Author: xPal EuroCuisineLady

This is the original, much-loved, much-missed dish that Irish immigrants of the nineteenth century tried to make when they came to North America…and when they couldn't get the pork they really wanted, they made do with salted (corned) beef instead. (See the article here for the details. The facts may surprise you.)

If Ireland really has a national dish — which is another whole question — this might just be it. You can get pretty close to the Real Thing at home, but you'll need to start a day or three early, and do a little extra work.

First let's deal with a terminology problem

In Ireland, the term "bacon" is used to mean any joint of pork except the leg, which is ham. The cuts of pork which in North America are called "bacon", in Ireland are called "rashers".

That said: the Irish long ago learned that pork can become dry and tasteless with cooking — and this problem is exaggerated when the pork, as it is now, is bred lean to minimize the fat content. Over the centuries, the Irish discovered (as did the cooks of many other European countries where pork is a favorite or preferred meat) that a good way to prevent cooked pork from going tough or dry during cooking is to brine the pork before cooking it.

The modern Irish eat relatively little fresh or "green" pork: almost all the pork you'll see on the supermarket shelf here has been brine-cured. Good butchers in city and country alike are willing to take anything from a high-priced pork tenderloin to the cheapest imaginable pig's trotters and "put them down in brine" for a customer for a couple of days, to improve the flavor and texture of the meat. In recent years, gourmet chefs and professional kitchens in North America have quietly started doing the same thing, and the techniques are starting to leak out into the public domain. This makes matters simpler for those who're trying to simulate the texture, taste and succulence of Irish pork. (You're not going to be able to duplicate it: the flavor of Irish pork is unique. But we can help you get fairly close.)

Getting started

First of all, buy your pork. Irish cooks would get into endless arguments about which cut of pork / bacon is best, but many seem to prefer the "collar of bacon", which is the equivalent of a cut from the North American "shoulder butt" or "picnic shoulder". You could use a pork tenderloin for this recipe, but an Irish cook would likely think you were throwing too much money at what should be a simple dish.

Whatever cut you choose, it should be rolled up and tied to make sure that the brining process does not proceed too quickly. This kind of brining (unlike the brines of past centuries) is not meant to preserve the meat: it's meant only to tenderize it and improve the flavor.

For this recipe you need:

• 2 1/2 pounds pork: "collar of bacon", shoulder butt or equivalent

Brining the pork

This recipe makes a gallon of brine, which should be more than enough to cover two and a half pounds of pork. You only need enough of this to cover the meat you're brining: throw out what you don't use.

• 3/4 cup coarse kosher salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 gallon cold water
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1 bay leaf

A stainless-steel bowl or resealable plastic bag can work as a brining container, as long as the pork is fully submerged. Weight with a plate, if necessary, to keep the meat fully covered by the brine.

Dissolve salt and sugar in the boiling water. Add it to the cold water; add pepper and stir to combine. Chill brine completely in the refrigerator before adding pork. Place your pork in the brine and place in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours.

After 48 hours in the brine…

When you're ready to start cooking, remove the pork from the brine, rinse well and pat dry. Discard the brine. (Also, you might like to check out the excellent brining page at WhatsCookingAmerica.net for more information on brining, as the brine recipe here is extremely simple, and there are far more complex and interesting possibilities out there.)

When the bacon is ready, buy fresh:

• 1 medium-sized cabbage

Place the bacon joint in a pot with a couple of bay leaves and a few peppercorns, cover with cold water and bring to the boil: then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer.

Remove any scum that floats to the surface. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours (or 30 minutes per pound, whichever is greater).

Fifteen or twenty minutes before the bacon is scheduled to be done, cut the cabbage into quarters and add to the pot. Cook gently for no more than twenty minutes or until the cabbage is just tender (whichever comes first).

Lift the cabbage out and drain: remove the pork and set aside to rest for five minutes or so before slicing.

Serve with potatoes boiled in their jackets, and a sharp sauce — mustard or (if you can get it) Irish / British HP sauce. (The US variant is a steak sauce and won't work: if you can't get the real thing, don't bother.) A grind of nutmeg on the cabbage works wonders, too.

Enjoy!

