Taste o’ the Irish

Food o’ the Irish

With St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 just around the corner, it’s a good time to think about preparing some traditional Irish dishes for family and friends. While our local stores may promote corned beef and cabbage for the classic Irish supper, there are a variety of other Irish-themed dishes to try, courtesy of our readers, that will make you want to celebrate the day from breakfast to dessert, topped off with a chilled glass of Irish cream. After all, as an old Irish proverb says, “Laughter is brightest where food is best."

Dublin Coddle Photo by Brooke Echols

Brooke Burks

Cabbage is a staple in lots of recipes that celebrate the heritage of St. Patrick’s Day. Many of the recipes that are steeped in Southern tradition are also ones that came over with the Irish when they settled in our region of America. Our cooking is steeped deeply in the history and tradition of our ancestors. That’s why I love it so much. We can see and feel history in the recipes that are handed down through the generations. This recipe takes cabbage (in ample supply this time of year) and changes it a bit by frying it in bacon grease. We then make it a real Southern recipe by putting it in a casserole!

Fried Cabbage Casserole

1 medium head of cabbage, chopped 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 pound bacon, cut up into small pieces 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1 can cream of celery soup 1/4 cup milk 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 cup French-fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a Dutch oven, fry bacon in butter until brown and crispy. Remove and drain. Place cabbage in bacon grease, cover and cook over low to medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Turn off heat. Add in bacon, mayo, milk and cream of celery. Mix well. Pour into a lightly greased casserole dish. Spread evenly and top with cheese and fried onions. Bake 45 – 60 minutes until onions are browned and cheese is melted.

Photo by The Buttered Home

Janice Bracewell, Covington EC

Janice Bracewell, a “converted Yankee” from

Boston who’s lived in her adopted home of Andalusia for many years, enjoys making her Irish Boiled Dinner as one of many “diversified dinners” she and her family enjoy. “I’m of Italian descent,” she says, “and even though my mother was Italian I got this recipe from my mother.” She uses two pans to make the dish, corned beef in one and the cabbage in another, and she doesn’t always add the turnips because not everyone likes them. With or without turnips, the combination of corned beef brisket and vegetables “makes a good hearty meal, especially on a cold day,” she says.

Janice Bracewell and greatgranddaughter Harper Rose Bulger

Irish Boiled Dinner

3-4 pound corned beef brisket 8 small onions 8 medium carrots 2 turnips, cubed, if desired 4 potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered 1 medium green cabbage, cut into wedges

Caraway seed

Photo by Brooke Echols

Place brisket in large cast iron pan or Dutch oven; cover with cold water. Cover tightly; simmer 3-1/2 hours or until tender. Skim fat from liquid. Add onions, carrots, turnips and potatoes. Sprinkle with caraway seed. Cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove meat to warm platter. Add cabbage; simmer uncovered 10 to 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Serves 8.

Cook of the month

Send us your original recipes and you could win $50!

Recipes can be developed by you or family members. You may even adapt a recipe from another source by changing as little as the amount of one ingredient. Chosen cooks may win “Cook of the Month” only once per calendar year. To be eligible, submissions must include a name, phone number, mailing address and co-op name. Alabama Living reserves the right to reprint recipes in our other publications.

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June: Summer Salads | March 4 July: Cobblers | April 1 August: Peppers | May 6

Homemade Irish Cream + Irish Shortbread Cookies

Irish Cream: 1 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon instant espresso 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder 1 cup Irish whiskey 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

Shortbread: 8 ounces butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup sugar 1¾ cups flour 1/4 cup cornstarch

Irish Cream: Mix 1 tablespoon of the cream in a bowl with the espresso and cocoa powder until smooth. Add the remaining cream and stir. Add the whiskey, vanilla and condensed milk. Stir until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bottle. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to use it. For the Shortbread: Mix the softened butter and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Add the sugar. Mix. Add the flour and cornstarch. Mix well. Empty mixture onto a floured countertop or cutting board. Knead for 30 seconds until dough forms into a ball. Lightly flour your rolling pin and roll out the dough so it's 1/4-inch thick. Cut with shamrock-shaped cookie cutters and place on sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Knead dough scraps together, roll, and cut out more shamrocks, until dough all used. Place pan in refrigerator, uncovered, for 1-10 hours. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator. Bake for 12 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Robin O'Sullivan Wiregrass EC

