Sorcha Hyland grew up in Ireland, but she never ate corned beef.

“Corned beef is not something Irish people eat,” the Lawrence resident says. “It’s cooked there mainly for tourists. I tasted my first corned beef when I came here.”

Just as Americans have put their own twist on St. Patrick’s Day, most Irish food in the United States bears little resemblance to the food of Hyland’s homeland.

And that includes corned beef and hash, thought of as the quintessential Irish food by many Americans. Though the dish was popular among poor Irish immigrants in the United States, it wasn’t found much in their homeland until later.

Wendy Lynn, a second-year law student at Kansas University, says she formed a theory for why Americans don’t eat more traditional Irish food during a study abroad trip there last summer.

“It’s bland,” she says. “What I thought going over was what we experienced. They really do eat potatoes with everything. If you order lasagna or spaghetti, you get a side of fries.”

Traditional Irish foods may be a bit bland, Hyland says, but they do warm bellies in a land not known for its warm weather.

Corned beef and cabbage, with boiled red potatoes, was popular among Irish immigrants but is now served in Ireland mostly to tourists.

“Irish food, because of the clime, tends to be warm and served hot,” she says. “It’s a lot of warm, heavy, meaty food to suit your needs.”

That’s certainly the case with the Irish stew Tom King cooks up each year at the Bourgeois Pig, 6 E. Ninth St. He uses a mix of cheaper meat cuts, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, Guinness and chicken stock. It’s served with soda bread, a traditional Irish food.

“Irish food has always been pretty much meat and potatoes,” says King, a local chef. “It has thrifty origins. Irish stew is a poor food. In my Irish food, I try to keep the tradition. The cheaper cuts of meat are often the more flavorful. By stewing them, you break down the toughness of it.”

In addition to Irish stew, other truly traditional Irish foods include:

¢ Colcannon, a potato and cabbage mixture.

¢ A variety of lamb dishes.

¢ Oysters and other seafood.

¢ Irish breakfast, with blood sausage, fried egg, potatoes and tomato all fried together.

¢ Oatmeal

¢ Baked beans

¢ Bread and butter pudding, a dessert.

Kate Dinneen, a Lawrence resident of Irish lineage who studied there in the late 1970s, says immigration and other factors have led to a resurrection in Irish food in the past two decades. There are several internationally known culinary schools in Ireland now.

“Twenty years ago, Ireland and the British Isles suffered from the idea that the food was horrible,” Dinneen says. “It was just simple.”

Although the American interpretation of Irish food may be incorrect, Hyland says another U.S. perception of Ireland is somewhat true.

Alcohol – warm beer and whiskey alike – are important parts of Irish culture. When it’s cold and rainy out, the local pub makes for a great community hangout.

“But we don’t drink green beer on St. Patrick’s Day,” Hyland says. “That’s just tacky.”

Irish stew

3 pounds of lamb chops not less than 1-inch thick

6 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped

6 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

8-12 potatoes

1 quart vegetable stock

1 sprig of thyme

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh chives, coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the lamb chops in half and trim off some of the excess fat. Set the lamb aside. In a heavy-bottomed pan, cook the fat trimmings to render liquid fat. Discard the remaining pieces.

Toss the lamb chops in the hot liquid fat and cook until slightly brown on both sides. Remove the lamb chops and reserve. Toss the chopped onions and carrots in the fat. Build the meat, carrots and onions up in layers in a casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Using the stock, deglaze the pan the meat was cooked in, and pour the liquid into the casserole dish. Peel the potatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste, and lay them whole on top of the stew – they will steam as the stew cooks. Add the sprig of thyme, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, cover and put in the oven until stew is cooked, 1 to 2 hours.

When ready, pour the cooking liquid out of the stew. Transfer the meat and the vegetables to a clean pan. Skim the grease out of the cooking liquid, and pour the remaining cooking liquid over the stew. Sprinkle with the parsley and chives to garnish. Serve immediately.

Source: “Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cooking School Cookbook”

Colcannon

1 pound kale or green leaf cabbage

1 pound potatoes

6 scallions or small bunch of chives

2/3 cup milk or half-and-half

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 to 8 tablespoons butter

Remove tough stalk from the kale or cabbage and shred the leaves very finely. Cook in a little boiling salted water until very tender. The kale will probably take 10-20 minutes. Drain well. Cook the potatoes in their skins until tender. Then drain, peel and return to the heat to dry, covered with a cloth. Mash while warm until very smooth.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop the onions and simmer in the milk or cream for about five minutes. Gradually add this liquid to the potatoes, beating well to give a soft, fluffy texture. Beat in the kale or cabbage along with the seasoning. Heat thoroughly over a gentle heat and serve like champ in hot dishes or bowls with a well in the center for the melted butter.

Source: “In an Irish Country Kitchen” by Clare Connery

Soda bread

1 pound all-purpose flour

1 heaped teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 tablespoons sugar

2 to 4 tablespoons butter

1 3/4 to 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift the dray ingredients into a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and rub in the butter until well-dispersed through the flour. Make a well in the center and pour in almost all the milk at once. Mix with a broad-bladed knife, working very quickly and gently until all the dry flour has been drawn together to form a spongy dough, a bit like a thick oatmeal.

Turn into the lightly greased pan (7-inch round or 6-inch square tin, between 1 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches deep), leaving the surface rough but level. Sprinkle generously with whole wheat flour, set on a hot baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes before reducing the temperature to 400 degrees for another 40 to 45 minutes. The bread is cooked when it is well-risen, golden brown and feels firm to the touch.

Remove from the oven and cover the top with a clean cloth. Leave in the pan until cool before turning out and completely wrapping in the cloth to store.

Source: “In an Irish Country Kitchen” by Clare Connery

Nettle soup

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/3 cup rolled oats

2 medium leeks, white and green parts

1/2 pound nettle tops, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and roughly diced

3 3/4 cups vegetable stock or water

1 1/4 cups milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter or margarine in a large saucepan and fry the oats until well-toasted. Stir in the leeks, nettle tops and potatoes and continue to fry for a few minutes. Stir in the liquid and the seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer very gently for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the oatmeal is cooked. Stir frequently during the cooking to ensure that the potato and oatmeal do not burn. Sieve or puree the soup, adjust the seasoning and serve very hot.

Source: “In an Irish Country Kitchen” by Clare Connery