One Last Post for Saint Patrick's Day (Maybe)

Saint Patrick’s Day might have been yesterday, but I found no need to stop doing Irish-inspired posts.  This might be the last for a bit or I’ll have one more this week, we’ll see.  In any case, this post goes off the topic of food and instead has to do with music.  

 As far as Irish music goes, I can be a bit of a traditionalist snob.  I’ll admit that right off the bat.  I’m not one for the Celtic Woman / Celtic Thunder type stage shows and things like that.  (Just because a song is sung with an Irish accent does not an Irish song make it.  Oh, and songs from the movie Titanic are not Irish either.)  Of course music groups have to perform, so they do have to be on stage.  However, I’m a firm believer that the best venues for traditional Irish music are in the pubs.  It’s raw, real performing with feeling – how traditional Irish music (or trad) was meant to be done.

Maybe it’s worth mentioning too that I almost only listen to Irish music anymore.  I began listening to Flogging Molly and then migrated to the more traditional stuff.  That’s where I’ve settled and now many songs cycle through my head throughout the day.  (I’ll also sing them or whistle the melodies as well when no one else is around.)  It also doesn’t help that Joan bought me a bodhran (the traditional Irish drum) for Christmas which I often play along with whatever Irish music is playing through my iTunes.

With that in mind, I’ve made a set of music from tunes I found on YouTube – you know, so you my reader can keep celebrating Ireland beyond St. Patrick’s Day.  While this list in no way hits all of my favorite tunes or is even a list of my top favorites, I think it touches on a variety of song styles as well as hits some of my personal favorite groups and solo artists. 

The Rising of the Moon – The Dubliners

So ok, if I had to pick a favorite group The Dubliners would win easily.  This song as well would be up there as well, as it’s the one that’s in my head most often.  As the notes for this video state, this song is about the 1798 Irish Rebellion.  Wiki has an article on the song as well as the rebellion of course too.

Oro Se Do Bheatha Bhaile – the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

While the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem started performing in the 1960s like the Dubliners and also sang traditional Irish music, the two groups couldn’t be more different.  The Clancys and Tommy Makem were clean cut and always decked out in white Aran knit sweaters.  This probably helped them gain popularity in America during the 60s with clean cut manly image being in.  The Dubliners were definitely rougher looking being all bearded, and also had a rougher quality of song style.  It’s natural I suppose then that I like the realness of the Dubliners.  Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers I find too oldie music sing-songy (i.e. Peter, Paul and Mary) for my tastes.  However, I couldn’t pass up this clip when I found it.  From 1962, it’s the Clancy Brothers singing in traditional Irish Gaelic, in their trademark sweaters, and apparently in some pub in Chicago.

Rocky Road to Dublin – The High Kings

The High Kings are about as much of a stage / theatrical music group that I can handle.  When they’re more casual I like them, but if they play it up too much (they’re produced by the same folks who do Celtic Woman) I start cringing.  The do some ballad type songs but it’s the fast tunes that I enjoy most.  

Star of the County Down – The High Kings

Again not much of a video here but for both this and the previous High Kings tune, but I thought these both had the best performance quality in the respective songs.  

Peggy Gordon – The Dubliners

Here is a classic ballad of unidirectional love from the Dubliners.  This is one of my favorite ballads and probably the one I sing most often.

Dirty Old Town – The Pogues

The popular Irish rock bands of today – Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, The Young Dubliners (and many more) – all would have The Pogues listed as a musical influence.  Most popular in the 1980s, The Pogues mixed the punk rock of the time with the trad music they grew up with.  This song is much mellower than most of their music, but it is hands down my favorite from them.  Extra bonus is that it’s actually a music video too, the only on this list. 

Oh and if you’re wondering, the band’s name comes from the Irish Gaelic phrase “pog mo thoin” meaning “kiss my arse.”

