Exploring Ireland's culinary delights: A journey through food and culture

This will definitely cure what ails you. Food is my true passion. I'm Gemma Stafford, a professional chef and host of Bigger Bolder Baking. So that means great food is a huge part of my everyday life. You've seen me boldly bake over the top recipes. Now travel with me on my culinary adventures around the world. In this episode of Gemma Eats, I have my work cut out for me with a full Irish breakfast. Seeking out some of the best fish and chips. And a good alternative to an oven. All right now on Gemma Eats. So you know you're in Ireland when it's raining in the summer time. I am here in Bridgetown, a little small village outside of Wexford town, very close to Kilmore Quay. Bridgetown is also known as Baile na Draighid which means Bridgetown in as Gaeilge. I am here because I want to show you what we are known for here in Ireland and that is our Irish breakfast. This place Button and Spoon in Bridgetown does an amazing one so come with me. Button and Spoon is such a lovely example of what Irish tea time is all about. This place has only been around for three years, but the building has always been the center of the town. Button and Spoon's baked goods are made right here on the premises, and as you can see by looking at them, they are definitely big and bold. That's why I like them. So one of the reasons, mmm. One of the reasons I love this place is because if you look around, you see that they have beautiful china plates and china cups all over the walls and they serve you your tea and coffee in them, absolutely gorgeous, they're beautiful patterns, just kind of similar to what I use on Bigger Bolder Baking, and that's why I'm drawn to this so much, it has the vibe of like an old school tea room, you know, which is really unique, you don't see many I don't see many places like this around anymore. And that's because Nuala, the owner of Button and Spoon, along with her husband Nigel, set out to create more than just a café. This place is about great food bringing people together. It's funny because nowadays like farm to table is such a big thing all around the world. In Ireland most of our food is farm to table. We are such a small island. We have everything close by, meat, fish, dairy, some of the best in the world in my opinion. So like essentially we've always had farm to table and it doesn't cost the earth you know. So I'm gonna have a full Irish breakfast and what is involved in a full Irish is a lot of pork and fried food. Lovely thanks a million. Beautiful. So let me talk you through a little bit of what we have here. We have some rashers, which is Irish bacon, we have mushrooms, we've got black pudding, white pudding, fried potatoes with onions, some grilled tomatoes, Irish sausages, which are my favorite thing in the world, and then some baked beans, and of course, a fried egg. Okay, so now I know this might look like a lot of food, but the thing about it is, just say for instance you went out last night, you had a few too many pints of Guinness or gin and tonics, and you woke up feeling a little bit worse for wear, but this will cure what ails you for sure. This is known as soakage. Okay, so black pudding, also known as blood sausage, is absolutely delicious. It is a big mixture of some spices, breadcrumbs, some oats, a little bit of barley. Thing about it is, it's a little bit minerally because it has blood in it, but it makes it really good. The soft pudding, this is my favorite kind of pudding because it's kind of soft and squishy like this. Beautiful. It kind of mushes into everything else, you know? So there's one thing I definitely miss being far away from home is actually Irish sausages. Irish sausages are really soft, they're probably fattier than normal sausages which doesn't make them better but it makes them taste really good. They are just absolutely delicious, there's something about them, they're a little bit salty, they've got a really soft texture, I don't find sausages like this in the States so when I'm home I definitely try and have as many as I can. Every time I come home to Ireland I have to have a full Irish breakfast because I don't get anything like this in Santa Monica, it's just not the same, like the sausages taste a little bit different, the bacon isn't the same, they have different baked beans, you have to have a traditional like legit Irish breakfast and the only place you're going to get that is in Ireland. Okay so I'll admit I needed a break from eating so fortunately Nuala came over for a chat. We're such a we have a culture of uh we're tea drinkers and coffee drinkers and talking and having the chat and a couple and uh like a slice of cake and this fills that hole you know it's very button spoon is like very unique. So I did something. The heart of Button is when we really hear that it is about conversation and meeting people and coming in and having a bit of tea and sitting down and we have groups of mums here and men at school and it's a community of self-taught and it's very personal and everybody knows everybody and we care about everybody. We hear about everybody's ailments, doctor's appointments and you know, death, marriage and all the news, the gossip and the scandal. All the important stuff. But it