I'm fond of repeating this story, at least once a year: as a nerdy kid growing up in the south of France, March 17th was a sacred day for me, the only day I personally celebrated. I had the firm belief that this day was made for me and for me alone since I didn't like birthdays, Christmas & Easter. This one had my name attached to it, nested right in the middle of my favorite month, and as I fancied myself as the snake's greatest nemesis, I confirmed myself a saint. Imagine my discomfiture when, at age 11 or 12, I was told in no uncertain words that Saint Patrick was some other bloke who lived in Ireland a long, long time ago, and armed with his crosier, banished all of his snakes from the emerald isle in a jiffy! Well, guttered, I spent the next couple days in a comatose state, pondered my fate and like the Phoenix, rose quickly through the ashes and ordained myself as a near-God instead. Take that, Saint Patrick! I was to be addressed as: ''The Master of the Universe Whose Body Shines like The Sun; whom God has created as Perfect as The Full Moon', Whose Eyes Shine like The North Star', Who, rising, casts a Mighty Shadow upon His Whole domain', The Kings of Kings Whom all other princes obey', The Almighty director of Ebb and Flow, The Regulator of seasons....it went on to great lengths and I ruled my own imaginary kingdom until hitting puberty, and then girls took over. Oy vey!
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland. It originated as a Catholic holiday and became an official feast day in the early 17th century. It has gradually become more of a secular celebration of Irish culture.
According to legend, Saint Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people, hence this obligatory pic of the fabled shamrock:
The origins of the fabled Irish Stew are muddled...some say it is a relatively new and some say it predates Saint Patrick. Some swear that it has to made with mutton or lamb, and some insist that beef was the prime ingredient. Having researched and asked many locals, I can say, with some authority, that mutton (though lamb would be easier to buy these days) is the winner. So a good Irish stew is principally made with lamb, potatoes, carrots & onions, with a large handful of parsley and I doubt very much it was served during the times Saint Patrick was busy hounding snakes: a major impact on the Irish diet was the discovery of the New World. In terms of human food supply this had an explosive effect to this country with the introduction of new and exotic food crops one of which was the potato. By 1663 it was widely accepted in Ireland as an important food plant and by 1770 it was known as the Irish Potato; from the early 18th century onwards no meal was considered complete without potatoes. Guinness is also very important in this Irish stew! No one that I know would dare to make one without the cherished "black stuff"! It perfumes the stew like no other dark ale. And it's good for you!
Further reading on this Irish stew brings to light how it may have originated: English landlords used to throw scraps of lamb to their impoverished tenants (The Irish Potato Famine, written by Philip Gavin). It was usually the neck of the lamb which the landlords didn't particularly liked....after all, this dish more or less started in Irish cabins where utensils were scarce: a griddle, a kettle, a frying pan, a three-legged pot and sometimes a pot oven would have constituted the entire batterie de cuisine. Reading on, the meat was put straight into the big pot with onions and peeled potatoes and then covered with water.
The Irish raised primarily sheep and root crops for subsistence. The sheep provided wool for warm clothing, milk for drinking and making cheese, and eventually food. Potatoes were the main food crop, prior to the potato famine. Irish stew, "ballymaloe" or "stobhach gaelach" as it is called in Gaelic, is traditionally made of lamb or mutton (less tender sheep over two years of age), potatoes, onions, and parsley. Often, lamb or mutton neckbones, shanks, and other trimmings were the only basis for the stock.
So we come to MY take on the stew: I have added celery, kale and swede to mine (and I'm sure that there are hundreds of permutations, with similar ad ons). For my version (do not read further if you're a purist!) purchase shoulder of lamb chops on the bone, make sure the chops are nice and thick, at least one to one and a half inch.
for 6 to 8 persons you will need 2 chops each, cut in half, 8 large, floury potatoes, cut in quarters (some people like to peel the potatoes, I don't), 2 large swedes, peeled and cut up in large cubes or quarters, 6 carrots, cut up thickly (2 inches), 4 or 5 celery sticks, cut up roughly, 4 large onions, peeled and also cut up roughly, a large bunch of kale, a bunch of parsley (with stalks), washed and chopped, 2 pints of Guinness, salt & pepper to taste, and a knob of butter for frying the onions, and 2 tablespoons of arrowroot flour (I know, it's considered cheating but don't worry, arrowroot has no gluten).
In a large cast-iron cooking pot (or whatever large pot you have, as long as it has a thick base), over medium heat, sweat the onions in the butter (a knob is roughly 2 tablespoons) for a few minutes, then add the lamb chops. Brown the lot and add the arrowroot, stir well and add the Guinness, 1 pint of water, the carrots, the potatoes and the swede, and bring to the boil slowly. Adjust the seasoning to your liking and cook for a good 90 minutes or until the meat falls off the bone over low heat. Towards the end add the chopped kale and the parsley. Depending whether you are using gas or electricity, this stew may take 2 hours. When done, serve in deep bowls with, what else, soda bread!
What's a typical Irish dessert on this momentous day? I have asked this question to hundreds of locals over the last years. The answers, as you may expect, are multiple, but over all the Brown Bread Vanilla Ice Cream with Jameson seems to get the most votes. Now I know most of you can't be bothered to make ice-cream in the middle of winter, but hang on, I have found a solution. Buy two pints of good vanilla ice-cream and add on this concoction to it:
toast 5 thick slices of brown bread, then chop it up in bits, add 4 tablespoons of dark brown sugar (Demera, if you can get it) and soak the lot in a tumbler of Jameson whiskey for a couple of hours. Mix with 2 pints of a softened, really good vanilla ice-cream and presto! You have made your dessert. Refrigerate and serve when needed.
After reviewing quite a few videos on how to make proper Irish soda bread, here is the one that I think will do the trick. And it is made by a lovely granny.
What are you doing on Paddy's Day? Drinking or cooking, or both? Next week, I will do a piece on tomatoes, with perhaps the best tomato sauce recipe I know of....