Our Best St. Patrick's Day Recipes

Corned beef is one of the most popular dishes to eat on St. Patrick's Day and originated during the days when refrigeration didn't exist and foods were likely pickled or cured to preserve them.

This tender braised leg of lamb might be served at a private dinner party. David Mawhinny then sandwiches any extra meat and meat juices with pickled vegetables and focaccia for lunch.

For hot punches, young Irish whiskeys work best. Heat intensifies the tannic edge of older whiskeys; young ones stay smooth.

Sour cream or cream cheese may be the usual spread with salty smoked salmon, but chef David Tanis thinks softened butter makes a tasty alternative. (Think of ham-and-butter sandwiches.) To give the butter a zippy bite, he stirs in lemon zest and both Dijon and grainy mustards.

This leg of lamb is perfectly juicy in the center, with a fantastic crust. The recipe is so easy that it's ideal for a dinner party.

This hearty, comforting soup takes less than an hour to make, and you probably have most of the ingredients already on hand — just pick up some leeks, potatoes, and cream.

"This recipe is based on the one my Irish mother learned in school, thanks to the cooking textbook All in the Cooking," former Food & Wine editor Margaret Eby says. "It's about as simple as bread gets — four ingredients, one bowl, about five minutes to bring together and less than an hour in the oven. If you love soda bread, it's worth seeking out Irish flour like Odlum's or King Arthur's Irish-Style Flour, since that contributes to the taste, but any all-purpose flour will work fine here."

Galway Chef JP McMahon uses a combination of light brown sugar and Ireland's most famous stout to create a malted, sweet-but-balanced glaze that ham soaks up.

These savory hand pies are filled with lamb that's been cooked with thyme, rosemary, and sage, making for something close to a gorgeous, self-contained, handheld pot pie.

Boxty, classic Irish potato pancakes, are usually a side dish, but are hearty enough to make for their own main.

Here, chef Cathal Armstrong rubs lamb loins with herbs, garlic, and shallots, then ties them up, sears them, and finishes them in the oven. The result is succulent, delicately flavored meat.

Light yet oaky, Irish whiskey joins tart lemon juice, honey, and spicy ginger beer in this refreshing, fizzy, basil-scented Irish Buck cocktail.

In this recipe from chef JP McMahon, a combination of dry hard cider and dried seaweed brings a sweet, mild salinity to the stock, making it ideal for precooking the mussels and clams before using it as the base of the chowder.

"A staple in Irish and Irish-American households, fish pie is usually topped with a puree of white potatoes," Food & Wine senior food editor Mary-Frances Heck writes in her cookbook, Sweet Potatoes. "But swap white potatoes for sweet potatoes, and it turns out that the mild brininess of the fish is fantastic with the slightly sweet topping. Feel free to substitute salmon or a mild white-fleshed fish for the cod, and shucked clams for the scallops. I find that piping the sweet potato puree onto the casserole is the easiest way to seal in the filling, though carefully spreading it with some patience also works."