Here in Boston, it’s hard to ignore St. Patrick’s Day. If you live here, you know just what I mean.

From the annual parade in Southie (complete with local politicians belting out Irish ditties at breakfast), to the week of shows by hometown boys the Dropkick Murphys, to the tourists trouncing around the city wearing giant bright green hats (or shirts, or big plastic sunglasses).

If you’re in the city, here’s my guide to Boston’s Irish pubs. (If you’re not, take a peek as a tourist. There are plenty of photos.)

If you’re looking for a little last-minute inspiration in your own kitchen, here’s a collection of recipes to help you throw together an Irish-inspired feast of your own, including several that feature Guinness stout.

Mussels in Ginger Stout Broth

Panfried Smashed Potatoes

Guinness Stew with Sage and Ginger

Guinness-Braised Short Ribs

Super Simple French Fries (Crisp & Crunchy in Just One Step)

Chocolate and Vanilla Guinness Floats

Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Here’s my take on a popular recipe for Buttermilk Cluster rolls. These rolls are crusty on the outside, soft and moist on the inside—and dotted with bits of bacon and toasted pecans.

When I toasted the pecans, I did it in the pan that I fried the bacon in, so they pick up a little bit of that smokey flavor.

These rolls would be a great addition to a fall or winter feast (I’m thinking alongside a rib roast). That said, The Angry Chef and I ate them for breakfast, toasted and slathered with cold butter, standing up at the kitchen counter.

These rolls are baked in a 9-inch springform pan and you pull them apart once they’re cool.

The original buttermilk cluster recipe

I started with this recipe from The Fresh Loaf that was posted here on Saveur magazine’s website.

The reader reviews on Saveur.com were all over the map. There were arguments about how much flour was correct to use, whether there was enough flavor, etc. The reviews on The Fresh Loaf were consistently much better.

I think Saveur reviewer paranoidtourist put it best: “Relying on the measurements in the recipe for any bread recipe is like getting directions from one place to another using animals as landmarks; you’ll get somewhere, but probably not where you had in mind.”

That’s a longer way of saying: Baking bread is a fickle task.

It depends just as much on the temperature in your house, if your yeast is fresh, how humid it is, the moisture content of your flour, as it does on the actual recipe. (If you’re in a really dry climate, you probably have to add more liquid to your dough, etc.)

All that said, the picture was absolutely mouthwatering, so I figured I’d give them a try. I modified the recipe a little and was quite pleased with the results.

Ingredients for buttermilk rolls

I used regular ole lowfat buttermilk. A handful of people on The Fresh Loaf used buttermilk powder. I haven’t tried that, but it looks like it’s an OK option if you don’t have any of the fresh stuff. (I assume you reconstitute it according to the directions on the package.)

For the bacon, I used Black Forest bacon from Whole Foods, which is a little sweeter than regular bacon. This is my favorite bacon of all time, but it can be hard to find. By all means, use what you like.

I included pecans in this recipe because I really like them with bacon. Walnuts would be great, too.

Bake buttermilk rolls in a springform pan

Making these rolls in a springform pan helps keep the dough balls together as they rise and bake, which makes for a really pretty finished bread. It also gives the sides of the rolls a nice crust.

A springform pan is one of these things. It’s the kind of pan you traditionally use to make a cheesecake.

The bottom is removable. When you flip open this latch, the sides of the pan expand to make it easier to get your cake (or in this case, your rolls) out. If you don’t have one, I highly recommend one of these.

Buttermilk Cluster Rolls with Toasted Pecans and Bacon

Adapted from Saveur and The Fresh Loaf

1 Tbls. active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 ⁄ 2 tsp. sugar
1 3 ⁄ 4 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp. maple syrup or honey
5 cups flour
1 1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
4-5 strips of bacon, chopped
1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted

Oil or butter to grease the pan
1 egg, beaten w/1 Tbls. water

Makes 12 rolls in a 9-inch springform pan

Proof the yeast

Toss the yeast and sugar in the bowl of your mixer.

Add the lukewarm water. (Be sure it’s not hot. Hot water can kill the yeast.)

Whisk the water, sugar, and yeast together. Let this sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.

Make the dough

Add the maple syrup or honey to the bowl. (I used maple syrup.)

Add the buttermilk.

Whisk the whole business together until it’s uniform. (You want to dissolve the syrup/honey.)

