Food Tour From My Own Home: British and Irish

Erika Lewis

 

For this month I was only able to do two dinners from different cultures. I went with authentic British food and authentic Irish food. Although I was only able to do two they were very fun to make and I enjoyed eating them. 

British: Fish n’ Chips

So naturally I wanted to try to do something that is mostly associated with London and british people and the thing that came to mind was fish n’ chips. Something I quickly found while looking for recipes was that recipes for this normally call for the fish to be soaked in beer. Since my parents don’t drink and I also have a few siblings we couldn’t do that so I either had to find a recipe that didn’t call for beer or I would have to find a substitute for it. I ended up finding a recipe that didn’t call for beer. After we had the recipe we got to work preparing the food. We got some fish and breaded it before popping it in our toaster oven to cook. While the fish was cooking we got to work on the chips also known as french fries here in America. We didn’t have time to make them from scratch but the point was getting the “chips” cooked. 

The next step after cooking is eating and so that is what we eagerly did. The dish itself was pretty good but was plain compared to what I had prepared last month. I did enjoy it despite that but probably won’t be adding the recipe to my own personal cookbook. I would definitely recommend it if you are a big fan of british food and I was glad I had the opportunity to make it. I also had a picture with this but unfortunately lost it. 

Ireland: Irish Coddled Pork With Cider

The next culture I decided to take a meal from was Irish. I did this for Saint Patrick’s day because I figured it made sense. When searching for recipes something I quickly found was the Irish really like their whiskey. Almost every single recipe I found had whiskey as part of the dish. I was especially surprised to find that they have a coffee where it is half coffee and half whiskey. However that was not the dish that I went with. Instead I found a dish called “Coddled Pork With Cider”. This, much like the Fish n’ chips was extremely simple. All we had to do was cook some pork and make a stew-like thing. This dish had quite a bit of potatoes and cabbage. While cooking we had to let it sit for a bit longer than we thought so the meat could cook completely and so that stuff in the stew could become softer. 

Finally the dish was finished and I got a chance to taste it. The pork was probably my favorite part although I also enjoyed the stew. I enjoyed the cabbage and other vegetables/starches. This was also my first time trying something called “swede” which is basically Rutabaga. I found it to actually be very delicious and was glad to try it. Much like the Fish n’ Chips this dish wasn’t as flavorful as the food from last month and I was kind of disappointed by its blandness. Despite that I still enjoyed making and trying the dish as well as celebrating the Irish to a much larger extent than normal. 

 

Overall this month was not nearly as flavorful as last month but it was still a very fun experience and I learned something new. Also, like I said last month, I definitely recommend that you try one to all of these recipes and I can promise you that they will be delicious!