Irish Soup Marigold and Mutton Broth

Mutton Broth.

Any description of trimmings of mutton may be used for broth, but the scrag ends of the neck are usually chosen. Put two scrags into a stewpan (having previously jointed the bones), with three onions, three turnips, and one carrot; fill up the stewpan with a gallon of water, and place it upon the fire; when boiling, set it at the corner, where let it simmer for three hours, keeping it well skimmed; then cut a small carrot, two turnips, an onion, with a little leek and celery, into small square pieces, which put into another stewpan, with a wine- glassful of pearl-barley; skim every particle of fat from the broth, which pour through a hair sieve over them; let the whole boil gently at the corner of the fire until the barley is tender, when it is ready to serve; the meat may be trimmed into neat pieces, and served with the broth, or separately with melted butter and parsley, or onion sauce. Half or even a quarter of the above quantity can be made by reducing the ingredients in proportion.

Irish Soup Made of Mutton Broth.

This soup is made similar to the last, adding ten or twelve mealy potatoes cut into large dice, omitting the other vegetables, which being boiled to a puree thicken the broth; just before serving, throw in twenty heads of parsley, and at the same time add a few flowers of marigold, which will really give it a very pleasing flavor.

-Soyer's Standard Cookery.Nicolas Soyer, 1912.

Balnamoon Skink, an Irish Soup

727. Balnamoon Skink, an Irish Soup.—Clean and cut into pieces two or three young cocks, or fowls. Have one larger neatly trussed as for boiling. Boil the cut fowls till the broth is as strong and good as they can make it; but do not overboil the uncut fowl. Strain the broth, season it with parsley, chives, and young onions chopped, and, if in season, a few tender green peas. Add white pepper and salt, and serve the whole fowl in the tureen, or separately.—Obs. This soup may be immensely improved in quality and appearance by adding, before serving, a liaison of two beat eggs, and a little cream. It is another variety of the Scottish Friars' Chicken, or Cock-a-leeHe; dishes which, under some name, are, with whatever modification of seasonings, familiar in every country where a backward system of husbandry renders indifferent poultry plentiful, and shambles-meat scarce.

N.B.—Without desiring to innovate on these national preparations, we would recommend, for the sake of the ladies' dresses, and the gentlemen's toil in fishing it up, that the fowl be carved before it is served in the tureen.

-The Cook and Housewife's Manual. Christian Isobel Johnstone, 1847.

Bretton laws and Scalding

The Brehon Laws while honouring cooks stated that the cook cannot be held responsible for a person getting scalded when he is serving food from a cauldron if he shouts out in a loud voice a warning to those a round him. (Danaher, K 1972)-

A History of Irish Cuisine (Before and After the Potato)

John Linnane BSc, MSc.

Corn Cake-the Yellow Indian and the Famine

William Bennett and his son had visited that part, in March, distributing donations at his own expense mostly, and his painful descriptions had awakened a strong desire to see for myself, and though I had no means in hand, had reason to hope that there might be some on the ocean. I took the coach for Derry, a few miles from that town. The mother of Miss Hewitson was to meet me in her own carriage, and conduct me to her house in Bossgarrow. Derry had not suffered so much as many other towns, and a stranger passing through would not notice anything peculiar from the condition in past years. But this little relief was but to make what followed appear the more painful. Mrs. Hewitson met me with her son, and we took tea at a delightful little mansion on the sloping side of one of Ireland's green lawns, looking down upon a beautiful lake. And is there, I asked, on this pretty spot, misery to be found ?—" Come and see," was the answer of my kind friend. It was twilight when we stepped into the carriage, and few painful objects met us till we reached her dwelling.

Her paternal cottage was nestled in a pretty wood, its roof thatched, and its windows shaded by the creeping vine in front. On one end, a window gave one of the most beautiful peeps upon a lake that can be imagined ; and the back contained a garden which was one of the most pleasant retreats I had met, for the gooseberry was just ripe. Here had this discreet, this "virtuous woman," lived, and by precept and example trained a family of sons and daughters, which will, which do arise and call her blessed. Her husband had been an officer, and was then receiving a small pension, and during the first season of the famine had been employed by government as an overseer of the Board of Works. His heart had become sickened at the scenes which came under his eye, some sketches of which have been before the public.

