Fine irish Eating

Mention Irish cooking and most will think of gallons of beer and fatty lamb stew.Yet  Celtic cooking is actually very refined.It's full of fresh ingredients, coming directly from the sea and streams that lace through it and the farms that dot it.It is a diet , that's actually quite's elegant.

Most Irish start the day off with a hearty bowl of steel cut oats. These are different than regular oats because the whole grain or groat is used.They also healthier too, preventing such diseases as high blood pressure, heart disease and obesity. For a lusher, tastier first meal the Irish love to fry up slabs of Irish bacon, a cross between American and Canadian bacon, blood sausages and black and white pudding. This last is a marriage of oatmeal sausage or white and blood pudding, usually a sausage created from pork fat, ground beef and pork blood. Eggs are added as are vegetables such as tomatoes and mushrooms to round it out.The British aren't the only ones who serve high tea. The modern Celts are fond of the practice and many Dublin hotels offer it.The Irish have tea three times a day, the first at eleven AM, then at three PM for afternoon and six PM for high tea. Teabreads and scones along with fine jams and lemon curds are also served.

Irish dinners reflect both the sea and land. Fine dining in the Emerald Isle can feature the catch of the day. Salmon is abundant here and dinners may include the fish with leeks or made into elegant croquettes served with a cream sauce, Mackeral is another fish , popular in dining rooms.It's cooked a variety of ways, some involving local ingredients such as leek and rhubarb There is also the wildly decadent Ballymaloe Hot Buttered Lobster where the shellfish is served with a wine laced butter sauce and herbs such as parsley,watercress and fennel .Lamb and mutton are other staples , long used in Gaelic cookery. Crusty lamb shoulder is popular, as it is wrapped in a combination of breadcrumbs, pinched herbs and butter. The Irish make a rack of lamb fit for a Celtic king, with three sauces : mint chutney, onion sauce and red current sauce. This newest generation of Irish chefs are discovering a country classic, dulse seaweed that fed many of the  Irish during the Potato Famine of 1840.It's now a ubiquitous ingredient in many upscale restaurants in Dublin and Cork. Meals are finished with fruits and cheeses , products of local farms.

Irish cooking is full of lavish and rich ingredients and flavors. The Irish create magical and amazing dishes from these ad turn them into unique and elegant dishes .It is the food of kings  = Celtic ones.

Butler's The New Best Chococlate

The other day I wrote about Butler's Chocolates as one of the new things to watch on the foodie scene. It is an amazing shop, different from Godiva yet similar in some ways. It's also a great place to stop in for a coffee or an ice cream.

Butler's originated in Dublin in 1932 on small little street called Lad Lane. Marion bailey was an expert chocolate maker and began to sell her creations in the small sweet shop, Like today's recipes she used only the best Irish butter, imported chocolate and fresh fruit san d nuts. later in 1959, Seamus Sorenson bought it from her yet still kept the original headquarters in Lad Lane. over th e last fifty years it expanded its facilities moving from the original area to Pearse Street then eventually opening a factory in Clonshaugh Dublin,. They went first to New Zealand and then to , of all places, my local mall in Northern New Jersey. I'm glad they did though.

Butler's has become my new favorite candy. I love the dark bitter chocolate bars filled with praline and whole almonds as well as their "gift" chocolates, a free bonbon when you ordered coffee. It's has a smooth caramel center, and a creamy, milky chocolate exterior. I can't wait to go tonight to buy their fudge and brittle. The iced mocha lattes are the best, having the consistency of a rich chocolate milk shake. it;'s a quick pick me up when you're bargain shopping.I''m also in live with their Grand Marnier mousse cake , a perfect round or orange liqueur flavored mousse on top of a moist chocolate cake round.

Be lucky if you live in the Bergen County region of New Jersey . You;re only a stone's throw away from some of the best candy in the world. If not , then take a trip to Dublin to experience this amazing chocolates or visit their web site.