Homemade Irish Cream

Crispy Roasted Potatoes

6–8 medium red potatoes, skins on 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 cup chopped red onion

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Boil potatoes whole in salted water until a toothpick can go all of the way through. Do not over boil! After potatoes have cooled, cube the potatoes to bite-size pieces. Spread in an even layer on a greased sheet pan with chopped onions. Drizzle with olive oil and mix well to distribute oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix again lightly and spread back into a single layer. Bake in 425 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring halfway through, until crispy and brown.

The Buttered Home

Crispy Roasted Potatoes

Instant Pot Rosemary Beef Stew

Dublin Coddle

1 16-ounce package of bacon, chopped 5 bratwurst 1 large onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 beer 3 cups new potatoes, peeled and quartered 3 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup parsley

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot cook the chopped bacon over medium high heat until golden brown, remove to a paper towel to drain. Add bratwurst, browning on all sides and remove to a paper towel. Add onions and sauté for 4 minutes. Put in the garlic, cooking for 2 minutes. Pour in the beer and continue cooking the onions down 2 more minutes. Add potatoes and chicken broth, cooking until potatoes are soft. Add parsley, bacon and bratwurst back to the pot. Bring everything together and cook for 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and serve. 2 pounds stew beef 1 envelope French onion soup mix 4 cups water 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed 2 cups carrots, peeled and chopped 1/2 yellow onion, diced 3 celery stalks, diced 1 cup sliced mushrooms 1 sprig rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

Add first three ingredients to Instant Pot and stir well. Set Instant pot to manual or pressure cook for 45 minutes. NPR or release pressure naturally for 10-12 minutes. Release vent to allow any remaining pressure to escape and open lid carefully. Add in vegetables, salt, pepper and rosemary. Stir and place the lid back on and set for 15 minutes to manual or pressure cook. NPR again and enjoy!

The Buttered Home

Kirk Vantrease Cullman EC

Alabama is ready to roll as electric vehicles transform the way we drive

Tennessee Valley Authority, local power company partners and customer associations are on the leading edge of preparing for the electric vehicle revolution. In recent years, TVA’s economic development team has worked with state and local agencies to attract several large automakers to locate or expand their electric vehicle manufacturing operations in the region.

As EVs begin to dominate the roads in the next decade, we are making sure Alabama is ready by ensuring drivers have access to a robust fast-charging infrastructure.

In late January, Fort Payne Improvement Authority hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the installation of two EV fast chargers, making it the first operational charging site in TVA’s regional Fast Charge Network. The Fast Charge Network supports the broader National Electric Highway Coalition, enabling long-distance electric vehicle travel by placing public fast chargers every 50 miles along interstates and major highways throughout Alabama and across the United States.

This fast charger site was made possible through a partnership with TVA, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) and Seven States Power Corporation. TVA provided the DC fast chargers, and ADECA contributed over $45,000 from Alabama’s Volkswagen Mitigation trust grant program for electric vehicles.

According to FPIA’s General Manager Mike Shirey, FPIA “moved quickly to participate in this program because we want to make it easy for people to choose EVs so our community can enjoy the environmental and economic benefits of electric transportation.” He also noted that the support from TVA and grant funding from ADECA made it possible to add charging stations Kevin Chandler is customer relations director, Regional Relations South, for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