The morning lighted up a pretty cottage, well ordered, and the breakfast-table presented a treat unseen before by me in Ireland. Instead of the bread, butter, tea, and egg, which are the height of the best Irish breakfast, there was a respectable corn-cake, made as it should be, suitable accompaniments of all kinds, with the best of cream for me ; and were it not that the hungry had then commenced their daily usages of assembling in crowds about the house for food, that breakfast would have been a pleasant one. When I had ascertained that her husband had been in America, and from him she had been told of the virtues of corn-cake, and that her skill had been exercised till she had brought it to perfection—it was valued if possible still more. Had the Irish mothers throughout Ireland managed as did this woman, their task in the famine would have been much lighter—the poor, many more of them, would have been saved, and multitudes who have gone down might have retained their standing. Had the higher classes known how to have changed the meal into the many palatable shapes as did this economical housekeeper, when the wheaten loaf was so high, immense money might have been saved to all parties. It was brought in such disrepute by bad cooking, that many would be ashamed to be found eating it, and one man who was begging most earnestly for food, when offered some of this prepared in the Irish style, turned away in contempt, saying, " No, thank God, I've never been brought to ale the yeller indian."

- Lights and Shades of Ireland. Asenath Nicholson, 1858.

About Potatoes-Irish Peasant Style

Potato boiled.—Meg Dods says there are great varieties of potatoes, and fully as many ways of cooking them, but recommends boiling in preference to steaming. Mrs. Rundell prefers steaming, or, if boiled, in plenty of water, and when half done, some cold water and salt thrown in, and boil until not quite done, and then left in the pot near the fire.*

* This is the Irish peasant's way (if he wishes to fast for six hours), as it leaves the bone or moon in it. The origin of the word in Irish, an ghealeach , is that, when a half-cooked potato is cut in two, the centre shows a disk, with a halo around it, like the moon. This does not digest so quick, and allows the person who eats it to go longer without food, which I consider a great detriment to the of the stomach.

-A Shilling Cookery for the People.Alexis Soyer, 1855.

Irish Pudding

Irish Puddings.

Take one egg, and its weight in sugar, in flour, and in butter. Add a very little lemon juice, and grated lemon peel.

Beat it well and lightly for nearly a quarter of an hour ; pour it into small tins and bake for twenty minutes.

This quantity makes three cup puddings.

-Reeve, Mrs. HenryCookery and Housekeeping: A Manual of Domestic Economy for Large and Small…1882, p. 395

Irish Rock

Irish Rock.

A sweet for dessert. Wash the salt from half a pound of butter, and beat into it a quarter of a pound of finely powdered sugar; blanch a pound of sweet almonds and an ounce of bitter; pound these in a mortar, reserving enough of the sweet almonds to spike for ornamenting the dish when sent to table; add the butter and, sugar, with a quarter of a glass of brandy, and pound until smooth and white; when, after having become firm, it may be molded into a large egg-like shape, and stuck full of almond meats. Il should be placed high on a glass dish, with a decoration' of green sweetmeats and a sprig of myrtle, or garnish with any green fruits

or sweetmeats.

The Successful Housekeeper: A Manual of Universal Application…, Milton W. Ellsworth, 1882, p.117

Irish Plumb Pudding

Irish Plum Pudding

2 1/2 cups stale bread crumbs

4 eggs

1/2 pound raisins

1 cup milk

1/2 pound citron

1/2 pound beef suet

1/2 pound currants

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/3cup brandy

Put bread crumbs in double boiler, add milk and cook until milk is scalded. Chop suet and work with the hands until creamy; then add sugar gradually, while working constantly. Add maple syrup, salt, eggs well beaten, and raisins stoned and cut in pieces, citron cut in thin strips, and currants mixed and dredged with flour mixed with baking powder; then add brandy. Turn into a buttered mould, cover and steam twenty-four hours. It may be steamed twelve hours one day and twelve hours the next. Re-heat in steamer for serving; the time required being about one and one-fourth hours. Turn on a hot serving dish, insert sparkers and garnish with holly (if used at Christmas dinner) and Brandy Sauce (see p. 262); also accompany with Yankee Sauce (see p. 259).

