[1] Basiron Pesto Rosso has an Italian name, is made in Holland, and is perfect for an Irish celebration (photo courtesy Atalanta Corp.).

[2] Kerrygold’s Dubliner is a unique cross between Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses (photos #2 and #3 © Kerrygold).

[3] It also is made in a limited edition with Irish stout.

Yesterday we featured a recipe for “Irish Nachos,” made with potatoes. We recommended serving them with a tasting of Irish beers:

 
If you don’t want to cook anything, taste the beers with a platter of Irish-themed cheeses.

Today we feature four brands. Three are Irish—Cahill, Cashel and Kerrygold—but we couldn’t help but recommend our favorite green cheese, made in The Netherlands.

All cheeses Your local cheesemonger may carry them; or look for them online.

All cheeses are made with milk from grass-fed cows, who enjoy a natural life (no hormones).
 
 
1. BASIRON PESTO VERDE

This green beauty (photo #1), made green with the addition of basil-garlic pesto, is a a Gouda*-style cheese, made from pasteurized cow’s milk and vegetarian rennet.

It is made in The Netherlands by the Veldhuyzen family, who make other fabulous-flavored Goudas (below).

 
The line includes Alpine (with herbs from The Alps), Garden Herbs, Garlic, Kummel (caraway), Hot Chili (deep yellow for Halloween), Jalapeño, Mustard, Nettles, Olive Tomato, Pepper, Pesto Rosso (a deep orange color for Halloween or Thanksgiving), Smoked Bacon, Sweet Red Pepper, Tricolor, Truffle, Walnut, Wasabi and Wood Garlic!

We’ve had four of them, but on our bucket list: to try them all at one big tasting.
________________

*How Do You Pronounce Gouda? Most Americans pronounce it “GOO-duh.” But the Dutch might not understand your request. The name of this cheese is pronounced variously as “GAOW-duh” or “HOW-duh” (with the H standing for the Dutch guttural “ch” sound, like clearing your throat).

2. KERRYGOLD

Kerrygold (photos #2 and #3 above) may be better known in the U.S. for its Irish butter, which has national distribution.

But its cheeses deserve equal recognition!

 
Kerrygold also makes specialty versions of two of these cheeses

 
Serve one or all of them. Kerrygold also makes a Swiss cheese, if you want to see how Ireland interprets Switzerland.
 
 
3. CAHILL’S FARM CHEDDAR

Marion Cahill of Cahill’s Farm is recognized as a pioneer of today’s fine Irish cheese.

The Cahill family has been farming and cheesemaking for four generations. Originally the milk was sold locally and the cheese was made for the family. Thankfully, that has changed.

Using a base of tangy Irish cheddar, Marion experimented with flavors, and developed a head-turning range of flavored cheddars (photo #4).

[5] Cashel Blue is an Irish blue cheese in a sweeter style, not salty (photo © more).

Cahill’s makes other flavored cheeses which can be hard to find in the U.S. But keep an eye out for Ardagh Chalice Wine Cheese, Ballintubber Cheese with Chives, Ballyporeen Cheese with Mixed Irish Herbs and Kilbeggen Irish Whiskey Cheese.
 
 
4. CASHEL BLUE

When you think of Irish cheese you don’t think of blue cheese. But Louis and Jane Grubb of Beechmount Farm produces Cashel Blue, a noteworthy blue among all options.

From the rolling hills of Tipperary, will delight people who don’t like robust blue cheeses. It’s extra creamy and not salty (photo #5).
 
 
So eat, drink and be merry, as you treat friends and family to a special “Irish cocktail hour” or beer tasting.

You don’t have to hold it on St. Patrick’s Day. No one would turn down the opportunity, whenever the invite arrives.
 
 

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[2] Thousand Island Dressing. The recipe is (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Got beer? Serve the nachos with some Irish brew. Murphy’s has been brewing beer in Ireland since 1854 (photo of Murphy’s Irish Red Ale © Murphy’s).

[4] The flagship of the O’Hara’s brand, this old-style stout is reminiscent of how Irish stouts used to taste (photo © Carlow Brewing).

Updated August 2026

You won’t want to wait until St. Pat’s to enjoy this scrumptious snack.