Toss in the flour and the salt. I used 5 cups of flour. You might need a little more or less depending on where you are (see note in the intro).

Knead the dough by hand or with the dough hook on a stand mixer for about 5 minutes.

You want the dough to come together in a smooth, not-too-sticky ball like this (depending on where you live, you might need to add a little more flour or buttermilk). Like I said, this is the fickle part of bread baking. You have to play some things by ear.

Let the dough rise for about 2 hours

Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap or a damp tea towel. Set it aside to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, or until it’s doubled in size.

When the dough has just about doubled in size, like this, you’re ready to deal with the bacon and pecans.

Prep the bacon and the pecans

Dice up the bacon.

Put it on the stove in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally. You want to cook it like this until it’s crisp.

While the bacon’s in the pan, chop up the pecans.

I chopped mine up roughly, because I wanted a rustic bread. If you want to go nuts (har, har), by all means, chop them more evenly.

When the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon. Set it aside in a bowl. (Try not to gobble down too much.)

When it’s cool enough to handle, chop the bacon up into smaller pieces. (I do this now, as opposed to when the bacon is raw, because it’s kind of a pain to cut the slippery raw stuff into really small pieces.)

Pour out most of the bacon fat from the frying pan and discard (or save it for something else).

Toss the chopped pecans into the pan. Saute the pecans in the little bit of bacon fat that’s left in the pan over medium heat. Keep an eye on them and stir frequently, because they can scorch.

When the pecans are lightly brown and very fragrant, transfer them to the bowl with the chopped bacon. Set that aside for a minute while you deal with the dough.

Knead the bacon and pecans into the dough

Punch down the dough to smoosh the air out of it.

Toss the bacon and pecans into the bowl.

Fold the dough over a few times to start to work the bacon and pecans through the dough.

Then start to knead in earnest, until the ingredients are fairly uniformly incorporated through the dough.

Form the buttermilk rolls

Round the dough up into a ball and set it on your counter (it shouldn’t really stick, but if it does, toss a little flour under it).

With a bencher (that’s one of these things, one of my favorite kitchen tools) or a big knife, whack the dough into 12 pieces, just like cutting a pizza. Don’t worry if they’re not all 100% the same size. They’ll be close enough.

Grab one of the wedges of dough. Roll it into a ball between your palms.

Spray your springform pan down lightly with a little oil. Set the dough ball in the pan. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

I like to make a circle of dough balls on the outside rim, then fill in the center for an even design. Arrange them however you like.

Let the rolls rise for about an hour

Cover the pan with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap (so when the rolls rise, they won’t stick to the plastic). Set them in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

When they’re just about there, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Mine rose to just above the edge of the pan.

Brush the tops of the rolls with beaten egg

To make the egg wash, beat an egg together with a tablespoon of water.

Gently brush the beaten egg over the tops of the rolls with a pastry brush (or your fingertips, in a pinch). This makes the top of the bread shiny after it bakes.

Don’t press too hard, or else you can deflate the little guys. Don’t make yourself nuts getting every nook and cranny on the top.

Bake the buttermilk rolls

Pop the pan into your pre-heated 400-degree oven. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until the rolls are shiny and warm brown on top.

Now, the Saveur and The Fresh Loaf recipes have you test the rolls for doneness by temperature.

I’ll admit that I don’t often do this. A nice brown crust and a good hollow sound when thumped (another sign that bread is baked through) are usually good enough for me.

If you’re so inclined, however, you’re aiming for about 190 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. (Stick the thermometer in the dead center of the loaf, not touching the edges or bottom of the pan.)

When they come out of the oven, let the rolls cool for about 15 minutes in the pan.

Then, slip off the outer ring of the springform pan and let them cool on a rack.

When you’re ready to serve, rip the rolls apart. Keeps well wrapped on the counter for about 3 days.

Enjoy!

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I know: When will I stop raving about compound butter? Never, probably. (But I’ll bet you could guess that.) The stuff is just too easy to make—and too darned good.

What is compound butter?

If you’ve never made it, compound butter is a great way to add a lot of flavor to a dish with very little effort. It’s generally used as a finishing ingredient or a garnish.

To make compound butter, just soften the butter up, then smoosh in a bunch of ingredients to give it a certain flavor.

For examples of other flavor-packed, buttery goodness, check out my Pecan Scotch Compound Butter and Fresh Herb Compound Butter.