-A New Book of Cookery, Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1917, p. 255.

Irish SANDWICHES.

No. 361.—IRISH SANDWICHES.

Between slices of very thin crisp toast place alternate layers of very thin slices of roast game, shred celery, and Tartar sauce; dish up on a napkin,-The cook's guide, and housekeeper's & butler's assistant: a practical ...Charles Elmé Francatelli 1867, p.124

Irish Potato Pudding

IRISH POTATO PUDDING.

One and a half pints of fine mashed potatoes, one pint cream, one nutmeg, one and a half pounds sugar, one and a half pounds butter, ten eggs. Bake in paste; then spread on meringue and brown.

IRISH POTATO PUDDING.

Two tea-cupfuls sugar, two tea-cupfuls butter, one tea-cupful sweet cream, eight eggs, two and a half pints mashed potatoes, one nutmeg grated.—Mrs. Henry Buckner. -Housekeeping in the Blue Grass: a New and Practical Cook Book Southern Presbyterian Church (Paris, Ky.).1881, p.80.

The Cooking-Places of the Stone Age in Ireland

"The Cooking-Places of the Stone Age in Ireland"

John Quinlan

Mr. John Quinlan read the following Paper on "The Cooking-places of the Stone Age in Ireland," and exhibited a number of stone implements, &c. :—

While ample reference has been made by writers to the raths, cashels, crannogs, monoliths, and round towers of Ireland, no one seerns to have treated specially of "the ancient cooking places" of some race of people who dwelt, certainly in the counties of Waterford and Cork, indeed probably throughout all Ireland, as far back as the Neolithic, if not a still more remote period. Sir William Wilde in one of his lectures mentions that no matter how far you may go back, there is reason to believe that the Irish were very bad cooks. There is no country in Europe which presents amid its relics and remains so few and such rude specimens relating to the culinary art; even at a comparatively late period when the precious metals—gold and silver—were worked with great beauty of design and exquisite taste, cooking utensils, whether of metal or pottery, appear to have been as scarce as articles of ornamentation and weapons were abundant.

Far as we may search back into the records of Ireland, we are confronted with the assurance, that each and every people who visited our shores, invariably found other people here before them; but how they could have been all bad cooks it is really difficult to understand. A great Frenchman has said that " nothing shows the proficiency and advancement of a people in all the arts of civilization more than their superiority in the art of cookery;" and although the French have been known to do very eccentric things, no one ever heard of their sending to Ireland for a cook. But I am digressing. What I have to do with are Irish cooking-places of the stone age, and roofed by the vault of heaven. I am told that these ancient kitchens are to be found all over Ireland; but in this Paper I confine myself specially to those I have seen in the county Waterford, and in particular to one which I have opened and laid bare to view, such as it had been at the time it was in use,

" When wild in woods the noble savage ran."

Here, wherever a strong well or spring develops into a rivulet, you will not travel far before coming on a mound by the side of the stream; it is usually hemispherical in form, and having an opening towards the stream, unless its configuration has undergone alteration from tillage or such like operations; this mound is generally covered with a stunted crop of Irish furze, and is composed of broken and burned freestone—some pieces being about the size of a goose-egg, others somewhat larger, but most of them smaller—all, however, undoubtedly broken by man, and subjected to an intense heat.