Serve it with your favorite beer—or in the spirit of the holiday, one of these Irish beers.

In fact, how about an Irish beer tasting along with the nachos? Here are some of the most popular brands:

• Beamish Irish Stout
• Fuller’s
• Guinness Draught, Extra Stout, and Foreign Extra Stout
• Harp Lager
• Murphy’s Irish Red
• Murphy’s Irish Stout
• O’Hara’s Celtic Stout
• O’Hara’s Irish Wheat
• Porterhouse Brewing Co. Oyster Stout
• Smithwick’s Irish Ale

 
Below:

> Reuben “Irish Nachos” recipe.

> Thousand Island dressing recipe.

> The history of Thousand Island dressing.

> Thousand Island dressing vs. Russian dressing: the differences.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> More nachos recipes.

> The history of nachos.

> The year’s 90 snack holidays.

> 10 classic Irish dishes.

> 100 Irish-themed recipes.

> Corned beef recipes.

> Irish coffee recipes.

> The history of St. Patrick’s Day.
 
 
1. RECIPE: REUBEN “IRISH NACHOS”

This recipe, created by Idaho Potatoes, has no common ingredients with the popular Tex-Mex recipe—except perhaps for the scallion garnish.

The Idaho Potato Commission calls them “Irish nachos,” a fun way of reinterpreting a favorite American snack.

Crisp slices of roasted potatoes take the place of tortilla chips; then get topped with Irish-themed corned beef, bacon, sauerkraut; Swiss cheese; and New York State-origin Thousand Island dressing.

It’s a crowd pleaser, especially with beer!
 
Variation: You can also turn these ingredients into a layered “Irish Potato Salad” in a glass bowl—like a layered dip, but a side dish.

Ingredients For The Nachos

 
2. RECIPE: THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

There are many variations of the Thousand Island dressing recipe. The original recipe included a hard-boiled egg that was sieved and added as a thickener.

This one omits the egg in favor of a thinner, more pourable, dressing.

Because we like lots of dressing, we ended up doubling it. The “extra” was gone in two days!

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the Thousand Island Dressing at least one hour in advance of using (and the day before, if desired). Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Taste and add additional seasoning if desired. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld.

2. PREHEAT the oven to 450°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

3. PLACE the potato slices in a large bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Turn the oven down to 350°F.

4. TRANSFER the potato slices to the prepared baking sheets, spreading them out in an even layer (be sure not to overlap the slices). Bake for 12 minutes on each side, or until golden and slightly crispy.

5. LIGHTLY GREASE a cast iron pan or small baking dish. Layer the potatoes in the bottom of the pan. Top with the chopped corned beef, sauerkraut, and grated Swiss cheese (in that order). Sprinkle with crumbled bacon. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

6. DRIZZLE the dressing over the top and garnish with the scallions. Serve immediately.
 
 
3. THE HISTORY OF THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

Thousand Island Dressing (photo #2) was named after the Thousand Islands, an archipelago of 1,864 small islands in the St. Lawrence River, straddling the border of the U.S. and Canada.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during the Gilded Age, the area was a summer destination for the nation’s elite (and is still very popular for boating, fishing and other outdoor activities).

The dressing is a variation of Russian Dressing—a combination of ketchup and mayonnaise—with added sweet pickle relish and a hard-boiled egg. The bits of pickle relish are said to stand in for the Thousand Islands, but that’s likely an afterthought.

As the story goes, in the early 20th century, a fishing guide’s wife, Sophia Lalonde of Clayton, New York (spelled Sofia in Thousand Islands Magazine) made the dressing to go with her husband’s shore dinners, which were served to his fishing tour clients.

One of the clients, a vaudeville actress named May Irwin, liked it so much that she requested the recipe and named it Thousand Island Dressing.

At around the same time, Mrs. Lalonde gave the recipe to the owners of the Herald Hotel, a popular hotel in town (today called the Thousand Islands Inn) where Ms. Irwin and her husband were staying. They prepared it for her meals.

Ms. Irwin, in turn, gave it to another Thousand Islands summer visitor George C. Boldt, the owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City (among other properties).

