Enjoy some authentic Irish food while you and your family "Go Irish" on St. Patrick's Day! (In case you're not remembering, it's this Sunday, March 17.)
A completely traditional "Full Irish Breakfast" could be a bit difficult to pull off, but you can approximate it by serving any or all of the following to your family:
- fried egg (usually sunny-side-up)
- bacon (you probably won't be able to find the British-style "rasher" -- here is a great article explaining just what exactly this is! -- so just sub in regular ole' American bacon, what the Brits call "streaky bacon")
- sausages
- buttered toast (white or wheat, but it should be sandwich bread style, nothing fancy or artisan!)
- baked beans (NOT the maple-flavored Boston-style, but this plain tomato based version)
- small tomato, cut in half and broiled or pan-fried
- sauteed whole mushrooms
- soda bread
- potato scone (a triangular shaped flour-y hash brown; most traditional in a Scottish full breakfast)
- black pudding
- white pudding
I've personally never been able to bring myself to include black pudding (and I don't think I ever got the opportunity to enjoy white pudding) when I've been breakfasting somewhere in the British Isles... I won't hold it against you if you skip it. And of course you'll want cold orange juice and plenty of hot, milky, sweet, black tea to go along with this filling full breakfast!
Options for later in the day include:
- Irish Stew (mutton or lamb, potatoes, onions, carrots, leeks, cabbage leaves)
- Beef and Guinness Pie (pretty much what it sounds like)
- Corned Beef and Cabbage (again, pretty much what it sounds like... I made this just one time for my family... not really a favorite)
- Colcannon (this is a favorite!)