The greater number of these mounds have been broken up and scattered about by plough and harrow; but very many of them, that were situated in bogs and moors have never been interfered with, and here in their more perfect state they present in shape the appearance of a horse's foot with the shoe on; the shoe itself being represented by the protecting wall, and the sole by the flagged floor of the hearth, where the small stones were heated by fire; the heel may be considered as represented by the opening in the protecting wall with the descending step adjoining and overlapping the trough, by which the stream from a well ran, and into which the meat was thrown. In this instance the trough is composed of an oak-tree hollowed out, and when cleared of the burned stones and rubbish was found to be very much decayed at the sides and rim, and altogether rotten at the lower end near the water; it is in colour like any ordinary bog oak. The floor of the hearth is composed of heavy sandstone blocks, which appear to have been dressed and neatly fitted

into each other, and the steps are well put together and very smooth ; the upper end of the trough goes in under the descending step which is about eight inches high, and was kept in its place by large stones wedged in between it and the soil of the field, which forms the foundation of the whole structure. The length of the trough to where it is rotted away is given, and also its breadth, in the sketch. The floor of the hearth, the steps, and the trough, all have a decline towards the water.

The theory which suggests itself is, that these people, having lighted a great fire, the stones made red hot thereby, were easily moved down the incline into the trough holding water from the stream ; that these stones when cooled were taken out and flung back all around the fireplace, to be again heated and returned to the trough, until the water boiled, when, the meat was put in, and kept simmering or boiling by a continuance of the process. At the present time we know that many tribes of savages cook their food in a similar manner.

The cooking-place in question had been often tilled like the rest of the field, and the stones had, doubtless, been scattered about by the plough and harrow. It is situated on the townland of Clonkerdon (where I reside) barony of Decies-Without-Drum, county Waterford, and was opened by me in November, 1885, remaining open with the trough in situ, for inspection of any one who might wish to see it. The whole mound, with the hearth and trough in the middle, has a diameter of fifty-two feet. There were about four feet of broken stones and black ashes over the floor and trough.

I made a section through the mound, and only cleared away sufficient of the small burnt stones to lay bare the rooking plnce itself, viz. hearth, steps, and trough. Js'o weapon, looking iiti-nsil, or ornament, was found in the small section dug out—they would be more likely to be discovered near to, than actually within, a spot that had been so greatly heated.

These cooking-places are invariably situated close to running streams or rivers, and no matter how wet the land may be, I have found them all the same. If what are swamps and bogs now had been such in those ancient days, it is not likely the people lived in them; but the Lmd, which is admittedly sinking, particularly along the south-east of Ireland, may have undergone such a depression since that period as to convert dry land into swamp and bog. We find trunks of oak still remaining in the position in which they originally grew in what, in the present day, is the subsoil of our bogs, but which is too low and wet now for the growth of any kind of timber. These cooking-places are called by the country people Fcllocx-feea, or Fullogh-Feea, which, I believe, means " the boiling-place or fire-place of the deer."

The three celts here exhibited by me were found at Clonkerdou within a few feet (in each case) of the burned stones of disturbed and nearly obliterated cooking-places, which suggests the theory that the people to whom they originally belonged used the cooking-places; and as the celts are Neolithic, these cooking-places probably belong to the same period.

The grooved stone exhibited may be one of those stones attached by a thong to two sticks, and used (like a flail) in battle, and to which some allusion is made in the account of the feuts of the Ulster champion, Cuchulainn. This stone is 4£ in. by 2£ in., with three grooves running around it, and one down the side from top to bottom.

The double stone chalice, to which I draw attention, is 8 inches high, and 5£ inches across the cup.

Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1887 p.390

Irish Pancakes 1833

Irish Pancakes.

Beat eight yolks and four whites of eggs, strain them into a pint of cream, put a grated nutmeg, and sugar to your taste : set three ounces of fresh butter on the fire, stir it, and aa it warms pour it to the cream, which should be warm when the eggs are put to it: then mix smooth almost half a pound of flour. Fry the pancakes very thin ; the first with a bit of butter, but not the others. Serve several on one another. New-England Pancakes,

Mix a pint of cream, five spoonsful of fine flour, seven yolks and four whites of eggs, and a very little salt; fry them very thin in fresh butter, and between each strew sufar and cinnamon. Send up six or eight at once.

A New System of Domestic Cookery: Formed Upon Principles of Economy, and Adapted to the Use of Private Families., Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell,J. Murray, 1833

To Boil Potatos 1845

To Boil Potatoes; (agenuine Irish Receipt.)