Many Swiss people have fond memories of this particular bread roll — either as something their mothers would bake them as an after-school snack, or something that you could order from the local delivery-baker or pick up at the town bakery (or railway-station convenience stre)  on the way home from work. The roll is perfect for splitting and toasting under the grill, or just breaking in two and slathering with sweet butter. Its flavor has just a slight edge of sweetness, but nothing aggressive — making it just as good a foil for savory accompaniments as it is for jams or marmalades.

(For those interested in word historyes: "Weggli" is a Swiss dialect word descended from the Old German weck, which simply means "roll" or "bread roll".

This recipe is adapted from one at the German-language baking site Zimtkringel.org — adding US measurement conversions and with additional streamlining of the method for the home baker in a hurry.

Overview:

The original version of this recipe calls for it to be begun a day before baking, with a "starter" made from fresh yeast, flour and water. This method was plainly developed with an eye to "proofing" the fresh yeast and  (ideally) in order to develop a better flavor. We've tried the recipe both with and without the starter stage, and can't really taste that much of a difference. So what we're sharing here is a quicker method that skips the starter stage and uses "quick" dry yeast instead.

Ingredients:

• 350 g  / 2 cups bread flour
• 50 g / 1/4 cup  butter
• 50 g / 1/4 cup sugar
• 10 grams / 1 package quick dry yeast
• 9 grams / 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 190 ml milk plus 2 tablespoons for the last-step glaze
• 1 egg (for the glaze)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl (ideally, the bowl of a mixer with dough hook attached) combine all the ingredients except the egg and the 2 tablespoons of milk. Knead for 5 minutes at a low speed and 5 minutes at a medium-high speed. Cover the bowl with a dishtowel and allow to rest for ten minutes.

Remove the dough to a work surface, roll into a long log, and divide into 10 pieces. (Note here: The originating recipe recommends flouring the surface a little, but we found it a lot easier to roll this dough without any flour. Try it with a clean work surface first and see how that works for you.)

Round each piece into a ball. Place the balls of dough on a nonstick baking sheet, or one lined with baking paper or a silicone baking mat, and allow to rest covered with a dishtowel or similar light covering in a warm place for half an hour.

At the end of this time, remove each risen roll to the work surface again and press down on the middle of each one, firmly, with the handle of a wooden spoon (or a dowel of similar thickness, if you've got one).

Don't be shy about this: press the handle or dowel right down against the work surface. The next image is typical of how they look after the spoon is removed.

Then replace the rolls on the baking sheet, top side down. When all ten balls have undergone this treatment, cover them again with the dishtowel or other covering and allow to continue rising in a warm place for another 30 minutes.

Turn over the risen rolls on the baking sheet so that the bottoms are on top again. Cover them once more and let them have another half hour's rising time. They may not seem to rise all that much: don't let this panic you.

At the end of the second half hour's rise, preheat the oven to 220 degrees centigrade / 430 degrees Fahrenheit (200 C /390 F if you have a fan oven)

Beat the remaining two tablespoons of milk eogether well with the egg, and brush the tops of the rolls with the mixture.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

Please note that these rolls tend to bake up quite brown in a home oven, even with such a short baking time. If you're looking for a lighter color, you might try tenting the baking sheet with foil for the second seven minutes or so, But even if they bake up very brown, they'll still be fine inside.

Enjoy!

A version of our classic soda bread recipe that DOES NOT use buttermilk. Give it a try!

Thousands of people visit our site each year looking for a way to make real Irish soda bread without buttermilk. Their reasons vary: they may not be able to get buttermilk locally, or someone in the family may not like it.

If you're one of these people: we can help you! And if you're concerned about the lack of buttermilk making the soda bread less traditional — sure, you won't be making it exactly as it was made at the hearthside two hundred years ago. But there are lots of people in modern Ireland who either don't like buttermilk, or don't care whether it's in their bread or not. Only about half the loaves of soda bread in the modern Irish grocery bother mentioning their buttermilk content on the wrapper (if they contain any at all: not all do). And the difference in flavor when soda bread's made with sweet milk rather than buttermilk doesn't seem to be enough to outrage the local sensibilities. If it's OK enough for the native Irish, than it should be OK for you… so don't let anybody give you guilt about this.

Please note, though: if you don't mind the buttermilk but just can't obtain it, we can also tell you how to make your own buttermilk from scratch, or how to fake it. You might want to try one of those methods, and then apply what you get to our classic Irish soda bread recipe.

