And we all know what we’ll be drinking on March 17 but what about the St Paddy’s dish of the day.
It’s fair to say that our eating and drinking habits have changed since his day back in the 4th century.
When we’re reliably informed that Paddy would have ate meat and venison and drunk wine imported from the continent.
Before he was captured from the then-Wales, probably more Cumbria in the north-west of modern-day England.
And transported to Ireland where oatmeal gruel (think the cereal Ready Brek) and a mixture of fruit, nuts and oaks (think muesli).
Paddy himself helps us with mentions of two foodstuffs he did eat…
Wild honey (he was after all a beekeeper) and deer.
While the drink of the day for the regular Irish native would have been a light barley ale.
Jar of porter
Whisper it but the fashion for stout or porter began in London and was transported by Arthur Guinness to Dublin where he took a lease for a thousand years and tapped into the waters of the Liffey.
Guinness has of course gone on to become the world’s most famous stout and anyone who visits the Irish capital should avail themselves of the Guinness Stew, in any of the fine hostelries there.
The next best thing, of course, if you can’t get over for Paddy’s Day, and it is rammers around Dublin City Centre is to make your own.
And we have Beanies Irish Cream coffee (sounds delicious) to thank for giving us some ‘St Patrick’s Day: Delicious Recipes to Help You Celebrate’.
And they, of course, advise that we should add Beanies to any coffee cake we make.
The creamiest cream though is what settles at the top of you Guinness and your lip.
And Beanies have done the hard work for us with this recipe rundown.
Guinness stew
Traditionally made with lamb, this meal can also be prepared with beef.
And while it doesn’t traditionally involve alcohol, it can include Guinness to help
deepen the flavour of the beef.
Ingredients:
1 pound of Beef
1 cup of Guinness
4 cups of broth, beef or vegetable
1 tbsp tomato paste
6 cloves of garlic
1 large onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp flour, to thicken
Thyme
For a thicker stew, you can reduce the amount of liquids, increase the flour or add corn starch, or increase the meat and vegetable volume.
For a thinner stew, increase the liquid contents. And depending on your personal tastes, you can play around with the levels of broth to alcohol, with some recipes also including red wine alongside the Guinness.
Simply brown off your meat and leave all the ingredients in the slow cooker, with a perfect stew ready in a few hours.
And that in a nutshell is your St Paddy’s dish of the day.