Potatoes, to boil well together, should be all of the same sort, and as nearly equal in size as may be. Wash off the mould, and scrub them very clean with a hard brush, but neither scoop nor apply a knife to them in any way, even to clear the eyes.* Rinse them well, and arrange them compactly in a saucepan, so that they may not lie loose in the water, and that a small quantity may suffice to cover t£em. Pour this in cold, and when it boils, throw in about a large -teaspoonful of salt to the quart, and simmer the potatoes until they are nearly done, but for the last two or three minutes let them boil rapidly. When they are tender quite through, which may he known by probing them with a fork, pour all the water from them immediately, lift the lid of the saucepan to allow the steam to escape, and place them on a trevet, high over the fire, or by the side of it, until the moisture has entirely evaporated; then peel, and send them to table as quickly as possible, either in a hot napkin, or in a dish, of which the cover is so placed that the steam can pass off. There should be no delay in serving them after they are once taken from the fire: Irish families usually prefer them served in their skins. Some kinds will be done in twenty minutes, others in less than three quarters of an hour. We are informed that " the best potatoes are those which average from five to six to the pound, with few eyes,

* " Because," in the words of our clever Irish correspondent, " the water through these parts is then admitted into the very heart of the vegetable; and the latent heat, after cooking, is not sufficient to throw it o$f: this renders the potatoes very unwholesome."

but those pretty deep, and equally distributed over the surface." We cannot ourselves vouch for the correctness of the assertion, but we think it may be relied -on.

20 minutes to j hour or more.

O6s.—The water in which they are boiled should barely cover the potatoes.

Modern Cookery, in All Its Branches: Reduced to a System of Easy Practice, for the Use of Private Families : in a Series of Receipts, which Have Been Strictly Tested, and are Given with the Most Minute Exactness : to which are Added Directions for Carving, Garnishing, and Setting Out the Table ...

Eliza Acton, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

Lea and Blanchard, 1845

Two Rival Spiced Beef Recipes from 1845

Spiced Round Of Beef ; (very highly flavoured..)

Rub the beef well in every part with half a pound of coarse brown sugar, and let it remain two days; then reduce tfl powder, and mix thoroughly before they are applied to the meat, two ounces of saltpetre, three quarters of a pound of common salt, a quarter-pound of black pepper, three ounces of allspice, and four of bruised juniper-berries. Rub these ingredients strongly and equally over the joint, and do so daily for three weeks, turning it at the same time. Just wash off the spice, and put the beef into a tin, or covered earthen pan as nearly of its size as possible, with a cup of water or gravy; cover the top thickly with chopped beef-suet, and lay a coarse thick crust over the pan; place the cover on it, and bake the meat from five to six hours in a well-heated oven, which should not, however, be sufficiently fierce to harden the outside of the joint, which, if properly managed, will be exceedingly tender. Let it cool in the pan ; and clear off the suet before it is dished. It is to be served cold, and will remain good for a fortnight.

Beef, 20 to 25 Ibs. weight; sugar, 3 ozs.: 2 days. Saltpetre, 2 ozs.; common salt, j Ib.; black pepper, 4 ozs.; allspice, 3 ozs.; juniper- berries, 4 ozs.: 21 days. Baked 5 to 6 hours.

Obs.—We have not ourselves tested this receipt, but the meat cured by it has received such high commendations from several of our friends who have partaken of it frequently, that we think we may safely insert it without. The proportion of allspice appears to us more than would be agreeable to many tastes, and we would rather recommend that part of it should be omitted, and that a portion of nutmeg, mace, and cloves should be substituted for it; as we have found these spices to answer well in the following receipt.

Spiced Beef ; (good and wholesome.)

