Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Eat Irish stew
Lamb stewed with potato, onion and carrot in its own broth, with no flour and no tomato. Austere to the point of plainness, and it lives on the quality of the meat.
The classic version is lamb, potato and onion only; carrot came later. It comes with soda bread for mopping the broth.
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Try Dublin coddle
Sausages and bacon simmered with potato and onion in stock, with nothing browned first. A working-class Dublin dish, pale to look at and unexpectedly good.
Nothing is browned before simmering, which is why it looks pale; that is correct rather than unfinished. It comes with soda bread, usually in older pubs.
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Try soda bread
Bread raised with bicarbonate and buttermilk rather than yeast, with a cross cut into the top. It bakes in an hour, which is why it was made daily.
The cross is cut so the loaf does not split in the oven, not only for tradition. Fresh it is crumbly; on the second day it is toasted.
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Eat a full Irish
Eggs, bacon, sausages, black and white pudding, tomato, mushrooms, beans and potato bread. Served all day rather than only in the morning.
White pudding is the same as black without the blood; try both. Potato bread is a flat farl fried in the pan, and it is expected on the plate here.
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Try boxty
A potato pancake made from a mix of raw grated and cooked potato, fried on a griddle. It comes as a filled pancake or as a side with meat.
The mix of raw and cooked potato is the point and gives the texture. Its relatives are colcannon and champ, mashed potato with cabbage and with spring onion.
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Try seafood chowder
A thick creamy soup with smoked fish, mussels, potato and leek, served with soda bread. A coastal classic on the menu of any pub near the water.
Smoked haddock gives the smoky note without which the chowder falls flat. Bread and butter come alongside and are included in the price.
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Eat oysters with stout
Atlantic oysters from the west coast on ice with lemon and buttered soda bread. The classic local pairing is an oyster and a mouthful of stout.
The native oyster season runs September to April. Pairing with stout is not a gimmick: the brine and the roasted malt genuinely work together.
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Try smoked salmon
Cold-smoked salmon over oak, sliced thin and served on soda bread with capers and lemon. One of Ireland's leading food exports.
Wild Atlantic salmon costs more than farmed and is noticeably firmer. Look for oak smoking on the label; that is the local tradition rather than a universal one.
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Grab a breakfast roll
A baguette stuffed with the components of a full breakfast: sausage, bacon, pudding, egg and sauce. Petrol station and corner shop food, and something of a cult item here.
You will be asked which sauce, brown or red; most take brown. Sold until midday, after which the counter switches to lunch sandwiches.
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Try Irish cheese and butter
Farmhouse cheeses from the west and south — Coolea, Cashel Blue, Gubbeen — and deep yellow grass-fed butter. The dairy here is world class and tastes noticeably different.
The butter's colour comes from beta-carotene in the grass rather than dye. Cheeses are sold at weekend farmers' markets, with tasting expected.
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Try bacon and cabbage
Boiled pork loin with cabbage cooked in the same liquid and potatoes with parsley sauce. A domestic Sunday dish rather than a festive one.
The cabbage is cooked in the pork liquid, and that is where the flavour comes from. This, rather than corned beef, is the historical Irish dish; the beef version appeared in America.
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Try barmbrack Desserts and pastries
A yeast bread studded with raisins soaked in tea, eaten in slices with butter. At Halloween small objects are baked into it for fortune-telling.
The fruit is soaked in cold tea, which gives the colour and flavour. It is eaten with butter and tea rather than as an after-dinner dessert.
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Try apple tart with cream Desserts and pastries
A homely shortcrust apple tart served warm with thick cream or custard. Plain, and on the menu of any pub with a kitchen.
The cream is thick and unwhipped and is simply poured over the slice. Its menu neighbours are crumble and bread and butter pudding.
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Drink Irish tea Non-alcoholic drinks
Very strong black tea with milk, of which the Irish drink more per head than almost anyone. It brews long, and the colour should be dark, almost red.
The milk goes in after the tea, and the argument about the order exists here too. Asking for lemon is unusual; you will be understood but noticed.
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Drink a pint of stout Local alcohol
A dark beer built on roasted barley with a dense creamy head, poured in two stages. Coffee-bitter rather than sweet, and lighter than its colour suggests.
It needs a couple of minutes to settle, and you will not be handed it sooner. Besides the famous brand there are local craft stouts, often on tap in pubs.
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Try Irish whiskey Local alcohol
Triple-distilled whiskey: softer than Scotch and, in most expressions, without peat smoke. Drunk neat or with a drop of water rather than as a shot.
The single pot still style is specifically Irish, using malted and unmalted barley together. Irish coffee exists, though locals order it rarely.
