Planning a traditional Irish Meal.

March 15, 2004 7:08 AM

Being 1/2 Irish I really should know the answers to these questions, but I don't. This year I'm taking over the St. Patrick's Day dinner from my mom. 1) How much corned beef and cabbage do I need for 7 adults and three kids? 2) Is there a traditional Irish dessert (besides whiskey) that should be served afterwards? 3) What about appetizers? 4) Are the draft bottles of Guinness as good as the cans? 4b) Are they pint-sized? 5) Any other tips, other than not wearing orange?
posted by bondcliff to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

4.) They're better.
posted by Vidiot at 7:11 AM on March 15, 2004

two irish desserts, although i don't know that any of them are traditional for st. patrick's day or if there even is such a thing. i like the apple cake for breakfast, actually.

Gooseberry Crumble
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
10 cups gooseberries
1 cup caster ("superfine") sugar

Using your fingertips, rub butter lightly into the flour in a large bowl.
When the texture resembles fine breadcrumbs, mix in the brown sugar.
Clean & deleaf ("top and tail") the berries and cover with the crumble mixture in an oven-proof dish, pressing the surface down lightly. Bake for 45 minutes in the middle of a pre-heated oven at 350°F. Serve hot with cream.


Kerry Apple Cake

6oz/ 3/4 cupbutter
6oz/ 3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
8oz/2 cups self-raising flour
2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1tsp lemon rind
2tbsp demerara sugar (sugar in the raw)
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease and flour a 2lb/ 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
Cream butter and sugar. Gradually add eggs and flour. Stir in apples and lemon rind.
Pour into the pan and sprinkle with sugar and spices. Bake for 1- 1 1/2 hours.
posted by crush-onastick at 7:42 AM on March 15, 2004

isn't beer enough for dessert?
posted by Stynxno at 8:03 AM on March 15, 2004

4.) They're better.

They're *different* - try them first before deciding.
posted by bifter at 8:25 AM on March 15, 2004

2) We always have orange sherbert for dessert on St. Patrick's Day.

4) They're close enough to decide based on cost. The bottles are cheaper 'round here (in terms of price/ounce).
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:37 AM on March 15, 2004

The Guinness in cans is the same stuff you'lll get off tap in a bar. It's much better (IMHO) and it's the nearest you can get to the stuff they serve in the Gravity Bar at the brewery in Dublin.

The bottles are... different. They're nice but they aren't Guinness to my taste buds. Not as smooth and more bitter.

Somehow, to me cans kind of have a milky consistancy while the bottles are more like flat Coke.

For UKers - if you get the chance have Irish cans not the Park Royal cans. The Irish ones are much nicer. I've yet to find them in the Uk, but you can (strangely) get them on the cross channel ferries and in France.
posted by twine42 at 8:45 AM on March 15, 2004

I'll second the cans. As for question #1, the answer is, to my Irish-America tastebuds, 0. Alternatively, you need n ounces of ketchup, where n is a quantity that will cover the entire surface area of the contents of your boilded dinner twice over.
posted by yerfatma at 8:59 AM on March 15, 2004

Also, the traditional after-dinner event in a true Irish household is a fight.
posted by yerfatma at 9:00 AM on March 15, 2004 [1 favorite]

The Guinness in cans is the same stuff you'lll get off tap in a bar. It's much better (IMHO) and it's the nearest you can get to the stuff they serve in the Gravity Bar at the brewery in Dublin.

Pasteurized in the US. Still not pasteurized in Ireland?
posted by Shane at 9:05 AM on March 15, 2004

I refer to the "pub draught" bottles -- I like them better than the cans. Both are far superior to the normal, non-widget-enclosed bottles.
posted by Vidiot at 9:06 AM on March 15, 2004

Response by poster: Also, the traditional after-dinner event in a true Irish household is a fight.

It's like you have a window into every Bondcliff family holiday, ever.

Worse, still, is that I'm 1/2 Italian so I even fight with myself.
posted by bondcliff at 9:19 AM on March 15, 2004 [1 favorite]

presumably, if you're half-Italian, you find you can't work out which side you want to be on when the fighting starts? (given we're doing national stereotypes)
posted by Pericles at 9:46 AM on March 15, 2004

For seven adults and three children (presuming the children actually eat and don't just pick at the mess on their plate and whispering that it's really snot,) I would suggest three large heads of cabbage, a five to six pound corned beef, and one dime. Boiling the cabbage with a dime is required for good luck, plus you can usually con the kids into eating a little bit if they think they might find money in their portion. I'd also suggest making mashed potatoes to go with it, as well.

Headspace cannot be held responsible or liable for any accidental dime swallowings that may occur as a result of this post.
posted by headspace at 12:25 PM on March 15, 2004

4.) They're better.
They're *different* - try them first before deciding.
Thought the cans have a propeller like gismo attached to the bottom to keep it from over foaming when opening it. Both should have a widget in them.
posted by thomcatspike at 1:03 PM on March 15, 2004

[picky] corned beef and cabbage isn't Irish (link goes to foods that are), it's an Irish-American invention [/picky] Then again St. Patrick wasn't Irish either so who's to judge.
posted by m@ at 4:45 PM on March 15, 2004

Thought the cans have a propeller like gismo attached to the bottom to keep it from over foaming when opening it. Both should have a widget in them.

Yeah, might be a US / UK difference. I'd forgotten that they'd started doing fancypants "draft Guinness in bottles", but the old skool bottled Guinness is completely different - thinner, not much a creamy head, a bit more bitter and sharp. It's a favourite of old Jamaican gentlemen in this country for some reason.
posted by bifter at 6:17 AM on March 16, 2004