For twelve pounds of the round, rump, or thick flank of beef, take a large teaspoonful of freshly-pounded mace, and of ground black pepper, twice as much of cloves, one small nutmeg, and a quarter teaspoonful of cayenne, all in the finest powder. Mix them well with seven ounces of brown sugar, rub the beef with them and let it lie three days; add to it then half a pound of fine salt, and rub and turn it once in twenty- four hours for twelve days. Just wash, but do not soak it; skewer, or bind it into good form, put it into a stewpan or saucepan nearly of its size, pour to it a pint and a half of good beef broth, and when it begins to boil, take off the scum, and throw in one small onion, a moderate- sized faggot of thyme and parsley, and two large, or four small carrots. Let it simmer quite softly for four hours and a half, and if not wanted to serve hot, leave it in its own liquor until it is nearly cold. This is an excellent and far more wholesome dish than the hard, bright- coloured beef which is cured with large quantities of salt and saltpetre: two or three ounces of juniper-berries may be added to it with the spice, to heighten its flavour.

Beef, 12 Ibs.; sugar, 7 ozs.; mace and black pepper, each, 1 large teaspoonful; cloves, in powder, 1 large dessertspoonful; nutmeg, 1; cayenne, J teaspoonful: 3 days. Fine salt, £ Ib.: 12 days. Beef broth (or bouillon), ij pint; onion, 1 small; bunch of herbs; carrots, 2 large, or 4 small: stewed 4J hours.

Obs.—We give this receipt exactly as we have often had it used, but celery and turnips might be added to the gravy; and when the appearance of the meat is much considered, three-quarters of an ounce of saltpetre may be mixed with the spices; the beef may also be plainly boiled in water only, with a few vegetables, or baked in a deep pan with a little gravy. No meat must ever be left to cool in the stewpan or saucepan in which it is cooked; it must be lifted into a pan of its own depth, and the liquor poured upon it.

Modern Cookery, in All Its Branches: Reduced to a System of Easy Practice, for the Use of Private Families : in a Series of Receipts, which Have Been Strictly Tested, and are Given with the Most Minute Exactness : to which are Added Directions for Carving, Garnishing, and Setting Out the Table ...

Eliza Acton, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale

Lea and Blanchard, 1845

Irish Moss Drink 1908

Irish Moss Drink Ingredients—

A teacupful of Irish moss. Castor sugar to taste.

One pint of cold water. A little lemon juice.

A glass of sherry or Marsala.

Method.—Wash the moss very thoroughly, then let it soak overnight in cold water. Next day strain out the moss, put it in a clean saucepan with the pint of water, and let it boil gently for an hour. Strain off the liquid, add the lemon juice, sherry, and sugar to taste. Great pains should be taken in the flavouring, so as to disguise the somewhat unpleasant characteristic flavour of this seaweed.

The Complete Cook.,Lilian Whitling,Methuen & Co., 1908

Soda Scones 1908

Soda Scones

Ingredients—

Three and a half level breakfast- Half a pint of milk.

cupfuls of flour. Two tablespoonfuls of sultanas.

Three rounded tablespoonfuls of Five level teaspoonfuls of cream

butter or good dripping. of tartar.

One rounded tablespoonful of Two and a half level teaspoonfuls

castor sugar. of carbonate of soda.

Metlwd.—Have ready a flat baking tin slightly buttered. Sieve the sugar, cream of tartar, carbonate of soda, and flour. Rub in the butter finely, add the cleaned sultanas, and mix to a soft but not sticky dough with the milk. More or less milk may be required. Turn the dough on to a floured board, knead lightly, make it into two rounds, and roll them out half an inch thick. Mark them deeply across in four with the back of a knife. Put them on the tin, and bake in a quick oven for about three-quarters of an hour. When done, brush them over with a teaspoonful of butter melted in a tablespoonful of milk, and break the scones apart; on no account cut them, or they will be heavy.-

The Complete Cook.,Lilian Whitling,Methuen & Co., 1908

19th Century Sweet Scones

Sweet Scones 445

Take 1 lb. flour, and mix with it one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, and a little salt. Then rub in 1 oz. butter and 2 oz. lard, and add 3 oz. sugar and the same quantity of currants. Mix the whole to a smooth dough, with about half a pint of milk ; cut into shapes, and brush over with egg. Bake from twenty to thirty minutes.