Eoin Duignan

There were some shots of the Irish uilleann pipes during the instrumental section in the middle of The Pogues "Dirty Old Town," but this video is all uilleann pipes from beginning to end.  While you may see bagpipes sometimes played in Irish/Celtic tunes, those are traditionally Scottish while the uilleann pipes are Irish.  While the air bladder of the bagpipes is filled by blown air from your mouth, the uilleann pipes are filled with the pumping of a bellows with your arm or elbow ("uilleann" being Irish Gaelic for "elbow").  I don’t know the title of this song (or two songs as he switches partially through), but I thought this was a good video since it really showed the pipes in action.

During our Ireland trip, Joan and I spent a few days in the town of Dingle in County Kerry.  We were lucky enough to hear Eoin Duignan play the uilleann pipes both in the pub and at a trad concert in the town’s St. James’ Church (where this YouTube video is also filmed).  Besides laying down the tunes, Mr. Duignan had a few anecdotes about the uilleann pipes.  First he joked about how the uilleann pipes came to be.  He said that a long time ago an Irishman saw a Scotsman playing the bagpipes and thought it would be a lot easier if you could play while sitting down.  The Irishman thought a bit further and also decided that the pipes should be filled with air by a bellows, leaving the mouth free to take a drink of beer while one was holding a long note.  His second bit of comedy was to tell us that if it looks like he’s in pain while he’s playing, he’s actually just fine.  It just takes that much concentration to play the unwieldy instrument.

As a last note, if you are lucky enough to ever find yourself in Dingle and listening to Mr. Duignan’s uilleann piping, make sure you compliment him on his instrument.  You’ll remember it in your dreams fondly.  (That’s a bit of an inside joke.)

The Voice Squad – Banks of the Bann

This group is on my wishlist for music to buy, but I for the meantime I enjoy listening to them via YouTube.  Multiple-part harmonies are not usually sung in Irish trad tunes, as the melody is the driving force.  However, The Voice Squad does three-part so well.  The other great thing is that they sing these lovely ballads where?  Well in a pub of course!  (You have to love the shot overlooking the bar’s pull handles at the 1:10 mark.)

Do You Love an Apple? – Bothy Band

I don’t have a reason for this, but my Irish music library has very few female vocalists.  Maybe I just shy away because a lot of the popular Celtic female sing tends toward the Celtic Woman / Enya, overly ethereal type of singing.  However, I love the voice of Tríona Ní Dhomhnail from the Bothy Band in this piece and this is most definitely one of my favorite ballads.  

The Kesh Jig / etc – Bothy Band

To put it bluntly, if this smattering of songs doesn’t get your toes tapping, then you must be dead.  The first melody is one most likely one of the most popular jigs and is indeed probably my favorite as well.  Secondly, flautist Matt Malloy really plays the heck out of his flute at the 3:08 mark.  It’s impressively fast flute playing.  No wonder that after the Bothy Band Malloy also was a member of Planxty and is also part of The Chieftains.  Plus he’s also the owner of a pub in Westport, County Mayo.

Willie McBride – Mick Lavelle

While undoubtedly many people visit Matt Malloy’s pub because of Malloy’s ownership, just as many people over the years visited the pub to see and hear one of its regulars – Mick Lavelle.  A classic man of Ireland in every right, Lavelle entertained with his jokes, stories, and songs.  We were lucky enough to see him entertain on our Irish vacation and I’ll not ever forget it.  Lavelle just exuded that energy that those special entertainers have.  I guess to sum it up – Lavelle just loved people and loved performing.  Sadly, Mick Lavelle passed away this past January.  I wish I could have seen him more than just that hour or so that I did this past summer.  While Westport will not be the same without Mick Lavelle, I think we can assume that he’s still entertaining the masses in heaven.  (If you want you can read more about Mick Lavelle go here, here, and here.)

The song in this clip was one of Mick’s go-tos.  The original tune is a nice song (which you can listen to here), but I gather that it gets overplayed and over-requested in Ireland (much like EVERYBODY seems to want to hear Danny Boy in the States).  Basically this is a spoof of the original, making fun of the song and the obnoxious drunk that seems to always request it.