without affecting customers’ bills. The benefits of supporting an estimated 200,000 increase in EVs by 2028 in the region are significant: • Attracting good jobs — $13.8 billion in EV and battery manufacturing have already helped create over 10,000 EV-related jobs. • Reducing carbon emissions from gasoline vehicles by almost 1 million metric tons per year or the equivalent of Left to Right: Lauren Pelto, TVA Director of Government & Community Relations (South), Brian Baine, Mayor of Fort Payne, Gwen Shelton, Office the carbon sequestered by 1 million acres of US forests in of Sen. Tuberville, Shan McMillian, Office of Sen. Shelby, Johnny Turner, one year. Office of Rep. Brooks, James Manasco, Office of Rep. Aderholt, Jared • Reinvesting $120 million Mitchem, TVA Regional Vice President (South)t in the local economy every year from electric refueling. • Saving drivers up to $1,000 in fuel and maintenance costs every year. In a statement, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said, “We are showing the nation that once again Alabama is an electric vehicle leader with Fort Payne Improvement Authority’s deployment of the first charging station in TVA’s seven-state Fast Charge Network. FPIA’s charging station, Left to Right: Elaine Fincannon, Deputy Director of the Alabama Department of Economic & Community Affairs, Jeannette Mills, TVA and others like it, will keep Alabama’s economy rolling by Executive Vice President & Chief External Relations Officer, Mike Shirey, serving as a convenient place General Manager of Fort Payne Improvement Authority, Brian Baine, Mayor to charge EVs. When electric of Fort Payne, Betsey Kirk McCall – President & CEO of Seven States Power vehicle owners stop in our Corporation, Jared Mitchem – TVA Regional Vice President (South) communities — large and small — to charge their vehicles, they are spending money with local businesses and creating a local economic impact in those areas while waiting for their car to charge.” Seven States Power Corporation, an energy solutions cooperative owned and operated by the 153 local power companies across the Tennessee Valley, provided technical and project management support to FPIA on this project. During the ribbon cutting ceremony, President and CEO of Seven States Betsey Kirk McCall noted, “This is a great example of how through partnerships, we can design, develop and deploy technologies to enhance communities we serve. This project creates a blueprint for the rest of the Tennessee Valley.” To learn more about the Fast Charge Network, calculate how much money an EV could save you or locate EV charging stations on your travel route, check out https://energyright.com/ev/.

The net zero transition

Unless you have avoided political news and social media, you know the cornerstone of every Biden Administration initiative is the transition to “Net Zero” by 2050. The Administration has mandated that every government action must be evaluated upon its carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions and its contribution to reducing emissions to net zero by 2050. It is no longer good enough for government actions to help people, provide jobs or build infrastructure - these actions now must contribute to the net zero goal.

In January, McKinsey & Company, a respected global research firm, produced a comprehensive report titled, “The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring.” The report is more than 200 pages.

The preface to the report contains a sobering statement (or maybe a warning). “At present, though, the net zero equation remains unsolved: greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated and are not counterbalanced by removals, nor is the world prepared to complete the net-zero transition. Indeed, even if all net zero commitments and national climate pledges were fulfilled, research suggests that warming would not be held to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, increasing the odds of initiating the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, including the risk of biotic feedback loops. Moreover, most of these commitments have yet to be backed by detailed plans or executed.”

Such a statement means that, although a number of countries have made commitments to hold greenhouse gas emissions to net zero, those commitments are merely empty promises, and almost nothing is being done to reach net zero. There are no plans by the world’s governments to achieve net zero. Other than the United States and a few other countries closing coal-fired electric generating plants, there is little preparation or effort toward net zero commitments. Also, the report cites research suggesting that, even if all the net zero commitments were completed, limiting the increase to 1.5 degrees C from pre-industrial levels likely would not be achieved.

The report anticipates capital spending of $275 trillion on physical assets for energy and land-use systems in the net zero transition between 2021 and 2050. Although much of the spending will be required in early years, averaging $9.2 trillion per year, an annual increase of as much as $3.5 trillion from today. To put this increase in comparative terms, the $3.5 trillion is approximately equivalent, in 2020, to half of global corporate profits, one-quarter of total tax revenue, and 7 percent of global household spending. The transition would require the single largest investment made in any industry in history, and could result in a loss of about 185 million jobs, mostly in the fossil fuel extraction and power sectors by 2050. That loss could be offset by a gain of about 200 million jobs, including jobs in operations and construction of physical assets, renewable power, hydrogen, and biofuels, says McKinsey. It is important to recognize the U.S. total workforce in 2020 was about 165 million workers. More sobering is the report’s projection that the scale of workforce reallocation may be smaller than that of other trends, such as automation. Again, no small feat to reorganize, retrain, deploy, and employ a workforce larger than the current total U.S. workforce.

