3/4 lb belly of pork
3/4 lb smoked bacon
2 lb potatoes
1/4 lb mushrooms
1 tsp rosemary
1 lb onions
3/4 cup stock
1 salt and pepper
2 oz butter
Directions
(Irish pork belly has a fatty layer, vital for the
flavor, and a meaty layer. See if you can get your
butcher to give you pork that has about equal amounts
of pork and fat. Plain lean pork will not taste as
good.) Cut meat into one-inch cubes. Peel and thinly
slice potatoes. Peel or wipe mushrooms, and slice if
large. Grease a large ovenproof dish with some of the
butter, and place a layer of sliced potatoes in the
bottom. Add half the meat pieces, seasoned and
sprinkled with rosemary. Layer with half the
vegetables, plus another layer of potatoes. Repeat,
using all meat, veg and potatoes. Pour stock over and
dot potatoes with remaining butter.
Cover and cook in a moderate oven, 325F, for 2 1/4
hours. Uncover for the last half hour of cooking to
brown the potatoes.
Servings: 4 servings
Kerry Casserole (Irish) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Casserole; Irish; Main Dish
The History of Recipes
We are able to follow the history of written recipes back into antiquity, certainly as far back as pharonic Egypt, and maybe further still. Interesting though that maybe, in the main part, these old cook books were just very basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing meals.
The truth of the matter is, the oldest recipe found, according to food historians are a few ancient tablets in the Sumerian language which describe the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel exhilarated and blissful. Later on, in The time of the roman empire around 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote a number of documents detailing recipes cooked by his fellow Romans. In his works, he recounts how the meals were separated into appetizers, entrees and afters, something we still use today. This early Roman chef describes how the Roman cooks were skilled in the use of a wide range of spices, including some familiar names for example thyme, fennel and dill. During the following few hundred years, the powerful and rich houses competed to offer the most extravagent meals, and as a result chefs and their recipes were at a premium. However, it was during the 1800s that cooking and recipe collections rose to prominence. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to assembling, testing, and writing down the recipes of their peers. The arrival of television gave us TV cookery programs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everyone to access thousands of recipes just like those on this recipe site. |
We hope you enjoy this Kerry Casserole (Irish) recipe.