Mmm, cranberries soaked in cognac

For this particular compound butter, you macerate (soak) chopped, dried cranberries in cognac. The cranberries plump up and absorb a little of the liquor. The remaining cognac gets perfumed with cranberry flavor.

Use sweetened dried cranberries for this recipe. (In the U.S., I’m talking about the ubiquitous Craisin.)

Uses for cranberry orange butter

This Drunken Cranberry Orange Butter is great on baked goods (English muffins, croissants, etc.). It’s also a great topping for pancakes and waffles. You can use it as a spread for chicken or turkey sandwiches—or stir it into wild rice before serving.

The sweetness of the dried cranberries is tempered by a generous drizzle of cognac and a spoonful of bright, fresh orange zest.

If you don’t have any cognac on hand, try a little brandy or even dark rum.

Drunken Cranberry Orange Compound Butter

8 Tbls. butter (that’s one stick in the U.S.)
1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
2 Tbls. cognac
1 Tbls. orange zest

Yields about 9 Tbls. butter

Macerate the dried cranberries in cognac

Take the butter out of the fridge and set it on the counter to soften. By the time your cranberries are ready, the butter should be soft enough to use.

Chop up the dried cranberries.

Toss them into a small bowl. Drizzle with cognac.

Give them a stir. Let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.

Mix up the compound butter

Zest your orange.

I used about a tablespoon, but by all means use more or less depending on your taste.

After about 30 minutes, you should notice that your cranberries have absorbed some of the cognac. Toss the orange zest into the bowl.

Put the butter into a medium-sized bowl. Mash it up with a fork to break it up.

Toss in the contents of your bowl (cranberries, cognac, orange zest).

With a fork, mash the contents of your bowl together.

It will take a minute or two to work the cranberries and zest into the butter—and for the cognac to disappear into the butter.

You’re aiming for a uniform mixture, like this:

Give the butter a taste. This is your chance to correct the seasoning, if you want to. (Add more orange zest, etc., to it if you think it needs it.)

Roll the compound butter up and refrigerate

Put a large piece of wax paper on the counter.

Scoop the butter mixture onto the center of the paper.

Smoosh it into a rough log shape.

Roll the butter up in wax paper.

Twist each end of the wax paper, just like a hard candy wrapper.

Pop the butter into the fridge for at least an hour, or until solid again.

Enjoy your compound butter!

After about an hour, your butter should have solidified.

When you unroll it to slice it, it’ll be generously flecked with orange rind and bits of cranberry.

Enjoy!

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It’s easier than you might think to make potato chips at home. These particular chips are skin-on, thicker than usual, asian-spiced crunchy bliss. And? They take about 10 minutes to make.

The short version of this recipe goes like this: Slice. Fry. Sprinkle. Inhale. Read on for detailed instructions.

You only need a one or two potatoes to serve four people as a side. I like to dust my chips with hand-mixed Asian 5-Spice salt. They make a totally great accompaniment to burgers—or a pan-roasted sirloin.

How thick should you cut your potato chips?

I like them a little bit thicker than a standard potato chip. I also like to leave the skin on the potato. If you prefer, though, peel the potatoes before slicing.

I’m really good with a knife, and some of mine still came out uneven. You want them to be the same thickness so they all cook evenly.

Generally speaking, I like to cut the potatoes so that they’re a little on the thicker side, but they’re still thin enough to see through. Too thick = floppy chips.

All that said, I’d recommend using a mandoline to cut these. Or a food processor fitted with a thin slicing disk. Trust me. It will save you time and hassle.

How to buy a mandoline

If you haven’t seen one before, a mandoline is a hand-operated machine that you use to uniformly and precisely slice firm foods (fruits, veggies, etc.).

The blade is housed in the body of the mandoline, and you slide the food over it to make your cuts. You can adjust the height of the blade to change the thickness of the slices.

Mandolines usually fold up, and come with a nifty little guard to hold the food so you don’t slice your fingertips off. (I’ve done that before. Use the guard. It’s not worth the risk.) For more info on how they work, check out this in-depth description of the different parts.

Now, a high-quality French mandoline is a beautiful—but pricey—thing. I’m talking about one of these babies, the Bron Original Stainless Steel Mandoline, which will run you just under $200.

There are a bunch of in-between models, too.

