Anyone remember "Ireland's Restaurant" - Nashville

[Rinshinomori]

I brushed the meat with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. As you can see the thickness is now about 3/8 inch thick

[jmjm]

The smaller biscuit is closer to the size of Ireland's biscuits. Two bites is about right.

Ireland's steak biscuits looked more like something that would be served as an appetizer than a main course, or even as snacks at a gallery opening, or something like that - something you could pick up off a tray and eat pretty quickly (except maybe for the dripping butter); to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how they were listed on the menu, as appetizers or a main course. However they were listed, I and most other people ate them as a meal. I probably ate other things at Ireland's, too, but the only other thing I remember is the fudge pie.

¾" thick steak is definitely too thick, if what you want to do is reproduce what Ireland's made. But I can't imagine that anything made out of biscuits, garlicky tenderloin and lots of butter, no matter what size the biscuits and steak pieces were, would not taste pretty good. Trying to reproduce somebody else's memory of what a food was like may be impossible anyway.

However it turns out, I hope you enjoy it tonight. Your biscuits look great, by the way, and Caesar salad sounds better than fries, even to me.

[jmjm]

You posted the pic of the seasoned steak while I was writing my last post. It looks wonderful. I'll try brushing with oil instead of marinating sometime and see how it compares to Ireland's; but, as I said before, I can't imagine that it's not going to taste pretty good regardless. It may even be better than Ireland's, a possibility I had not even considered until now. Happy eating!

[Rinshinomori]

I'm so glad I was introduced to this wonderful dish via this thread. This was excellent and agree that secret is the tender filet mignon quickly seared. Beef was ultra tender at 3/8 inch thick and it is the perfect thickness for this sandwich or any steak sandwich. The liberal buttering of the biscuits is enough to keep this moist along with moist and tender beef. I liked both sizes of the biscuits and it may be easier to make using 2 inch biscuits. I seared the meat, took it out and let it sit for 5-7 minutes and then I cut to size.

Thank you everyone for your input.

[peachez]

" I can't imagine that the brand of flour would have made much difference in the taste of the biscuits. Maybe so if the biscuits had been eaten alone by a flour connoisseur, but with the savory meat, the relative smallness of the biscuits, and the generous application of butter, there wouldn't have been much room for ordinary eaters to detect subtle differences in the flour, if there even were any differences. "

Both brands of flour I mentioned used soft red winter wheat.

Soft wheat is, in fact, the key to understanding why the South is better known for cakes, biscuits and pie crusts than for yeast breads, which require the strength of high-protein flour. Soft red winter wheat was once grown primarily in the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee and, in the days before national food distribution networks, it was the only wheat widely available in the South.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18flour.html?pagewanted=all
-----------------------------------------------------------
Not all flours are created equal. Southern bleached all-purpose flours are made from the soft winter wheat that grows well in the warmer southern climate while northern all-purpose flours are made from the hard spring wheats that grow in the colder climate. Strains of soft winter wheat have less protein than the hard spring wheat and therefore southern all-purpose flours are better-suited for quick breads such as biscuits, cakes and muffins.

Here’s a quick rundown of some flours and their protein contents, taken from the book Cookwise by Shirley O. Corriher:

Cake flours (Swans Down, Softasilk):
7.5 to 8.5% protein

Bleached southern all-purpose (White Lily, Martha White, Gladiola, Red Band):
7.5 to 9.5% protein

National brand self-rising (Gold Medal, Pillsbury):
9 to 10% protein

National brand bleached all-purpose (Gold Medal, Pillsbury):
10 to 12% protein

Northern all-purpose (Robin Hood, Hecker’s):
11 to 12% protein

Northern unbleached all-purpose (King Arthur):
11.7% protein

Bread Flour:
11.5 to 12.5% protein

So, keeping in mind that less protein equals light and tender cakes and quick breads, the flours from the top of this list are going to give you the best results for those types of baked goods. And since more protein equals higher rising yeast breads, the flours from the bottom of the list will be best for those.

[Salad Lover]

I loved Irelands in Tuscaloosa. Steak and biscuits were awesome, but I really adored the spinach salad with the spicy french dressing.
anyone know that recipe?

[pinky kookie]

It is always difficult to find an exact recipe from a restaurant, but these recipes sound similar. Click these links if you want to see them:

Chasen's Spinach Salad With French Dressing - spicy with Tabasco sauce.

Spinach Salad Dressing - Spicy and Fabulous - with cayenne pepper and Tabasco Sauce.

[spice cook]

Some time ago I posted a question for Newby Fry Cook. He said he had been at the Bowling Green, KY location for a time and I thought he might be able to answer a question for me. If you read this message I would appreciate a reply. My question was did you remember an employee (Martha Mauck) at the Bowling Green location. Thanks for a reply to this post.
Spice Cook

[Chocolatl]

spice cook wrote:
Some time ago I posted a question for Newby Fry Cook. He said he had been at the Bowling Green, KY location for a time and I thought he might be able to answer a question for me. If you read this message I would appreciate a reply. My question was did you remember an employee (Martha Mauck) at the Bowling Green location. Thanks for a reply to this post.
Spice Cook

"Newbie Fry Cook" isn't a specific person's ID. It's a general term for a person who has posted only a few messages in the forums.

If you know which person it was, you should probably send them a private message. They may not spend time on the forums.

[FamilyTraditon79]

Ok ladies & gentilemen..I came upon this post just by chance. It just some happens I am the son of a manager/problem solver for Irelands. If u have any questions, and it relates to the recipies or dates 1973 to 1978. Then he ran 5th Quarter stores. Thanks for all the posts. I've had a great time letting him tell me the great stories of his time in Nashville during the 70's & 80's.