irish stew, the basic ingredients of which are lamb or mutton, carrots, onions, broth and potatoes. To achieve the right taste, however, the seasoning is crucial. Wimberger said garlic, parsley, mint, salt and pepper provide the right flavours. If the stew tastes bad, the wrong seasoning ingredients were used.
The Irish also have their own baking recipes such as soda bread which is often served for breakfast. It's an especially loose bread whose unique flavour and consistency is achieved by replacing yeast with baking powder and baking soda.
"There are different types of soda bread," said Wimberger. "The whole grain variation called brown bread is typically served together with soup in pubs."
Irish cooking also has something to offer anyone with a sweet tooth. A typical example are scones, which the Irish often like to eat in the afternoon. Scones are small irregularly shaped buns made of flour, baking powder, butter, cream and eggs. They typically contain baking soda as well, and often have a bit of sugar and currants for sweetness and are served with strawberry, raspberry or black currant jam and of course freshly-brewed, hot and hearty tea.
