Allison Cafe

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My first attempt at making corned beef and cabbage was a success, well sort of. Let me explain. The flavors came out wonderful. The Guinness stout beer lends a rich flavor to the dish. However, I learned a few basic techniques that I will share with you here for crock pot cooking that might have made the texture of the corned beef more like what we were expecting. (thanks to my husband for enjoying the dish even though it wasn’t the perfection I was seeking, you are wonderful!)

Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional Easter Sunday dinner in Ireland, but it is a St. Patrick’s Day must for us in America! Here are some other useful tips I found online for making this dish.

Corned Beef and Cabbage (more…)

Well, my Irish Soda Bread was a success yesterday! A little history about the bread I have learned:

It traditionally does not include raisins or caraway seeds, or even eggs! Irish soda bread is just flour, baking soda, buttermilk, and salt. That’s the basic recipe. Soda bread was created in the early 1800s and it was made in a large cast-iron pot or skillet. It meant you did not have to have an oven to make soda bread. While this recipe below does instruct to bake it in the oven, there are other traditional recipes out there which call for the traditional method and ingredients, see here for more information. I absolutely love the texture and taste of the recipe below. The buttermilk makes the bread very moist; and if you like raisins, you will love the sweetness that they bring to this simple and easy to make bread.

Irish Soda Bread

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