Ten Shillings a Head Per Week for House Books
Dorothy Constance Peel, C. S. Peel,Contributor Constable, Archibald, and Co, Butler and Tanner,
A. Constable, 1899

Oat Cakes 19th Century

Healthy! And Ancient!

Oat Cake 433

Mix two or three tablespoonsful of oatmeal with a pinch of salt and a little cold water; knead it well round and round with the hands for some minutes, then roll it on a pastry board, and strew meal on and under it; move it by means of a baking spoon on to the bake stone, and bake it on both sides over a clear fire. It is well to mix only sufficient batter for one cake, for it soon dries. Time, two or three minutes to bake the cake.

-Ten Shillings a Head Per Week for House Books, Dorothy Constance Peel, C. S. Peel
Constable, Archibald, and Co, Butler and Tannerm A. Constable, 1899

How Irish Soldiers Cooked Beef

But not only were the Irish soldiers in those days accustomed to catch their cows in a strange manner, but they had an equally strange manner of cooking them. They in fact boiled them in their skins ; having skinned a cow, they formed a bag or trough by lashing the skin firmly at tlie four corners to trees or stakes, and then having poured water into the trough, they kindled a large fire at one side, and they boiled the water and cooked the meat by heating stones to a great heat and throwing them into the trough. This seems to have been an adaptation of the manner of cooking adopted in the old Irish cooking places, called " the Boiling-places or Fire-places of the Deer." So that between the catching and the cooking, we cannot be surprised that the French were not a little astonished.

-Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society.,County Kildare Archaeological Society,Ponsonby., 1899,p. 43.

Irish Cockles

In Ireland, the common cockles are cooked in their shells over the fire, and eaten with oaten cake. The shells are separated by twisting them apart, and a little butter is put into the shell, which is then placed on the turf-fire till the fish inside is fried.

The Edible Mollusks of Great Britain and Ireland, with Recipes for Cooking Them.,M. S. Lovell, Reeve & Co., 1867

Leekie Manglam

Leeks have always occupied a favored place in Irish cooking-and with
good reason. Their popularity dates back to the days of St. Patrick.
One day, so the story goes, a chieftain who was being driven out of his
mind by his pregnant wife's demands for leeks (then out of season),
implored the saint's help. St. Patrick took a few juicy rushes, blessed
them, and turned them into leeks which immediately cured the unfortunate
woman's "longing sickness" and brought peace to her harassed husband.
There and then St. Patrick ordained that any woman suffering from the
"longing sickness" (modern doctors call it "pica" or "morbid craving")
shoudl be cured if she ate any member of the onion family.

Leekie Manglam (leek pasty) is well worth trying even if one is not in
an interesting condition.

Ingredients: 1/3 recipe for Lardy Cakes, (see this blog) ,3 large leeks,
4 slices streaky bacon, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup milk, pepper and
salt to taste, 1 egg.

Method: Parboil the leeks, drain, and cut them into very thin slices,
add the diced bacon, mix in crumbs, milk, and seasoning. Divide the
pastry in two. Use half to line a pie plate. Fill with the leek
mixture. Brush edges with water. Cover with a lid of pastry. Press
edges firmly together and flute. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a
425 degree oven.

-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore.

Johnny McGorey Jelly

"Johnny McGoreys" is one name for rose hips, the seed pods of the wild
rose. "Sticky-backs" is another name which derives from the fact that
children who arefull of devilment liketo crush the pods and push them
down the back of an unsuspecting victim; the prickly fibers can be very
irritating.

Ingredients: Take equal parts of Johnny McGoreys, crab apples,
blackberries, and damsons. Cut up the crab apples (including peels and
cores) comb ine with blackberries nad damsons and add water to cover.
Simmer until tender and strain through a jelly bag. Simmer the rose
hips separately in cider to cover. Strain through flannel to insure
that none of the fibers get into the jelly. Combine juices, measure,
and place in preserving pan. Add 1 cup heated sugar for each cup of
juice. Boil until the jelly will set when tested.