Boldt liked it so much that he gave it to his Waldorf maître d’, Oscar Tschirky (the famous “Oscar of the Waldorf”), with instructions to put it on the hotel’s menu [source].

From there, the recipe took on a life of its own, with requests for copies; plus the many variations of the recipe that followed. Some recipes, like the one above, for example, omit the hard-boiled egg.

The hard-boiled egg was pressed through a sieve; it served to thicken the dressing.

While that may sound unusual today, it wasn’t uncommon as a thickener at the time that Thousand Island dressing was created. Here’s a recipe with the egg.
 
 
4. THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING VS. RUSSIAN DRESSING: THE DIFFERENCES

Russian dressing first appeared in print at the turn of the 20th century, with references emerging around 1900. It was credited to a grocer named James E. Colburn, of Nashua, New Hampshire. A variation, Thousand Island dressing, appeared not long after, around 1910, created by a local innkeeper, Sophia LaLonde.

Structurally, the two dressings are culinary fraternal twins. Both are mayonnaise-based, pinkish-orange emulsified dressings built on a tangy, sweet foundation of chili sauce or ketchup and chopped pickles.

The differences come down to a few subtle ingredient shifts and their historic origins:

• The Pickle Element. Classic Russian dressing traditionally relies on chopped pickles or pickle relish, but it often leans toward a sharper, punchier bite with extra horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, or hot sauce added to the mix. Thousand Island typically sticks strictly to sweet pickle relish or finely minced gherkins.
• The Extra Mix-Ins. Traditional Thousand Island dressing is famous for incorporating finely minced hard-boiled eggs and sometimes pimientos into the base, giving it a chunkier texture and a slightly milder, sweeter flavor profile. Russian dressing tends to keep it smoother, focusing more on the spicy, savory kick from chili sauce and spices.

 

[5] A few of the Thousand Islands, spanning the border of New York State and Ontario (photo © Visit 1000 Islands).
 
 

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One of our early food influencers was the late French chef, Jean Banchet, whose restaurant in Wheeling, Illinois was a destination for serious foodies the world over.

In the days we visited, during the last decade of Le Français, the way in which his menu was unique was his approach to showcasing foods in different ways—all on one plate.

Whether you wanted beef, chicken, foie gras, lamb, pork or seafood, he divided the portion and served it in different expressions, varying the technique, sauce, cut or other component.

The potential variations were vast. You could order the lamb, say, at three different visits, and never have the same combination.

This was, and still is, our kind of eating.

As we don’t have a brigade de cuisine, we typically prepare a much simpler presentation: the protein, simply cooked (grilled, poached, whatever), served with different garnishes or sauces.

You don’t need a special plate with different sections: Banchet use his regular porcelain dinner plates, as do we.

You can take this approach with any course: Who would turn down cheesecake with three different toppings; or pound cake with custard sauce, caramel sauce and fudge sauce?

The benefit of this approach is you don’t have to decide: Enjoy three favorites at once.

HOW TO DO IT

Depending on time and inclination, you can make this as simple or varied as you like.

 
Simple Versus Complex

It can be as simple as three salsas—red, green and corn or fruit salsa; or a similar treatment with barbecue sauce—fruit, smoky and spicy.

If you’re a devoted saucier, try three mother sauces or secondary sauces from classic French cuisine.

Or, go international, with sauces and garnishes from, say, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean.
 
Simple Approaches

Here are examples of easy approaches to favorite proteins, that simply vary the sauce:

Here are how two restaurants approached the same fish: [1] Tuna three ways from Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Mexico. [2] Tuna three ways from Michalangelo’s Piccolo Mondo in Sandton, South Africa. [3] In addition to the gravy from pan drippings, serve two other sauces (photo courtesy Mackenzie Ltd.). [4] Three flavors of mousse in mini dishes (photo courtesy Simply Quinoa | YouTube).

 
Complex Approaches

Here, the cooking technique is varied: You’re cooking three different dishes instead of making three different sauces.

 
The “three ways” concept works for everything from humble burgers and sliders and grilled cheese sandwiches to filet mignon and lobster.

To adapt what a lesson from our high school algebra teacher: the permutations and combinations extend beyond our lifetime.