Whiskey on a Sunday – The Dubliners

To finish off this list, I go back to that gravelly voice of The Dubliners’ Ronnie Drew croon out this Irish classic.  There isn’t an Irish song that makes me pine for Ireland more.  I can just imagine a pub full of people, pint in hand, swaying to the melody, and all joining in on the chorus.  Scenes like that just cannot be replicated here.  You go to a bar in America to drink, but you go to a pub in Ireland for entertainment.

And there you go.  I really just wrote up this song list for the fun of it, but I hope this introduces some reader out there to a new song, a new artist/group, or even to traditional Irish music.

Recipe: Dingle Pies

Continuing the theme for Saint Patrick’s Day inspired dishes, I bring you a favorite recipe of this household – Dingle Pies.  Whereas the Potato Cakes from my last post are more of a side for dinner or breakfast, these Dingle pies are definitely a main course for a lunch or dinner.  Typically when we have these for dinner, we just have one (or two if we go back for seconds) with a side of veg or a side salad.

…and a nice side of stout as well.

While Joan and I were actually in Dingle for a few days this past summer on our Ireland trip, we didn’t get this recipe while we were there, nor did we even consume a Dingle pie there.  (We think we remember seeing it on a menu though.)  The recipe again comes from our go-to Irish cookbook, Irish Food and Cooking, but I’ve of course made a few tweaks to the recipe for simplicity sake.  The original recipe calls for a boneless piece of mutton or lamb that you then dice into pieces.  While that is more traditionally Irish, we always have local grass fed ground beef on hand so have always used that.  After making this recipe multiple times now, I think any red meat (or even turkey) would work well.  I also tend to think that while the ground beef is sometimes difficult to mix with the diced vegetables, it’s stickier texture as compared to diced meat helps hold the filling together when constructing the pies. 

The biggest change I’ve made to the recipe is that instead of making your own pastry dough, I just use ready-made pie dough.  It’s so easy to just unroll each sheet and cut out the top and bottom crusts for the pies.  Of course you’ll have to gather up the unused scraps, roll out the dough, and cut out crusts again but that’s pretty easy.  Oh, one other thing to make it easier.  The recipe (mine and the original) calls for 6 inch diameter bottom crust pieces and a 4 inch diameter top crust pieces.  Before you start the recipe, search around your kitchen for bowls, plates, and so forth that have 4 and 6 inch diameters.  That way you have templates for cutting the crust pieces out.  In our kitchen, the top of a small ramekin is the 4 inch template, while a teacup saucer is the 6 inch.

Recipe:

1 medium large potato, diced (i.e. a normally sized Russet, or large Yukon Gold)

1 large onion diced (white or yellow onion)

2 carrots, diced (and peeled if preferred)

2 celery sticks, diced

1 pound ground meat

2 packages ready-made pie dough (the rolled-up variety)

1 egg, beaten

1) Dice up the vegetables and place in a large bowl.  Add the ground meat and combine well.  Set aside.

2) Unroll the pie dough and cut out the top and bottom crust pieces.  The bottom crusts should be roughly 6 inches in diameter, with the top crusts being a diameter of 4 inches.  (Hint: Out of the ready-made crusts, I’ve found I can get 1 larger top crust and 2 smaller bottom crusts.) Gather and re-roll the pastry dough as needed.  You should be able to get enough crust pieces for 9 full pies (that’s 9 bottoms and 9 tops of course). 

3) Lay out the bottom crust pieces onto baking sheets.  Divide the meat and vegetable filling amongst the bottom crusts, piling a handful of the filling into the middle of each round.  Do not overfill.  (You almost definitely will have extra filling.)

4) Lay the smaller top crust pieces on top of the filling.  Dampen the edges of each bottom pastry piece with water and stretch it up around the filling, pinching and crimping them onto the edges of the top pastry round.

5) With a paring knife, make a small slit on the top of each pie to let out steam.

6) Brush the top of each pie with the beaten egg.

7) Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 1 hour.  (Note: If you are doing two sheets of pies, rotate and switch the two baking sheets halfway through baking.)