Here's the basic recipe for white soda bread without buttermilk.

All these measures are approximate. The flour's volume and liquid-absorptive capabilities, in particular, will vary depending on the local humidity, so you might find you need to use a little more or a little less..

• 450 g / 1 lb / 3 1/2 cups flour (either cake flour or all-purpose, but cake flour is better)
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional: you can absolutely omit this if you prefer sugar free soda bread)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 level teaspoon baking powder
• Between 350-400 ml / 12-14 fluid ounces milk, to mix

Now all you have to do is visit our main soda bread page to work out which of the two traditional styles of soda bread you're making (cake or farl) and then follow the baking instructions. There are also video tutorials below for you to look at if you feel the need.

Happy baking!

At Christmas and New Year's, spiced beef can be found in almost every butcher's window in Ireland, often with a red ribbon around it to point up its special status. A cousin of corned beef and second cousin of pastrami, spiced beef is so popular with the customers that annual competitions are held by such organizations as the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland to determine who makes the best spiced beef, regionally and at the national level. (See the results of the 2007 competition here.)

Most Irish people have been willing to let the butcher do most of the work on this dish, as it's rather labor-intensive. The beef first has to be cut, rolled, and brined. Then after the brining comes a spicing period that can run from several days to a week or more, depending on each butcher's unique recipe.

However, newer and more casual forms of the recipe have started making the rounds. These homebrew versions eliminate the initial brining by simply starting with corned beef, which has already been brined: so they take considerably less time to make. The recipe we've adapted here takes about three days, though you can leave the beef to spice for an additional day or two if you prefer.

Once the spicing period is finished, the beef is cooked by slow simmering, and then allowed to cool. It's served thinly sliced, accompanied by brown bread and butter, and (if you like the black stuff) a pint of Guinness.

Ingredients:

• 4 lb corned beef, silverside or tail end
• 1 teaspooon coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 teaspooons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon juniper berries, crushed
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 bay leaves, crushed
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups Guinness
• Fruit chutney and bread, to serve

First spice the beef. Blend the pepper, spices and sugar thoroughly; then mix in bay leaves and onion. Rub the mixture into the meat. Then put it into a suitable tightly lidded container and refrigerate for at least three days. Each day, turn the meat and rub in the spice mixture well.

When the spicing period is finished: Put the meat into a pan and barely cover it with cold water. Place a tight lid on the pan and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and then simmer very gently for about 3 1/2 hours. At the beginning of the last hour, add the Guinness to the cooking liquid.

When the meat has finished cooking, leave it to cool in the liquid. Remove, wrap in foil, and keep refrigerated until required. It will keep for about one week.

When ready to serve it, slice it very thinly and serve with brown soda bread — also thinly sliced, and buttered. Other accompaniments that work well: chopped horseradish, or sour cream flavored with horseradish and salt and pepper.

In this world of foods that people label as coming from one place when they actually come from somewhere else (like French fries), it's a relief to find one that actually comes from the country it's named after, and is really popular there as well. Into this class falls that shining example of sugary goodness, the Belgian waffle — known to French-speakers on its home turf as the gaufre or gauffre, and to Flemish- / Vlaamse-speakers as the wafel, waffel or suikerwaffel. There are many regional varieties, but two specific kinds, made very differently, are the best known

The one most North Americans know as a breakfast or dessert dish is the Brussels waffle or gaufre de Bruxelles. The other is the Liège waffle or gaufre de Liège, named after that city and also known in Flemish as the Luikse wafel and in German as the Lütticher waffeln.

Neither of these seem to be thought of in Belgium as a breakfast or brunch dish. Where the waffle really shines on its home turf is as street food — something you buy from a bakery or street stand, and eat out of hand, hot. (There is so much of this going on that there are lots of places, especially in the big cities, where you'll see signs like the one on the right, begging people not to bring waffles into shops or stand around eating them out in front and blocking the view through the windows.)

Click on the tabs below to see recipes and techniques for the two main kinds of waffles.

