International food blog: Western PA Ethnic Cooking - Part 2

Monday, March 16, 2015

Western PA Ethnic Cooking - Part 2 - Scotch-Irish and Irish

Western PA Ethnic Cooking - Part 2 Scotch-Irish and Irish

These immigrants came to western PA in two waves because of religious persecution:

Scotch Irish Presbyterians (I believe this group was responsible for my Scotch-Irish Protestant heritage – besides my German heritage)

1700’s and on
Involved in the American Revolution because they didn't like England
Many of the these immigrants became strong voices in the movement to break all ties with Great Britain
They also caused the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in the US because they refused to pay whiskey tax and thus the militia came in to calm them down after they tarred & feathered federal agents!!
First seminary in western PA was at Univ. of Pittsburgh
Also founded a seminary at Washington-Jefferson
Notables: Stephen Foster, Robert Fulton, Samuel Morse and area families like Mellon, Oliver and Jones
More educated than the Irish Catholics who followed

Irish Catholics

1800’s and on
By 1850 10,000 in Pittsburgh
Settled in Pittsburgh
From Ulster in Northern Ireland
Others came from Leinster, Munster and Connaught
Area’s first most significant Catholic influx
Tradesmen
The Protestant hold on Pittsburgh created an anti-Catholic sentiment
Late 19^th century emerged as a force of their own

FOODS: Scotch-Irish

Scottish Eggs
Shepherd’s Pie (Instructions from earlier days for Shepherd’s pie: Cook round steak until done in skillet. After it is cooked, put in a baking dish with drippings and layer with sliced onions on top. Cover with thick layer of mashed potatoes. Brush with butter. Heat in oven until hot. Place under broiler until potatoes are browned. Serve with peas. NOTE: Don’t you love the absence of amounts and temperature in oven?)
Shortbread, shortbread cookies and cakes

FOODS: Irish

Oat Bread
Potato Bread
Soda Bread
Colcannon (potatoes, scallions, cabbage and ham)

MODERN DAY LINKS FOR FOODS ABOVE

Scottish Eggs:

(NOTE: The older version that the immigrants used would have had the following ingredients: eggs, flour, bulk pork sausage, dry bread crumbs, salt, 2 beaten eggs for the breading, I guess and they deep fried in peanut oil. NOTE: In modern day I wouldn’t add any salt because there is too much salt in pork & I would not deep-fry; too much fat and cholesterol. I would use a sauce.

(NOTE: My variation on Scottish eggs when I made the recipe several years ago: Hard boil 4 eggs. Peel them and use them at room temperature. Cover each egg with ground pork sausage – mold around the egg. Bake in oven till sausage is browned at 350 degrees; I don’t remember how long!! Serve on plate with canned Cream of Celery Soup that has been thinned with milk. ½ can milk with one can of soup. I always used Campbell’s.)

(NOTE: I recently had this at an Irish restaurant. They put breading over the sausage and used a white type sauce. It was good too.)

What is a scotch egg? According to WIKI: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_egg

Scottish Egg Recipe from Bon Appetit:

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/01/scotch-eggs

Scottish Egg VIDEO:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=xP6xbbrENAs&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxP6xbbrENAs

Shepherd’s Pie google link search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&redir_esc=&client=ms-android-verizon&source=android-search-app&v=141400000&qsubts=1355340501018&q=irish+shepherd%27s+pie

Short Bread (NOTE: many of the modern day recipes use brown sugar but the old recipes used white sugar)

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/scottish-shortbread

Oat Bread (or oatmeal bread) (NOTE: Some of the modern recipes use steel cut oats and whole wheat flour but original used regular rolled oats not instant, white flour, molasses, honey, water, butter and yeast)

I have included a few links that seem as close to the original recipe that I can get:

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/391/IrishOatmealBread14117.shtml

http://www.foodgeeks.com/recipes/irish-oatmeal-bread-689

OR YOU CAN DO YOUR OWN SEARCH!!