Irish Nachos

Have you ever had Irish nachos? I had them for the first time at last year’s Fresh Hop Festival in Eugene. And they were incredible.

Oh, you’ve never heard of them? Well, let me tell you! The first, and perhaps most noticeable, difference between “regular” nachos and Irish nachos is that you use potato chips instead of tortilla chips. I got on board with that pretty quick. The second is that, instead of ground/shredded beef, you use corned beef. Oh yes, oh yes. Other than that, it’s pretty much the same- shredded cheese, onions, sour cream, peppers, etc. Maybe skip the salsa.

This is the corned beef we want. It’s corned beef points, not strips. Er, something like that. You want one whole piece of meat.

I cut mine into chunks so they’d fit better in my itty-bitty crock pot. You don’t have to if you don’t want.

Then just throw the beef in your crock pot with the nifty little pack of seasonings the corned beef comes with.

And a bottle of beer. I’m using Sling Shot Pale Ale.

And I threw in some chopped onions, too. Give it a stir, and let it cook for 5-6 hours on low. A little less is fine, if that’s whatcha need to do!

In the meantime, it’s time to make some potato chips! I totally understand if you opt for buying a bag. I usually would, too, but I was feeling fancy today. To make these, just slice up some potatoes nice and thin. A mandolin would be fabulous for this.

Then toss them with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and I chose to use a little dried rosemary. You don’t gotta if you don’t wanna.

Arrange them single layer on a cookie sheet. Single layer, single layer, single layer. After some failures, I have become a stickler about this.

Bake them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until edges are golden. This may mean checking every few minutes and pulling off chips that browned quicker than others.

When the meat’s done, pull it out of the crock pot and inhale it’s corned beef majesty.

Use two forks to pull the meat apart and shred it. This is fun.

Put some of those potato chips in the bottom of an oven safe baking dish.

Then throw the corned beef and other desired toppings on top in whatever fashion you please. Stick ’em in the oven until the cheese is nice and melty, and you’ve got yourself an Irish nacho.

Scarf them quickly with your beer of choice.

Okay, you don’t have to eat them quickly. That’s just how I do it.