Top Irish pub dishes

There are a few dishes that every Irish pub will have to delight your culinary senses. Irish stew and Shepherd’s Pie top the list. Every good American “Irish pub” will serve these dishes as well. If you don’t find them on the menu, immediately get up and leave, as you have entered into a nouveau riche pretender, unworthy of your palate. Let me explain Irish food. Today, it is outstanding. The Irish have a fishing industry as good as they come, but also have some of the best beef and lamb in the world, due to the temperate climate of the isle. The Gulf Stream comes up the west side of the island and loops back south when it hits the Arctic Ocean, creating a huge buffer that warms Ireland, keeping its climate from being like a Scandinavian country. So Ireland has some of the best and freshest food in the world. Only now has the industry been allowed to grow and prosper, since the end of the British occupation of the homeland. Britain tried to infect Ireland with their food choices, but I don’t care how good the stuffing is, if it’s wrapped in a sheep’s bladder, I’ll pass. Fortunately, Ireland is now notable for its incredible cuisine, and fine Irish restaurants don’t necessarily serve the traditional Shepherd’s Pie and Irish Stew. But a pub? It better, or it isn’t worthy of your time.

The genesis of both of these dishes is the plight of the Irish under 800 years of British rule. The potato both promoted an expanding Ireland population and nearly decimated the Irish people. With a small plot of land, an Irishman could grow enough root vegetables to survive from one potato harvest to the next. These dishes, or just plain potatoes, were the daily diet of millions of Irish. Once the potatoes failed due to the blight, the Irish perished in astonishing numbers. 

Irish Stew traditionally is made with lamb (or mutton) and seasonal vegetables and, of course, potatoes. England renamed it “Cottage Pie” (or brown stew) which is made with beef that is cubed, coated in flour, and then seared on the outside until the meat is brown, plus seasonal veggies and potatoes. A pint of Guinness is the ingredient that makes the dish “Irish!” If you took your home recipe for stew and added a can of Guinness, you’d be having Irish Stew. 

The dish that my kids love the most is Shepherd’s Pie. Called “pióg an aoire” in Irish (Gaelic). My wife calls it Hobo Pie because her family was Deep South. Hobo Pie does not have a beer component, however. When we all get together, I know what the kids want for dinner. So I’ll pull out a deep roasting pan and start cooking. It always gets eaten, and I always get compliments.

To see my recipes for Shepherd’s Pie and Irish Stew, go to my website, www.kellyrburke.com or Facebook page. 

Hometown Hero: This week my heroes are doctors. We have some great doctors here, but Surgical Associates has to be the oldest operating surgical firm in town. Dr. Kent McBride and I have been friends going back 30 years. Dr. V.W. McEver passed years ago, but he was the first doctor to cut me open. His son, also a surgeon, Gil McEver, is retired from the firm, but Doctors Sylvie Harrington, Michael Hellwege and Kerry Rogers all work with Dr. McBride to provide excellent medical care, especially in the era of controversyvirus, also known as COVID-19. The entire staff is as pleasant and helpful as they can be, but if you know the doctors, you know they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kelly Burke, master attorney, former district attorney and magistrate judge, is engaged in private practice. He writes about the law, rock ’n’ roll and politics or anything that strikes him. These articles are not designed to give legal advice, but are designed to inform the public about how the law affects their daily lives. Contact Kelly at kelly@burkelasseterllc.com to comment on this article or suggest articles that you’d like to see, and visit his website www.kellyrburke.com to view prior columns.   

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