Francophones: To our great delight, the lovely page of Belgian regional waffle varieties such as the gaufre de Flamande, gaufre de Herve, gaufre de Verviers, gaufre de Perron, etc, which seemed to have gone offline in the wake of Belgacom losing the "users.swing.be" domain, has been updated and moved to GaufresBelges.com. We hope in the near future to translate some of these recipes into English and offer them here.

Meanwhile we also have a simple French-language list of recipes for Belgian regional waffles here.

Brussels Waffles

The waffle that most North Americans would think of as a Belgian waffle is known in Belgium as gaufre de Bruxelles, "the Brussels waffle". General Belgian affection for it is sufficiently great that this waffle was chosen as one of the Belgian national "birthday cakes" for the European Union's fiftieth birthday celebrations.

The Brussels waffle is based on a batter raised with yeast — as opposed to most North American waffle or pancake batters, which are raised with baking powder. And this is where many North American attempts at the Brussels/Belgian waffle fall down: the yeast raising changes the chemistry of the batter, producing a tenderer crumb in the finished waffle than a baking-powder raising can.

Gaufre de Bruxelles: Brussels-style waffle

The yeast and the beaten egg whites which are folded into the batter work together to produce a light crisp waffle. The Brussels waffle is rectangular and usually about an inch thick, with fairly deep "dimples". When you buy it on the street or in a shop in Belgium, it usually comes dusted with a little confectioners' sugar / icing sugar, and maybe spread with chocolate or thick whipped cream. But you can also get it piled high with fruit and other goodies.

To make the gauffre de Bruxelles / Brussels waffle, you need:

(smaller version of the ingredients: the original ones, halved)

• 500 g / scant 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 30 g / one package of fast-acting yeast
• 15 g / 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 625 ml / 22 fluid ounces / 2 3/4 cups lukewarm water (use tepid sparkling water if possible)
• 125g / 1 cup powdered nonfat dry milk (US "Carnation", UK "Marvel")
• 5 g / 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 small packet vanilla sugar (Dr. Oetker or similar): about 2 teaspoons if you do your own vanilla sugar
• 200-250g / 1 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
• 3 to 4 egg whites, beaten to the stiff-peak stage

For the waffle batter:

Put the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the flour: add the yeast and 125 ml / about half a cup of the lukewarm water.

Add the brown sugar, powdered milk, the vanilla extract or vanilla sugar, and the remainder of the water. Mix the dough well: allow to rise for at least 20 minutes – 1/2 hour. During this period, melt the butter. Allow to cool to lukewarm.

Add the melted butter: mix well. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks,: fold carefully into the batter mixture until evenly mixed through.

Heat a large waffle iron. Spread each section with the batter, close and bake until done.

Serve dusted with comfectioners' / icing sugar, or topped with whipped cream and fruit, or with melted chocolate or Nutella.

 

Liège waffles

The Liège waffle, named after that city, is also known as the Luikse wafel in Vlaamse and as Lütticher waffel in German. It's oblong, more or less oval-shaped, a thinner and smaller waffle than the Brussels waffle. But it's also more substantial, based more on a dough than a batter, and has a significant crunch due to the small nuggets of parelsuiker or "pearl sugar" that are added to the dough just before baking. These bits of sugar melt when being baked on the waffle iron and caramelize, producing a sugary crust like what's found on top of a creme brulée.

Please note that pearl sugar isn't that easy to find. Some stores that specialize in cakemaking and other confectionery carry it, and there are some online sources, such as the King Arthur Flour website, as well as this source and this one. (Minneapolis readers: you can get it at Maid of Scandinavia, 3244 Raleigh Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55415-2299. 800.328.6722.) EBay users: this search will help you see where pearl sugar is available at eBay. If you're in Europe, you can get pearl sugar directly from the Belgian online chocolate-candy-and-food-specialties store Smart-Shoponline.

To make the gaufre de Liège / Liège waffle, you need:

• 420 grams flour
• 7 grams salt (about a half teaspoon)
• 25 grams granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 50 grams yeast / one package fast-acting yeast
• 300 grams butter
• Around 20 centiliters cold water (preferably sparkling water)
• 270 grams pearl sugar
• Vanilla or other spicery to your taste

Allow eggs and sparkling water to come up to room temperature first.

Sift the flour into a bowl: make a well in the middle.

Melt the butter over hot water or in the microwave. Allow to cool to lukewarm. Beat the eggs well: add the butter and the yeast: mix well. Add the water and mix again.

