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Happy St. Patrick's Day from the kitchen. I don't have Irish in my background but I'm always excited to try foods from different parts of the world. Did you know that Irish stew is considered to be Ireland's national dish? And soda bread is their bread of choice. I had to give that a try. So, I decided to make corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread and Irish tea cake to celebrate the Irish food culture on St. Patrick's Day. Glad I tried these recipes. The bread was dense but full of flavor. The cake goes well with coffee or tea and the corned beef and cabbage was excellent. I don't recall ever eating beef made like this but it was 'melt in your mouth' tender.
Hope you get to try one or all of this week's recipes. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Be safe if you're out celebrating, and eat well my friends!
Irish tea cake
(not my recipe)
• 1/2 cup, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp's vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp's baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• Powdered sugar for dusting cake
• Fresh berries (I used red raspberries)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and paper a 9" round pan. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients and the milk alternately into the butter/sugar mixture. Spread the batter in the pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes then flip out on a rack to cool. Place cake on a serving rack and when it's cooled completely, dust with sifted powdered sugar and top with your favorite berries.
Irish soda bread
(not my recipe)
• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp's baking soda
• 2 tsp's baking powder
• 3 TBSP's cornstarch
• 2 tsp's sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2.5 cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375. Add all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour the buttermilk on top of dry ingredients and stir, using a wooden spoon. Shape into a dough ball. It will not be smooth. Knead on the counter for a minute then separate into two balls. Place the dough balls on a parchment lined sheet and shape into loaves. Cut an X on top of each loaf. Let rest for 10 minutes. Bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cook on racks.
Brined corn beef or corned beef and cabbage
• 4 lb beef brisket
• 3 TBSP's pickling spices
• 1 1/2 cups kosher salt
• 3 TBSP pink curing salt (This is not pink Himalayan salt)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 8-10 cups water
• 1 TBSP pickling spices
Coarsely grind the pickling spices. Put the spices in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar, curing salt and water. Whisk the ingredients till the salt is dissolved. Lay the brisket in a pan or dish that you can cover the meat completely with the liquid. Pour the liquid (brine) over the meat, making sure the meat is completely covered. Can add more water if needed. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 5-7 days. I flipped the brisket over once daily. After 5-7 days remove the brisket and rinse very well with cold water. Put the brisket in a large stockpot and add a TBSP of the pickling spices. Cover with fresh water, bring to a boil then reduce to a constant simmer. Cover and let simmer for 3-4 hours. During the last hour of simmering, I added several potato quarters, half a head of chopped cabbage and some chopped carrots. Continue to simmer for an hour. Serve with Irish soda bread and finish your meal off with a slice of Irish tea cake and a green beverage of your choosing.
Happy cooking!
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Bev Kauffman, of Lewistown, operated a catering business in Juniata County for nearly 20 years. She has authored the cookbook, "Preserving the Past: In the Kitchen with Bev Kauffman" in 2013 and is currently working on a second cookbook.