is... I'm definitely not eating for at least another two hours. Well, that was a lot of food, but it was absolutely delicious and it's all gone, and I don't regret a thing. So after that breakfast, what I really need is a nap, but I still have more eats to show you. So here we are driving into Kilmore Quay, a little rural Irish fishing village around 30 minutes outside of Wexford town where I'm from. There is only a population of maybe like 700 people in this little village. Kilmore Quay in Irish is Cill Mhór na gCill Mhóra which means key of the big church. So this is quite a traditional little Irish village. As you can see when you drive into the village you see all of the fishing trawlers lined up over there. A huge amount of fishing is done here and the fish is sent all over the world. So of course I was here for the fish. But not just any fish, battered, lovely, warm, flaky fish and lots of salty chips of course. And there's only one place I could go. So I cannot come to Wexford in the summertime without getting traditional fish and chips in Kilmore Quay. There is no better place than the Salty Chipper because they get fresh fish every single day right from the water so I'm really excited to try them. Even if it weren't located next to the harbour, the salty chipper makes you feel like you're at sea. Local chippers are usually small operations that have a real cosy feel to them. Oh my gosh, it smells so good. That's a lot of fish and chips. One of the best things about fish and chips as well is that you come and you get like food to feed an army and it costs around 10 euros. It's kind of incredible. It hasn't changed since I was young. So how often do the boats go out in the summertime? Do they go out every day? Fishing boats? Oh yeah, they'll be gone for a week or more though. Oh really? Yeah. There's a boat that leaves here and goes over to the Salty islands every day. Once again, fresh and local is what Ireland does best. Okay so if it looks like I'm freezing, you are dead right. But even this crazy wind couldn't keep me from this place. Oh my gosh! And it weighs around two pounds. Oh it's the fish. So you know when you get legit fish and chips because it comes in this lovely paper. Check that out. Local Kilmore Quay fish. I know it's very blustery and it might not look like summer right now in Wexford but this is kind of generally what our summers are like. When we were kids the evenings would be really long and we would come down to Kilmore Key and get fish and chips, eat them outside, absolutely divine. When you get fish and chips in a chipper it is generally something kind of meaty and thick like a cod or a haddock. This is haddock here, it's nice thick flaky bits of fish. One misconception about chippers or chippies is that fish and chips are really fatty. Thing about it is good fish and chips shouldn't be really fatty and greasy. They should just have a little bit of it. They're cooked in such a high fat that they cook really fast and it shouldn't soak in. One of the reasons I love chips from a chipper is look how chunky and big those guys are. They're not thin and crispy. They're nice, big, meaty guys. Oh, and she loaded on the salt. Good woman. That's some extra vinegar here. Oh my god, they're so good. One of the great things about getting fish and chips in Wexford is not only does the fish come straight from that water out there, the potatoes are actually locally grown Wexford potatoes. And during the summertime we grow summer potatoes, they're also called new potatoes, and they grow them for around eight weeks or so, so they're a very short period. But when they have them out, they make really great chips. They're kind of sweet to eat. I love my chips with loads of salt and vinegar. You never have too much. What I did have too much of however was this cold and wind but this was another successful find. Fortunately for me I did have good weather during other parts of my trip. One of those days was when I visited the Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford. This gorgeous place brings 9000 years of Irish history to life in a lush forest and wetland. And I even gatecrashed a school tour, which is kind of funny because I used to come here when I was young on my school tours. Now of course a big part of experiencing how the Irish lived had to involve food. Like this stone that they used to grind grains to make their bread. But the coolest thing was seeing how they baked back then. No stoves, no ovens, no microwaves, only this, a Fáilachn Fia, or an ancient Irish cooker. Stones were heated on the fire and then dropped into the pit of water to slowly cook meat. On this day, more Irish pork. I didn't expect to eat on this stop but I couldn't pass it up. I have to say the pork was slow cooked to perfection. Lovely, salty and delicious. You know sometimes you have to travel far away or even back in time to realize where you come from. I'm really grateful for my Irish roots but also that my branches have extended around the world. It's my love of great food that keeps me grounded wherever I go. Coming up next week on Gemma Eats, in Barcelona, Spain, I find my new favorite churro, a breakfast destination that I have been dying to try, and where I think the cronut really came from. All right here on Gemma Eats.