The report also predicts the global average delivered cost of electricity would increase by about 25% from 2020 until 2040 and still be about 20% higher in 2050. Global electric prices would then decline from that peak back to 2020 levels, although the pricing would vary across global regions as the power sector builds renewables and transmission and distribution capacity. However, the report warns that near-term cost increases could be significantly higher if grid intermittency issues are not well managed.

These changes are not nearly comprehensive of all that will be required to achieve net-zero. The report states major systemic changes must be made in the carbon-emitting energy and landuse systems: power, industry, mobility, buildings, agriculture, forestry, and waste. That means we all will have to make significant changes in our jobs, and our lives — the energy we use, the food we eat, the transportation we use, how we travel, and the freedoms we have.

Most importantly, the report acknowledges no exploration of the critical question of who pays for the transition. It establishes that such a move will require collective and global action, particularly as the burdens of the transition would not be evenly felt. The prevailing notion of enlightened self-interest alone is unlikely to be sufficient to help achieve net zero, and the transition would challenge traditional orthodoxies and require unity, resolve, and ingenuity from leaders.

This means all the governments and world leaders must work together to achieve such ambitious goals. That includes the governments that are currently threatening to invade neighbors and disrupting global commerce.

With all due respect to those that see net-zero as the only path to an inhabitable world, the chances of world leadership doing anything other than messing this up and disrupting everyone’s lives are less than my chances of jumping to the moon. We would be better advised to spend our time on issues that make sense, actually help people, and to invest in nuclear power, the only practical net zero solution.

I hope you have a good month.

Gary Smith is President and CEO of PowerSouth Energy Cooperative.

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Under the Big Top

Illustration by Dennis Auth

Selma. Summer. 1949.

I had just “graduated” from Mrs. Elder’s kindergarten and was scheduled to start first grade at Byrd School when I woke to the news.

While I was sleeping, the circus came to town.

On a siding in the railway yard, roustabouts had unloaded crates of circus cargo, including cages in which exotic animals paced and pawed. Then, when everything was in place, a line formed and the whole kit-and-caboodle paraded along Broad Street to announce their arrival.

We were ready. Word had spread and it seemed like everyone who lived between Marion and Montgomery turned out. My Daddy hoisted me upon his shoulders so I could see.

What a sight it was. Lions and tigers, monkeys doing tricks, acrobats on horses, clowns packed into tiny cars, and elephants walking in single file, trunk holding the tail of the one in front. It was a marvel I remember to this day.

Crossing the Alabama River on the Edmund Pettus bridge, the parade stopped at what had been a cotton field, and there they set up the Big Top.

Once everything was in place, they invited us to come and see. We did.

The crowd entered the grounds through the Midway, an avenue

Harvey H. (Hardy) Jackson is retired Professor Emeritus at Jacksonville State University. He can be reached at hhjackson43@gmail.com of entertainment that lured us toward the main tent.

There were games of chance where guys paid and played in hopes of winning a Kewpie Doll for the girl of their dreams. There were “curiosities” like the “Dog-Faced Boy”, whose snarling scared the little kids. There were bumper cars and a “Tilt-a-Whirl” that was good for at least one throw-up from the kid who ate too much cotton candy. All that and more but none of it, the voice over the loud speaker assured us, could compare with what awaited us under the Big Top.

So, we paid again and in we went.

The voice was right.

Inside we saw “daring young men on the flying trapeze,” along with young women just as daring. We saw bareback riders nearly falling off, but always recovering. We saw knives thrown dangerously close to scantily-clad beauties, and we saw a marksman who never missed.

No wonder boys dreamed of running away and joining the circus.

What I did not realize at the time was that I was seeing a part of Americana that was already fading away. Traveling shows that entertained small town folks like us were falling prey to rising costs and enforced regulations, especially where animals were concerned. The bigger shows moved to bigger cities with arenas that hosted everything from hockey to basketball to Barnum and Bailey (which stopped presenting its circus shows with animals in 2017).

As for the smaller shows, a few have hung on and if you want one for your town or event, just search online for “traveling circus” and check them out.

And if you invite a circus to visit your town, let me know.

I’d like to see one again.