HELP! What food do you think is Irish?
 

My department is hosting a drink for our organisation this week. The plan is that there are drinks - champagne/wine/beer and small things to eat - the idea is the people from my department make/bring some food typical of where they come from.

This food should be canape like - so the tradtional Orish fare of bacon and cabbage or stew won't really work.

So I was wondering, what non- irish people would class as Irish food - factoring the canape dilemma - so I can come up with some ideas of how to feed my colleagues. ....in default any interesting suggestions for canapes/appetizers would be welcome.

PS I've thought of the smoked salmon and brown bread - so I'm going to do that - but I need a few other things in addition.

Go raibh maith agat!

ttt

and

PPS - The canapes should be cold if possible - for convenience

ttt

sorry

Help please!

lawchick, I am of Irish heritage and have been to Ireland twice. I cannot think of a single irish canape...maybe our people just didn't do that.

That's my problem, there is no such thing as an Irish canape - but I'm trying to ascertain what people would think would pass for Irish. There will be no other Irish at this gig - just about 35 other nationalities - so I can lie a bit....but obviously it shouldn't be Italian/F rench/Spanish etc.

Some Irish cheeses might be nice.

I hardly know anything about Irish food, and the very little that I hear doesn't sound too enticing. However, two years ago I had to take Irish foods to a party and was very pleased to find that Ireland produces some high quality delicious cheeses. They'd be fine as appetizers.

Though I have my doubts regarding the authenticity of it, when I was growing up we had something reputed to be Irish called (sp?) pogash that was mashed potatoes spread over a pizza like crust, drizzled with melted butter and thin rings of onion, sometimes with a bit of cheese. It was baked and served either warm or at room temperature. Otherwise, can't think of a thing other than the salmon and brown bred or Irish cheeses.

Lately I Googled "Irish recipes" and found a wealth of them, because I need one for a brunch this week. I remember seeing some type of an appetizer that was sausage wrapped in pastry (i.e. pigs-in-a-blanket). Or, like already mentioned, there are nice Irish cheeses. I've even seen some at Costco, even. (You could always just dye the food green and call it Irish!) Good luck.

Just for the heck of it, I checked out the menu at an Irish pub I've visited from time to time.
Their appetizers featured Buffalo wings and fried calamari.
Offer your friends a "drop of the crayture" and they won't notice the absence of food.

Why not make Irish Bread, it's wonderful and would certainly work with wine or champagne...

Also, I would think that you could make corned beef and make a canape with it and bread, mustard and maybe saurkrout instead of regualar cooked cabbage.

My husband is Irish and these are staples at his family parties.

I make a mixture of smoked salmon, green onions, cream cheese, dried chopped figs and walnuts and spread on brown bread or endive lettuce leaves...it is a non nationality food.

Hope one of these works for you.

My mother is Irish and often serves smoked salmon on soda bread as a canape. Making your own soda bread is extremely easy as it doesn't include yeast and would make your contribution more unusual.

Hope this helps!

Like the last two - soda bread. Using different flours and some with fruit.

Irish <u>gig</u>? I thought it was <u>jig</u>!

Anyway - supplement the smoked salmon with brisket and corned beef <i>hors d'oeuvres</i> and be done with it.

Thanks for the help.

I'm thinking I'll throw a few pigs trotters at them.

You could alter a traditional seafood pie recipe and serve it as a hot dip with bread -- a take on the well-known crab and artichoke dip.

Cockles and mussels, doused in lots of malt vinegar (or lemon juice for the prissily inauthentic).

You might serve them in cupcake cups, and try to find those wooden mini-sporks they have on London seafood stalls. CAUTION: these work only with stout. They're vile mixed with champagne.

If you have access to a way of reheating, whole-roast new potatoes, stuffed with little dobs of a mix like banon and cabbage. Or some creative twist on potato cakes. But many people without the requisite Irish genes pretend to find these unappetising when they're cold.

Of course, cockles and mussels apart, there's simply no history of cold food to go with drink in Ireland. The authentic accompaniment to a pint of stout is another pint.

I've always thought of &quot;angels on horseback&quot; as being Irish--here's one recipe:

http://thefoody.com/fish/angelsonhorseback.html

Instead of bacon-wrapped oysters, I've also heard of bacon-wrapped chicken livers on toast points referred to by the same name.

lawchick

The smoked salmon on brown bread will work as will the cheese.
Try and source a variety of irish cheeses. Serve on cocktail sticks,cut into cubes.

Dubliner dip: Mix 1 1/2 cups grated irish cheese, 1 cup plain yoghurt, 4 tablespoons mayonaise, 2 teaspoons horseradish cream or sauce (optional) season with black pepper. Chill &amp; serve with usual veg sticks.

Smoked salmon pinwheels:

1 sml brown sandwich loaf
8 oz cream cheese
6-8 oz smoked salmon, thinly sliced

Remove crusts. spread each slice with cream cheese, lay smoked salmon on top, sprinkle a little lemon juice &amp; black pepper. roll like a swiss roll.

If you wrap them in cling film at this stage they will be easy to store &amp; transport. When ready to serve, slice thinly into pinwheels.

You can make your contribution look very irish by decorating with cress, parsley etc. Also if you can get some green napkins for your serving plates or cut a few shamrocks out of green card.