If you don’t want to spend a ton of money, you can pick up a Japanese beniriner for about $20.

It’s missing some of the bells and whistles of the French model above (folding legs, etc.), but it delivers where it counts—i.e. it’s compact and sharp. It accomplishes most of the basic cuts for a lot less money.

I’ve had one of these for years. I picked it up in Boston’s Chinatown, and it’s been indespensible to me. I highly recommend it.

Alrighty. To the hot oil!

Rustic 5-Spice Potato Chips

1-2 large russet potatoes
canola oil for frying
1 tsp. five-spice powder
1 tsp. kosher salt

Serves 2-4 as a snack

Slice and rinse the potatoes

Grab your potato(es). Scrub them. Peel them if you like.

Slice them into thin rounds.

If you have the time, soak them in ice cold water for about an hour to leach out some of the starch. (Less starch = crispier chip.)

If you don’t, put them in a colander or strainer and give them a good, long rinse under cold, running water.

Shake them around under the water to get them good and wet.

Pat them dry with paper towels. You want to get as much water off them as possible. (Water splatters when it hits hot oil, and nobody likes a grease burn.)

Make the Five-Spice Salt

Do this before you make the chips. You’ll want to season the chips when they’re hot out of the oil—which is when the seasoning will stick best.

Put the salt and five spice powder in a small bowl. Whisk together to combine until relatively uniform. Set aside.

Fry the potato chips

Line a baking sheet with a few paper towels. Set a rack on top. Set it aside.

Put about 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Set it on the stove over high heat. Heat the oil to about 380 degrees, if you have a candy thermometer handy.

If you don’t, heat the oil until the surface shimmers, then start testing it. Dip (carefully!) the edge of a potato slice into the hot oil. If bubbles start to form furiously and immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry. If not, wait a minute or two, then test again.

When your oil is hot enough, add a handful of potato slices to the pot.

Stir them around with a skimmer or slotted spoon, so they fry on both sides.

Pull them out of the oil with your skimmer or slotted spoon when they’re light brown and crisp. This should take about 2 minutes, depending on how thick your chips are.

Season the potato chips

Transfer the hot chips to your prepared rack. Sprinkle with five-spice salt to taste.

Repeat with the rest of the potato slices until you’ve fried them all.

Enjoy!

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I haven’t made a souffle in a really long time.

Contrary to popular belief, souffles are actually pretty easy to make. You just need to follow a few rules—and not breakdance in the kitchen when they’re in the oven. (One of my souffles did flop on me, but it was totally my fault. Read on and you’ll see why.)

This particular souffle recipe comes from the good folks at Fine Cooking magazine, and features orange marmalade—one of my favorite substances on the planet. (I swear I don’t eat it straight out of the jar. Most of the time.)

These souffles get a triple dose of citrus flavor from a syrupy mixture of marmalade, orange liqueur, and lemon juice.

The tops bake into beautiful, almost-chewy meringues that are rimmed with little bits of crunchy sugar. The insides are soft, airy orange-scented bliss shot through with bits of candylike rind.

An added bonus? This recipe qualifies as gluten free.

Souffle ingredients

Now, this recipe only has a handful of ingredients. Sugar. Marmalade, of course. I like Bonne Maman brand, but use any kind you like. Orange liqueur. (I used Triple Sec, but Cointreau would be good, too.)

Lemon juice. Egg whites. Cream of tartar.

What is cream of tartar?

Cream of tartar is most often used in the kitchen to stabilize egg whites as you beat them and give them more volume. It also finds its way into candies and frostings to help keep them nice and creamy.

Where does cream of tartar come from? It’s actually (drum roll, please) a byproduct of making wine.

Wine?

Yep, wine. (Potassium bitartrate from the grapes crystallizes on the insides of wine casks.) Most American markets will keep it with the spices or the baking supplies. It’s white powdery stuff and comes in a small jar.

What makes a souffle rise?

I’m oversimplifying a little, but two things make a souffle rise: Air and protein.

When you beat the egg whites, you’re incorporating lots of air into them. These air bubbles will expand in the oven and cause your souffle to rise. The heat from the oven will also stabilize the protein in the whites, which gives the souffle its (albeit fragile) structure.

