Irish food combinations that’ll make your jaw drop

Ireland is a small country with a distinct gastronomic taste. While the Japanese take pride in their sushi and sashimi, the French stick to their truffles and snails, and the Italians eat their prosciutto on a piece of bruschetta bread, Ireland rapidly opens up and embraces new cuisines. The result? Find out now!

Garlic sauce, cheese and chips. While it may sound unappetising at first, trust us: this dish is a stunning combination of crispy chips, rich garlic sauce and perfectly grated cheese. Combined with flavourful ingredients, otherwise blunt chips (sorry, America) transform into a magnificent dish. A staple food here in Ireland and a firm favourite for all tourists to Éire.

Curry and chips. Want to combine two of Ireland’s favourites in one? We’ve got that sorted for you. Say “hello” to Curry Chips! Your fresh and piping potato slivers covered in a satisfying sweet and spicy sauce. Delicious. Simply delicious. Order one from your local Supermacs or Abrakebabra for that ultimate Monday feast.

Chips and rice. It’s chips again! Yes, you did read that right. The Irish love, we mean LOVE, their chips. It can certainly be intimidating to order everything new on a Saturday night: prawn crackers, spring rolls, spare ribs, Char Sui… Char what? There has to be something familiar a.k.a potatoey. And here come the good old chips. Look perfect on a side of egg fried rice.

Chicken and anything – in a roll. The main question here is whether you want it plain or spicy. You know what we’re talking about – the Chicken Fillet Roll. An absolute star from your local Centra or Spar which comes with a crispy chicken breast, butter or mayo and whatever other ingredients out there: lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, mustard or, reportedly, even curry sauce. Yikes.

All of your breakfast – also in a roll. Who doesn’t love a traditional fry-up with eggs, mushrooms, baked beans, and tomatoes? Meat-lovers can add in some bacon, rashes or sausages, and BRAVE meat-lovers can tuck in some black pudding too. But what if you slept in and are now running late for work? You certainly don’t want to miss what is considered the most important meal of the day. Don’t worry. Ireland has a solution for you: say a big, big welcome to Mr. Breakfast Roll. Nothing adventurous, just all of your breakfast ingredients in one buttered roll. Genial in its simplicity.

Crisp sandwich (or crisp sambo). Hands down, the most odd, weird, bizarre and simply head-exploding combination we’ve ever come across. For those of you who are new to Irish gastronomy, here is a recipe: throw a bag of Taytos in between two slices of generously buttered bread (and enjoy your cholesterol levels rising, we guess?). If you have little or no cooking skills, follow this link for a more detailed, step-by-step guide on how to cook a perfect crisp sandwich at home.

Still feeling a bit hungry? We’ve got some mouth-watering desserts to finish off your meal with.

Cereal and juice. We will not ramble about the locals eating their cereal all day long. That’s not what our article all about (even though Ireland’s cereal phenomenon could warrant an entire article by itself). Rather, what we are discussing here is an incredibly strange combination of cereal and juice served up in one bowl. Yup, you read it right: juice instead of milk. We understand that there are lactose-intolerant people out there, but this is just… UGH.

Ice cream and wafers. While this combination is by no means surprising, in Ireland there is a twist. What was the first thing that came to your mind when we said “ice creams and wafers”? An ice cream sandwich? A layer of ice cream between two wafers? All in one pack? The Irish don’t settle for simplicity: they buy ice cream and wafers SEPARATELY and then carefully assemble their ice cream sandwich at home. Why that extra hassle? The world shall never know.

Chocolate and crisps. By all means, our favourite – a pack of Cheese & Onion Taytos mixed with Cadbury’s chocolate and washed down with fizzy orange, red lemonade or, if you’re on a slightly healthier side, Diet Coke. A culinary delicacy and one of Ireland’s best inventions ever.

In 2013, the Daily Edge ran a survey on what they called “one of life’s most pressing issues”. The survey asked Irish people how they preferred to eat their chocolate and crisps: chocolate first, crisps second or crisps first, chocolate second? We could not walk past this important debate and decided to take a closer look at the comment section. See below for some of the funniest answers we could find.

“I put the chocolate in the crisps, usually buttons with Cheese & Onion Hunky Dorys. Like a little chocolate burger between two crispy flavoured buns” – Niamh MC

“Alternate mouthfuls of each. If you just eat one and then the other, you don’t get the full benefit of the salt/sweet combo” – Laura W

“Crisp chocolate crisp crisp chocolate crisp crisp chocolate” – Brendan O’Connell

“Chocolate then crisps then guilt” – thefunnyman

“Alas, Irish food combinations, challenging the palette and turning stomachs” – Anthony Agusta

Have you tried any of these weird Irish food combinations yet? If so, share your opinion with us and others!