Let us know how it goes. Slainte

Irish oysters are lovely. A bit on the expensive side though.

Langoustines are also called dublin bay prawns aren't they? Maybe something there.

What aoput from N Ireland - they have a different culinary tradition so might have something.

What about sausages and puddings?

Don't go overboard. Smoked salmon on brown bread in small pieces is a standard for cocktail events in catering over here. Otherwise its pretty much the same as the U.S. for cocktail fare i.e. mini quiche and chiken Tikka sticks.

The irish cheeses is an excellent idea and you could get some thin oatcakes to eat with this. Some cheeses I would reccommend are Gubbeen, cooleney, Ardrahan, Coolea, durrus. check out the cheeses (not all irish for Ideas at this irish Cheese shop www.sheridans.ie Its where I buy my cheeses here in Dublin.

What if you took small, new potatoes, cooked them, halved them and hollowed out a small &quot;well&quot; and filled it with small slices of corned beef and wee bits of cabbage?
Some hot mustard...

Same taters...salmon roe and dilled sour cream (or creme fresh)?

Or, make little pate a'chou (cream puffs)... split 'em and fill them with smoked fish and capers or some such...

I'm hungry so now my imagination gets going... buy frozen puff pastry sheets - roll them thin. Cut out circles...put about 1 tablespoon of really thick irish stew...(the ingredients diced rather fine, nothing worse that stew on your bossom) fold over, close them with a fork around the edges and bake them until golden.

There must be other adptations to things &quot;not Irirsh&quot; you could use. There are mini-pastry-sheels into which you could pour a teaspoon of &quot;quiche mixture&quot;, and then add a bit of corned beef and cabbage. And I think that the &quot;green thing&quot; could go in many different directions. A Louisville area favorite is the green cream cheese spread called Benedictine, you could make little tea sandwiches from that, and use a shamrock cookie cutter for an Irish twist. See http://southernfood.about.com/od/ken...r/bl80419a.htm

I am guessing that there are all kinds of &quot;green this'n'that&quot; items that are served on St. Patrick's Day wherever people get good and inebriated! Here's a nice bizarre example: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/rec...llo65358.shtml

Best wishes,

Rex

I live in Orlando and every year at Disney they have the International Food and Wine Festival. and each year I love stopping by the Irish food booth and grab a nice hot bowl of Potato and Leek soup. This is how I make it and its even better than they have.

5 fist-sized potatoes
3 c. cleaned, chopped leeks
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 lg. carrot, chopped
4 tbsp. butter
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tbl spoon of minced garlic
3 cans of chicken broth
3 c. milk

Optional: snippets of fresh herbs (thyme, marjoram, basil)
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Scrub the potatoes and cut them into 1-inch chunks. Place them in a saucepan with the leeks, celery, carrot and butter. Add salt and garlic. Cook the vegetables, stirring over medium heat, until the butter is melted and all the particles are coated and turning soft(5-8 minutes).
2. Add the broth, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are soft (20 to 30 minutes). Check the moisture level occasionally. You may need to add a little extra stock if it gets too low.

3. When the potatoes are tender, remove the pan from the heat, and puree its contents in the milk (use a blender or a food processor fitted with the steel blade). Make sure the mixture is utterly smooth. Return it to the saucepan.

4. Add optional herbs (or not). Grind in some black pepper. Taste it to see if it wants more salt.

5. Heat the soup gently, covered, until JUST hot. Try not to let it boil. Serve right away.

oops.. sorry, you said no stews and stuff. oh well, try it at home, the soup rocks!

Smoked Salmon is Irish? Isn't it more a Scottish thing? I'm sure you can use it, though.

I thought it was an &quot;American&quot; thing -- Alaska &amp; the Pacific NW. :-) ((b))

Chips and Club orange pop. Can't get more authentic than that.

Actually historically for decades of time, it was boiled potatoes and brew. The brew was substantial calories with malt, grains etc. besides the alcohol within it. A mini-assortment of Irish brews?

And the smallest fingernail was left to grow so that the skin of the potato could be peeled easily. Oftentimes you didn't even sit down to eat. Or drink. Many times you drank supper.

Budman, I think it was a Scottish thing before there was an America.

Why do people insist that corned beef and cabbage is Irish? My husband is from Ireland and never had corned beef until he came to the US.

You'd have to have Tayto crisps if you're going for Norn Irish cuisine.

The smoked salmon idea is a good one, along with wheaten bread and/or soda bread.

Smoking fish...all native peoples did it IF they have fish...it is not Scottish, nor Native American, or Portugese...or anything in particular.
Smoke food meant you ate in the winter.

just give em a spud on a stick....they'll never know :-)))

Ann41
I'm really surprised to hear your husband is Irish and never tasted Corned Beef whilst he lived here! When I was a kid, we had corned beef all the time, I never appreciated it then, and now its quite expensive to buy it.!!

Potato skins loaded with cheese?????

lucielou - Nwither of my parents had ever eaten corned beef until they went to the U.S. She always says its an American&quot; dish and they don't realise it.

Anne My vite is for a packet of Tayto and red lemonade! I thought they stopped making Red lemonade and then we had some at christ,mas. I can still taste all the chemical in it! :-)