We last made these a few weeks ago, but this is most likely what we’ll be making for St. Paddy’s Day this Sunday (probably with the aforementioned side salad and some sticky toffee pudding for dessert).  If Joan and I made Dingle pies every week though, neither of us would complain.  First they’re a great main course, easily served with a small side salad or vegetables.  The other great thing with Dingle Pies is that you have ready to go meals.  It’s easy to just grab one for lunch or as an easy weeknight dinner.  Just reheat in the microwave or in the oven. 

Oh, right.  I almost forgot – that extra meat & veg pie filling.  As I said, you are bound to have extra.  It always happens to us no matter what we do.  You may be thinking, “What do I do with extra raw Dingle pie filling?”  Easy, make breakfast hash.  It’s not your normal hash mixture but fry it up in a frying pan, add some herbs and spices, and serve it up with fried eggs and toast.  It works.  Trust me.  Don’t like hash?  I’m sure there is a male nearby who does.  (I don’t mean that in a sexist way.  I just don’t know many men who don’t like a good breakfast hash.)

Recipe: Potato Cakes

With Saint Patrick’s Day just a few weeks away now, I thought it time to start posting some Irish recipes.  St. Pat’s falls on a Sunday this year, so you might as well plan ahead now and make a whole day of Irish inspired meals.  I’ll give you some helpful suggestions for that anyway.

A few weeks ago, I took my first crack at making potato cakes.  Although mentioned on a few breakfast menus during our Ireland trip, Joan and I first had potato cakes in Portrush, Northern Ireland.  Essentially, potato cakes are just a fried cake like pancakes but smaller.  They also consist mainly of two things – potato and flour.  Luckily that makes them really make.  Usually they’re served for breakfast, but in this household we often have “breakfast for dinner,” so we had them for a weeknight meal, paired with cheesy scrambled eggs.  Well I guess I had them for breakfast too, having the leftover potato cakes the next morning with a huge helping of my family’s oatmeal sausage, two fried eggs, and toast.  (Yeah, I didn’t eat lunch later that day.)

This recipe is taken directly from Irish Food and Cooking, our go-to Irish cookbook.  However, even after only making this recipe once, I’m just going to wing it next time.  It’s that easy, with precise measuring not really needed.

Recipe:

1 1/2 lbs. boiling potatoes, peeled

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Salt

1) Boil the potatoes in a large pan until tender.  Drain well and then mash.  Salt well (or to your personal preference), mix in the butter, and allow to cool (enough that you can handle the mash for kneading into a dough).

2) Turn out the mashed potatoes onto a floured work surface and knead in enough flour to make pliable dough.  More or less flour will be needed depending on the moisture in the potatoes.  Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 - 1/2 inch (your personal preference) and cut into triangles.  

3) Heat a griddle or heavy frying pan over medium-low heat.  Cook the potato cakes for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

Like pancakes are other griddle cakes, you can top potato cakes with maple syrup.  Honey also makes a nice sweet topping.  Like many things potato, my wife liked them with ketchup.  Although I stick my nose up to the ketchup idea, we did agree that next time a topping with some kick would be a good addition, like spicy pepper chutney.  

It’s also worth mentioning that the above recipe is just for a starter recipe for basic potato cakes.  Don’t have that many potatoes or have more potatoes?  Use whatever you have and just add as much flour as needed to make a dough.  Have leftover mashed potatoes from last night’s dinner.  By all means, use those too.  

You can also play around with the recipe and add other ingredients to make the cakes into a more sweet or into a more savory dish.  I very easily could see chives and onion added to the cakes to make a savory side for dinner.  For sweet, maybe add apple or applesauce to the dough?  I dunno, my head is having a hard time pairing a fruit with potato…

In any case, I encourage you to try these potato cakes.  They’re a fun different breakfast/lunch/dinner idea, and especially nice if you have some leftover mashed potatoes to get rid of.  Or the other way around…  Hmm, now there’s an idea for Saint Patrick’s.  Mash up some spuds for potato cakes in the morning, but then save some back for shepherd’s pie for lunch or dinner… 

Mash, mash, mash. You don't want lumpy 'tato cakes now do ya?

Potato cakes awaiting the griddle.

Triangles, squares, and rectangles.

I found that potato cakes are traditionally triangles for a reason. Triangles brown better and quicker!

 A very filling breakfast.