Irish

Apple cakes are among the most popular Irish sweets. In this version, a sour cream cake flavored with cinnamon, ginger and allspice is baked atop caramelized apples and then turned out like a tarte Tatin. Serve this with vanilla ice cream.

Here's the traditional Irish soda bread—just flour, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, and optional caraway seeds. For traditional brown soda bread, substitute whole-wheat flour for part, or all, of the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe.

From the Temple House in Ballymote, Ireland.

Eggs and fat were once forbidden during the 40-day Lenten fast, so on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent, Irish bakers would make pancakes to use up their stores of those ingredients.

Gregg Thompson of St. Joseph, Missouri, writes, "A good many years ago, my wife and I enjoyed a beefy curried mousse at Snaffles restaurant in Dublin. The recipe was published in You Asked for It in your January 1972 issue. It's a wonderful dish that I have continued to enjoy through the years, and I believe it should be resurrected." Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 8 hr This is a great hors d'oeuvre to make the night before it's served, and it's best when made with the freshest garlic you can find.

Rightfully this cake belongs in the chapter with the other cakes that contain dried fruit, but to me it is the quintessential coffee cake. It is a quick and easy version of a cake that I remember from my childhood, made by the mother of my school friend, the late Noel Giles. Noel and I consumed about a ton of this cake per year between the ages of twelve and eighteen — a taste of it still makes me feel like a teenager.

Serve with Garlic Mashed Potatoes. You don't know where the fish ends and the potatoes begin in this beautiful and satisfying dish Chef Desmond, of Island Cottage on Hare Island in Ireland, uses turbot that comes from the waters off nearby Clear Island. We call for halibut, which is more readily available here.

Root vegetables are a staple of Irish cooking. They often show up in soups, such as this one from The Courtyard in Schull, Ireland.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This version of colcannon, usually a combination of buttery mashed potatoes and cabbage, is a wonderful accompaniment to grilled sausages or Beef Stew with Stout .

(Green Onion Mashed Potatoes) Champ is traditionally served with a well in the middle that has a dab of butter melting in it. The potatoes are usually eaten from "outside" to "inside," dipping each bite into the butter. From the Tinakilly Country House & Restaurant in Rathnew, Ireland.This recipe was created to accompany Beef Tenderloin with Spring Vegetables.

Versatile breads that are good served with cheese, spread with butter and jam at teatime, or paired with a main-course salad.

Tangy Irish cheddar or Cashel, an Irish blue cheese, is ideal for this typical main-course pub salad; you can substitute English cheddar or French Roquefort. Thick slices of buttered soda bread and some raisin tarts could round out the menu.

This bread is adapted from Jean Lemlin's recipe, from our March 1994 issue.

The lamb in this recipe is blanched to make a light-colored stew. Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes with Kale ) and steamed asparagus tossed with lemon juice strike the right note alongside this braised beef dish. Rhubarb pie from the bakery is our choice for dessert.

A perennial favorite on both sides of the Atlantic, this raisiny bread makes fine, fragrant toast.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.