Audio By Carbonatix
Mark Cuban has caused me to completely rediscover St. Patrick’s Day. Gratuitous party-givers with no strings attached plays well into the whole theme of “friendliest day of the year.”
So I tracked down my favorite Irish lass, Theresa Magee, earlier this week to have her show me how to make a proper Irish breakfast, more specifically an Ulster Fry, which is a dish from northern Ireland. The most appealing feature other than bacon is that almost everything on the plate, even the soda bread, is pan-fried.
The starting line up includes:
Banger sausage
Irish bacon
Black pudding
Fried tomatoes and mushrooms
Fried eggs
Soda bread
Potato bread
Magee runs the small deli in the back of Sigel’s on Inwood, and many smart people about town find her to be one the best-kept secrets in the city. In addition to being a cheesemonger, she makes amazing duck and turkey potpies, roast ducks and makes sandwiches with premium meats.
As a tip of the hat to her Irish roots, Magee sells Tommy Moloney’s Irish meats in the cooler in her deli, and every Saturday she and Pedro, who also works in the deli as a baker and cook, make Irish soda bread from scratch. Magee also carries black pudding, and the rest, like the tomato, eggs and mushrooms (which we didn’t have in this breakfast), can be acquired at the typical spots.
Even though soda bread is usually baked, Magee made inch-thick triangles with the dough and cooked them slow and low in a skillet with butter. By the time they were done cooking, they were properly fluffed and absolutely perfect — slathered with a thick layer of Kerrygold butter and amazing.
The bacon and banger sausages both need to be sautéed over low heat with a bit of oil in the pan or they’ll burn. Just prior to serving, Magee sliced the soda bread in half and pan-toasted in butter (again). Same with the potato bread (and, of course, more butter is applied when you actually eat them.)
Check out the pictures below for the full effect. Then go buy yourself the proper fixin’s for an Ulster Fry.
