By: Jeff Meade

Spuds.

Guinness.

For many cooks, those two words just about sum up Irish food and drink. True, Ireland has a reputation for unimaginative and often heart-stopping cuisine, but it is a new day. Ireland relatively recently began to enjoy prosperity for the first time in modern history. Yes, you can still easily find Ireland’s hearty traditional fare. For travelers, the so-called "full Irish breakfast" of bacon, eggs, sausages, blood pudding and broiled tomatoes is practically unavoidable. However, multiple culinary influences are now taking root in Ireland’s fertile soil.

You can find ample evidence of Ireland’s culinary renaissance on the Web.

Here are the top 10 Irish food and drink sites for 2007:

1. Ice Cream Ireland
http://icecreamireland.com

This is the cute and clever blog of Dingle (County Kerry) ice cream man and self-described "chocoholic" Kieran Murphy. And it’s a rich, flavorful concoction, indeed.

Kieran’s blog is chockfull of luscious, one-of-a-kind recipes and culinary tips. This man really knows his food—and he really knows what we like. Take, for example, his killer recipe for Bailey’s brownies (on this page). And how about a recipe for black and white fudge?

As useful as the recipes and tips are, Murphy’s musings on Kerry and Dingle are full of insights that could only have come from someone who knows the turf. For example: where to find the best Thai restaurant in Killarney, and why you shouldn’t miss the Dingle farmer’s market.

2. Taste of Ireland
http://www.tasteofireland.com

Yes, there is more to Irish cuisine than brown bread and blood pudding.

Don’t believe me? Check out Paolo Tullio’s hugely helpful "Taste of Ireland"—especially if you are planning a trip to the Emerald Isle.

Tullio is an actor—and a well-known (in Ireland) restaurant critic and wine correspondent for the Irish Independent.

Taste of Ireland features restaurant reviews (most, but by no means all of them, focusing on Dublin dining) dating back to 2002. The reviews offer illuminating insights into the country’s increasingly sophisticated and inventive food scene. A few traditional pubs do make their way onto Tullio’s list. But his reviews are more likely to highlight Dublin wine bars, Waterford brasseries and Dundalk trattorias.

3. Dining Pubs
http://www.diningpubs.com

I’ll start by saying that I have serious concerns about the organization of this Web site. Navigating Dining Pubs can be confusing, like trying to find your way through a hall of mirrors. This site is overdue for a redesign.

That said, content is what really makes a Web site useful. Dining Pubs has lots and lots of content—specifically, reviews of pubs throughout Ireland. The navigation also allows users to sort though the reviews to quickly find the most highly recommended bars, the pubs with good food for travelers on a budget, and posh boozeries that also offer guestrooms. You can also track down Irish music bars. (The site also offers far less extensive listings of Irish dining pubs in the United States and the U.K. If I ran the site, I just wouldn’t bother.)

4. Tayto
http://www.tayto.com

For the uninitiated, Taytos are the famous Irish potato chips, or "crisps." If, in your past visits to Ireland, you have savored Taytos cheese-and-onion or prawn cocktail crisps or suffered massive facial puckerage from Taytos’ salt-and-vinegar variety, you can renew your acquaintance—and order more of the habit-forming things—by visiting this colorful and quirky site. Visit "Tayto Castle," where you can download Tayto screensavers, play interactive Tayto-themed games, obtain nutrition information (who are we kidding?), purchase "Mr. Tayto" fridge magnets and tea towels … and order Taytos by the boxload.

5. Food Ireland
http://www.foodireland.com

If buying Taytos in bulk seems like a good idea, then buying McNamee’s brown bread, Kerrygold butter, Galtee Irish sausages and Bewley’s tea in mass quantities is an even better idea. You can get it all delivered to your door from Food Ireland. You can also order "hampers" of genuine Irish foods, for yourself or to give as gifts to the Hiberno-philes in your life.

There’s also a very nice selection of recipes, including soups, breads, meat and fish dishes … and, of course, Irish breakfast. Cardiac arrest on a platter, yes … but what a way to go.

6. Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery School
http://www.cookingisfun.ie

Castles? Ruins? In Ireland, they’re a dime a dozen. But learning how to cook from Darina Allen, author and queen of Irish cuisine? Priceless.

The Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork has been drawing students from around the world since 1983. It’s billed as "Ireland’s longest established private cookery school."

You can learn the secrets of Irish cooking at Ballymaloe, true, but Darina’s school also draws a good many internationally renowned cooks and cookbook authors. For instance, you can sign up to learn how to concoct tabbouleh, falafel and lamb with prunes from Claudia Roden, and organic delicacies from London restaurateur Antony Worrall Thompson.

There are practical short courses in "basic home butchery" and "the magic of filo," and 12-week-long certificate courses. Pressed for time? Sign up for a half-day demo to learn how to make your own homemade butter, yogurt and a simple cheese, or the fine art of serving afternoon tea.

7. Chef Brian Duffy
http://www.chefduff.com

Brian, the head chef at Ambler’s Shanachie Pub, is a special friend of irishphiladelphia.com. Many of his best Irish recipes (colcannon and potato boxty, for example) are available on our site.

"Chef Duff," as he is also known, is quite the popular TV personality. He makes frequent appearances on the "NBC 10! Show," and has also appeared on the Food Network, DIY, HGTV, and Fine Living.

There are a few recipes on Brian’s Web site. The real value, though, can be found in the chef’s event listings. Brian does frequent classes and demonstrations throughout the region. He’s a clear, well-prepared and generous teacher. If you want to catch his act, this is the source.

8. Irish Abroad Recipes from the Irish Kitchen
http://www.irishabroad.com/Culture/Kitchen/recipes.asp

A very nice collection of recipes, most of them Irish and a few rather more international in flavor.

A lot of the traditional fare shows up on this extensive list: soda bread, colcannon, Irish stew, cottage pie and barmbrack. But for the more adventurous, there’s plenty of intriguing recipes to try: rice pudding with Celtic caramel sauce, wild mushroom bread pudding, Dubliner stuffed chicken with bacon and cabbage, and much more.

9. The Irish Whiskey Tasting
http://www.irishwhiskeyevent.com/

Truth be told, there’s not much in the way of actual content on this site. There’s a tiny, not particularly illuminating, history of Irish whiskey.

The purpose of this site is to get you to book an Irish whiskey tasting event, for yourself or a group, when you visit Ireland. Most of the tastings appear to take place in Killarney and Glenbeigh (both in County Kerry). A variety of tastings can be arranged, some of them quite elaborate. There’s even a premium whiskey and chocolate tasting—two delicious vices, all in one go.

10. Allrecipes.com St. Patrick’s Day Recipes
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Holidays-and-Events/St-Patricks-Day/Main.aspx

If you’re hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party, check out this site first. It is easily the most extensive collection of St. Pat’s food and drink recipes on the Web. Some of the contributions, I’ll admit, are quite silly—more "green beer" Irish than actual Irish. (Party spinach spread, for example ... OK, so it’s green.) But many of the recipes actually seem well researched and reasonably authentic.

Irish potatoes—the candy kind, not the tuber type—are not really Irish either, of course, but you really can’t celebrate the holiday here in the States without them. You’ll find some recipes for those fluffy little cinnamon goodies here. Look, too, for tips on how to make your own Irish cream liqueur.