8 tips for making a perfect souffle

Here are some tips that will improve your chances of souffle success:

1. Make them, then serve them. Souffles need to be served hot out of the oven.
2. Bring the egg whites to room temperature before you beat them. They’ll take more air that way. (More air = more height.)
3. Carefully separate your egg whites from the yolks. Any traces of fat from the yolks will keep the whites from beating up properly.
4. Use a very (very, very) clean bowl to whip your whites.
5. Be sure to beat the egg whites long enough. That means to stiff peaks (not soft peaks). But don’t overbeat them to the point where they get grainy (you can actually destabilize that network of air bubbles you worked so hard to create).
6. Fold the egg whites into the marmalade mixture gently. (Don’t stir it. Don’t beat it. You don’t want to deflate the whites.)
7. Test the souffles for doneness by inserting a metal skewer into them. Like testing a cake, the skewer should come out clean, not covered in egg-y mixture.
8. Don’t jump around in the kitchen when the souffles are in the oven.

All that said, sometimes your souffle will flop

I said earlier that one of my souffles flopped—and that it was my fault. It was.

This recipe makes six individual souffles.

Now, I only have four ramekins at home. (You see where this is going.) I made the full recipe, and figured I’d just bake them a little longer. Turns out, I filled one too much and didn’t bake it long enough.

Three of my souffles came out well. The fourth—one that got a little more of the souffle mixture than the others—flopped.

I would have known this was going to happen—if I tested them with a metal skewer. Which I didn’t. So two strikes against The Mouse. I did, however, wind up with three perfectly lovely souffles, so I’m still considering this a victory.

The moral of the story? Use this recipe, but follow the instructions and fill six ramekins. (Six. Not four. Sigh.)

Marmalade Souffles

Recipe from Fine Cooking magazine

Butter
3 Tbls. sugar + more for the ramekins
2/3 cup marmalade
1 Tbls. lemon juice
1 Tbls. triple sec
2 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar (about 1/16th of a teaspoon or so)

Makes 6 individual soufflees (in 6 oz. ramekins)

How to position your oven racks

Do this first. It’ll only take a sec, and you won’t want to stop to do it once the souffles are ready to go into the oven. You’re going to bake the souffles on the bottom rack. Move the top rack so that you give your souffles about six inches of headroom.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Coat the ramekins with butter and sugar

Grab your ramekins. Generously butter the insides, making sure to get in all the corners.

Put a spoonful of sugar in one.

Roll the sugar around in the ramekin until it coats the bottom and sides.

When it’s coated, tap the excess sugar out. (Tap the sugar out over the next ramekin to use up all the sugar.) Repeat until you’ve coated all the buttered ramekins.

As the souffle rises in the oven, a little bit of this sugar will stick to the edges, providing a really nice texture and crunch.

Make marmalade mixture

Put the marmalade into a large mixing bowl.

Add the lemon juice and orange liqueur to the bowl.

Whisk it all together until it’s uniform.

Like this. Set it aside while you deal with the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks

Measure out your sugar and set it aside.

Put the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer—or in a large mixing bowl if you’re using a handheld mixer or beating by hand. (I started mine out in my KitchenAid, then switched to beating by hand because my whisk attachment wasn’t quite getting to the bottom of the bowl…two egg whites isn’t a lot.)

Be sure that you don’t get any yolk in the whites. The fat in the yolks will keep them from poofing up properly.

Toss in a pinch of cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites until they’re frothy.

When they start to get thick and opaque, start to sprinkle in the sugar little by little, beating as you go. You should notice the whites increase in volume and get glossy.

Stop beating when they hold a stiff peak, like this. (A stiff peak will stand up straight. A soft peak will flop over.)

Fold the beaten egg whites into the marmalade

Scoop about a third of your beaten egg whites into the bowl with the marmalade mixture.

Gently fold them in. Use a light hand. The goal is to knock as little air out of the egg whites as possible. (Less air = less poof when they bake.)

When you’ve incorporated the egg whites, fold in another third.

Then fold in the last third.

Your finished mixture should look about like this.

Fill each ramekin about halfway. Use all six ramekins. Don’t overfill them. (Remember my flopped souffle above.)

Bake the souffles

Put the ramekins on a sheet pan. Pop the pan into your preheated, 425-degree oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the top is a nutty brown color.

As they bake, they’ll start to poof up.

And poof…

…and poof (it’s that tall one on the back right that flopped on me)…

They’re done when the top looks about like this.

Serve them immediately.

Enjoy!

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