Add to the flour along with the granulated sugar and vanilla or other seasoning (cinnamon works well).

Beat the dough for at least ten minutes. It will probably be sticky and difficult to work with. This is normal.

After this beating, allow to stand and rise in a warm place for 15-30 minutes. 5 to 10 minutes before baking, add the pearl sugar.

Heat the waffle iron. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto each quarter or section of the waffle iron. Bake until well browned.

Serve hot off the iron, dusted with confectioner's sugar, or top with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

 

 

Waffle iron hints

Waffle irons that will turn out waffles in the style of the Brussels waffle are fairly easy to find, as in North America and some parts of Europe the Brussels waffle is what most people think of when they think about Belgian waffles.

However, if you're interested in sourcing a waffle maker / waffle iron that will turn out Liège waffles, you probably have your work cut out for you, as most machines to be found on the Web seem to be high-priced commercial models like these. Try searching for Belgian household machines under the name "Luikse wafel ijzer" (the Vlaamse / Flemish word for waffle iron or waffle maker is wafel ijzer or wafelijzer), and also search using brand names like Nova, Petra, Krups, Cuisinart, Frifri, Bestron, Domo, Tristar, Efbe-Schott, and Severin. Try to find pictures of the waffle iron that show the typical Liège plate, which produces two oblong waffles rather than any combination of square ones. And good luck!

…Frifri, the maker of our own waffle iron (seen above, first closed and then open with the Brussels waffle plates fitted) unfortunately appears to have scaled back production and is now only producing a limited semiprofessional line (see the manufacturer's page here.) We're looking for a replacement line, and will add links here when we find them.

One possible candidate, if you're looking for a waffle iron with multiple snao-in plates, somes from a company called Lagrange. See this Amazon.fr search for one of their models. If you scroll down to the "Other people bought…" section, you'll see more of the available plates.

ETA:  The Keukenlust online cookware store is another place to check. The search term "gaufrier" may be useful.

The history of nettle soup in Ireland goes back a long way. Various hermits and hermit-saints were reportedly very fond of it, and there's even a legend about one of them who got snarky with his cook when he found the man was ruining the (theoretically) strict asceticism of the saint's nettles-only diet by sneaking oatmeal into the soup.

More recently — say in the last few centuries or so — nettle soup has acquired a reputation as a spring tonic and/or detox agent. Leaving aside the nettle's curative properties, it is known to contain significant amounts of iron, for a vegetable… possibly a good thing for people who've had (as the Irish have occasionally had in the past) a long winter without much meat in their diets.

This nettle soup is easy to make, relatively quick, and absolutely delicious. One warning — probably unnecessary if you've ever run into a nettle with your bare skin: make sure to wear rubber gloves or other protective handwear when picking nettles. Also please note that, if nettles aren't yet coming into season where you live, you can easily substitute spinach in this recipe.

The recipe:

• 1 large onion
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 liters / quarts water
• 1 chicken stock / bouillon cube
• 3-4 medium potatoes (bakers, not waxy / salad potatoes)
• Approximately 350 grams / 12 ounces of nettle tops (about a large colander full)

Peel and chop the onion: in a large pot, sauté it in the butter until transparent. Add the water and stock cube, and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Meanwhile, peel and cube the potatoes. Put them into the pot and allow them to cook for about twenty minutes.

Meanwhile — if you haven't already done so — go out and pick your nettles. Make sure to pick only the tender young tips of the nettle plant — the first inch or two of new growth: older growth is bitter-tasting. Put them into a colander and rinse them well (still wearing gloves!!) in cold water. Shake them to get rid of excess water, and dump them into the soup. The simmering process will kill the nettle leaves' sting and make them safe.

You don't need to cook them very long: if you do, you'll ruin this dish, as you want to keep the maximum amount of the nettles' vitamins in place. Five minutes in the boiling stock/potato/onion mixture is plenty. The nettles will turn a vivid green as they cook.

After five minutes, remove the pot from the heat. Use a stick mixer (or other blender / liquidizer) to liquefy the soup. When serving, dish it out and add a swirl of double cream, creme fraiche, or (if you prefer an even lower-fat alternative) yogurt. Or, if you prefer, garnish with croutons or snipped chives.