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.

Pudding is a term that is used interchangeably with dessert in Ireland, so not all Irish puddings are the milk-based treats Americans think of when they hear the word. Here's a fine example: a pretty dessert of bread and assorted sweetened berries are in season, but many people want to eat this delicious pudding even when fresh berries aren't available. Fortunately, frozen ones work just as well. Begin preparing this a day before serving so that it can set up overnight.

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 .

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

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

Irish bacon, sliced and packaged, is increasingly available at supermarkets. If you find it at the butcher counter, ask the butcher to slice it into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Mary Tuohy, a Cappagh, County Tyrone, native who now lives in Redbank, New Jersey, has been making this raisin tea cake for so long that she can almost do it from memory. She says, "I can't remember where the recipe came from, but we used to bake it over an open turf fire back home. It came to me on a piece of dilapidated paper, which I still have." It's a very moist cake, she says, nearly foolproof. "You can't go wrong with it."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

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

From the Temple House in Ballymote, Ireland.

(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.

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.

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.

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

This recipe is based on a classic Irish dish called champ. It is typically made with onions or scallions, but we've used chives—and parsley as well. You can create simple variations with parsley or chives alone, or go all out with a combination of sautéed leeks, caramelized onions, and fresh peas.

The best way to get warm and cozy after a day outdoors is with this drink, in Ireland known simply as "hot whiskey."