Cuisine of My Ancestors: Irish

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Native American

My Irish ancestry first inserts itself into my family tree in the mid-1800s. At the time of last year's Irish Christmas Carol post, I knew very little about my 3rd great-grandfather. I knew his name, birth and death dates, and that he migrated from Ireland to Nova Scotia where he settled, married, and raised a family. Since then, I had a chance to spent an afternoon at the public library, where I could access Ancestry.com for free as a library patron. 

I learned a lot! I learned that he was born in 1801, and christened that same year in Magheralin, County Down, Northern Ireland. I know he shows up on a census 20 years later in County Offaly in central Ireland. I know he emigrated from Ireland around 1825. I know he married after he settled in Nova Scotia, Canada. His first son (my great-great grandfather) was born there in 1835.

The meal I made is traditional Irish fare. If you saw my St. Patrick's Day post, then these pictures and recipes will look familiar because this was one of my earliest meals for this project. 

Menu

Colcannon

Bangers

Irish Soda Bread

Guinness Stout

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

Irish Coffee

Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of creamy mashed potatoes with cabbage.

• 4 lbs russet potatoes
• 1 small head of green cabbage or kale
• 1 cup milk (or cream)
• 1/4 stick butter, divided into thirds
• salt and pepper to taste

Peel potatoes and put them in a pot to boil. 

Remove the cabbage core, slice the leaves thinly, and put into a large saucepan. Cover with boiling water and keep at a slow rolling boil until the cabbage is just wilted, not overcooked. Drain and return to the pan, melting in one of the parts of butter. Leave covered in a warm place. 

When the potatoes are soft, drain and return them to the saucepan. On low, let any excess moisture  evaporate. Heat the milk and another section of butter in a small saucepan until melted. Add to the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Add the cabbage, stir to mix, and serve.

Recipe Notes:

• I halved the recipe and we still had leftovers.
• Next time, I'll try it with kale, which grows better for me than cabbage.

Bangers

Bangers are sausages. But since genuine Irish sausages are something I can't find here, I substituted Bratwurst for them. Not as authentic, but definitely delicious with the colcannon. Mine were raw, so I browned them on both sides for about 5 minutes, and then poured half-a-cup of water to the pan, covered, and simmered till done, about 15 minutes.

Irish Brown Bread

You've probably heard of Irish Soda Bread. Irish Brown Bread is a variation using whole wheat flour. There are tons of recipes for it out there, with tons of variations. I wanted one as close to traditional as possible, and finally settled on this one from Secret Ireland. I also found a lot of good information there, such as the traditional recipe of old uses only four ingredients. Oatmeal, seeds, raisins, sweetener, etc., are all modern additions.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread Recipe

• 4 cups flour (mix of wheat and white as desired)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1¾ cups buttermilk 

Mix until ingredients are combined (over kneading will toughen the dough). Shape into a round, score a cross on top, and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 35-40 minutes. For a soft crust, wrap the hot bread in a tea towel while it cools.

Recipe Notes:

• I was surprised at how much it rose. The texture was nice. Denser than biscuits, but good flavored.
• I used 50/50 whole wheat flour to white because that's the combination Dan likes.
• I didn't have buttermilk, so I used kefir instead.
• Next time I would increase the salt. For bread, I typically use 1/2 teaspoon salt per cup of flour. 
• The trick of covering the loaf with a towel worked, and helped keep the crust soft. 
• It's a quick but lovely rustic bread

I later experimented with this recipe to try some variations. You can read about those here.

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

I found quite a few versions of this online, so mine is a blend of the ones that had ingredient amounts I liked.

Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp of each ground ginger, nutmeg, & allspice
• 3/4 cup soft butter 
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 lbs baking apples 
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Peel, core, and slice apples. Toss with 1 tablespoon sugar and set aside. Cream butter and 1 cup sugar. Add eggs and blend. Mix dry ingredients and add to egg mixture along with milk and vanilla. Fold in apples and pour into greased and floured baking pan. Mix remaining tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Bake at 350°F (180°C) in a 9-inch springform pan for 40 to 45 minutes. 

Custard sauce

• 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 cup whole milk
• 3⁄4 cup heavy cream
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla 

In a bowl, whisk together sugar and egg yolks. Set aside. In a saucepan, mix together the milk, cream, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until milk begins to steam. S-l-o-w-l-y dribble the heated milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking continually to prevent curdling. Pour back into saucepan and heat until thick, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Stir in vanilla. 

At this point, the recipes say to strain the sauce, but I ran it through my blender, poured into a jar and refrigerated. 

The cake can be eaten warm or cool, with custard sauce poured over.

Recipe notes

• For the baking powder, I used 2 teaspoons cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
• I didn't have a springform pan, so I used a 9-inch regular cake pan. The batter spilled over the sides of the pan while baking! The recipe is excellent, so a springform pan will be a must before I make it again.
• More apples would be nice.
• Next time I'll omit the sugar/cinnamon topping. It made it too much like coffee cake. 

Irish Coffee

• 4 oz freshly brewed coffee
• 1.5-2 oz Irish whiskey (1 ounce = 2 tbsp)
• 1-2 tsp sugar
• 2-3 tbsp thick cream

Brew strong dark roast coffee and lightly whip fresh cream until slightly thickened. Pour hot coffee into the glass, add sugar and whiskey, and stir to dissolve. Pour cream over the back of a spoon into the cup to create a floating layer. Don't stir. Sip through the layer of cream to enjoy.

Recipe notes

• I only added 1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) of the Irish whiskey per cup of coffee, which made it more like a flavoring.

To close, here's the Irish link from last year's holiday blog series:

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Irish 

Coming next, our German meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Irish © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com