Irish cuisine
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Irish cuisine -
what is it?

Irish cuisine is difficult to pigeonhole because there are several types:

Old traditional cuisine
In Ireland, until the 20th century, ingredient quality was generally mediocre and food was usually overcooked. Although this old traditional Irish cuisine was hearty and wholesome, it was not particularly palate pleasing.
New traditional cuisine
Ingredient quality and cooking sophistication began to improve remarkably about 50 years ago - and the new traditional Irish cuisine was born. Today, good cooks strive to use fresh, locally grown and raised foods - and to preserve their flavor integrity.
Foreign influenced cuisine
Some modern-day restaurant chefs are bastardizing Irish cuisine. They merge exotic cooking ingredients and styles into the cuisine. And they put more emphasis on artistic presentation than on taste and authenticity.

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Irish culinary tidbits

"Corned beef cabbage is Irish"
That's erroneous. It's an Irish-American immigrant dish. The relatives that the immigrants left behind in Ireland used cured pork, not beef, for the dish because beef (unlike in America) was too expensive for the average family. And in the USA at the time, beef was more economical and plentiful than pork.
Great Irish potato famine
The potato was introduced to Ireland (via the Continent) from the New World. It eventually became the chief source of food for the poor. Then, in the 1840s, a potato blight destroyed the crops. Millions of Irish either died, emigrated to America, or stayed put and suffered extreme poverty.
Regional cuisines
Unlike most European countries, Ireland does not have pronounced regional cuisines.
Popular ingredients
They are potatoes, cabbage, onions, lamb (or mutton), pork (cured and fresh), and fish (salmon, trout, cod) and shellfish (prawns, oysters, mussels).
Irish Coffee
This whiskey, coffee, and whipped cream concoction was invented a half-century ago as a promotional tool for the whiskey industry.

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