-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore

Crab Apple and Bramble Jelly

Use 2 parts of blackberries to one of crab apples. Wash and cut up the
crab apples. Cook the fruits separately, with just enough water to
cover. When tender, strain through a jelly bag. Combine juices and
measure. Allow 1 cup sugar to each cup of juice. Bring the juice to a
boil, stir in the heated sugar, stir until dissolved. Bring again to a
boil and boil rapidly until the jelly will set when tested. Skim and
pour into heated jars.

-Marura Laverty, Feasting Galore

Nested Eggs

For each person allow 3/4 cup potato mashed with butter and cream, 1
tablespoon cooked peas, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons butter.

Method: Place the potatoes in mounds on a greased baking sheet. Press a
cup into each to make a hollow. Place a tablespoon of cooked peas in
each "nest," carefully break a raw egg over the peas. Season with
pepper and salt and dot with butter. brush with beaten egg and bake 20
minutes in a 375 degree oven. Serve with buttered par sliced carrots.

-Feasting Galore, Maura Laverty

Mealie Greachie

On fast days this is served as an accompaniment to the fried breakfast
eggs. Melt a tablespoon butter or bacon fat in frying pan. Add as much
flake oatmeal as will absorb the fat, and fry until the meal is toasted.
Some people like to include a little chopped onion.

-Feasting Galore, Maura Laverty.

Don't play with your food but play during the meal!

When I talk of games to mind will come all of the famous board games-
endless sessions of monopoly, then the endless sessions of card
games....for the non player tedious as they can do nothing else but run
errands for the players. Nothing wrong with a games evening if everyone
is on board for the game but not for general feasts and celebrations
where a diverse audience is present. For this you need to consult the
solutions brought about through centuries of cultural adaptation.

The Irish tradition is filled with many many games. These were developed
by families waiting for others to reach them over the poor roads of the
time on foot or slow horse. It took several days for people to get to
their wakes and weddings. While the prepares and keeners were busy with
their work the children and others needed to be entertained. So out came
the short energetic and often violent games.

The games specialize in being short. They also were filled with
surprises. Acting and counting skills were required but no boards or
cards. Today one is amazed at the ability of participants to withstand
the penalties- being stuffed in the dung heap, hit on the
shins....covered with mucky ash.

Today we must be more careful or else risk being locked up-such is
freedom! However, all is not lost. The games can be modified with the
muck being substituted with allergy free powder etc....

Games of recitation can be done around the table between courses. The
food will settle better and the minds will be working. The host will get
a break and the energy of the children otherwise spent in causing
destruction and chaos will be burned off.

The dramatic games will take place between courses. Another way to add
to the event. A bit of high drama, acting and fun. Laughter is the best
medicine and the best course of the good feast as well!

For Great games go to the Wake Page where they are kept!

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/wake.html

Watch this space as I provide all manner of diversion through games. Put
the instructions on cards and have someone select the game of the moment
from the deck. Let that person set it up and be the judge. Soon there
will be more room for that wondrous dessert!

Stories - the between course for the feast

Some oft complain that they do hours of cooking for only a short period
of time used for eating. Well that can happen but it is their own fault-
savoring food takes time. If you have nothing to entertain you whilst
savoring the food or letting it settle then you will move on to the next
course too quickly! Your body will not appreciate it. As a host you need
to have a break. Draw out the meal. Draw out expression, creativity,
have your guests show off.

But beware! Demons will try to raise their ugly heads. By this I mean
Politics, Religion, Family, Money and the lead demon Sports. We no
longer have an oral tradition. The only things in peoples heads are the
demons. You know this though after having perfectly good feasts erupt
into arguments and fights or into score reports and stock tickers. And
then there is the frequent case of loosing them to the television
entirely. To avoid prying them from the tube cut the cord, unplug it or
tape a nice picture on the screen for the evening.

Now what to put in place of the demons. Well not hard to say....Go find
cards- print short traditional stories on them and hand them out. Have
guests read stories and get the bones of them then tell them to each
other. This works. Go to this web page to find loads of five minute stories. Some are very very short others longer. Have guests pick them but if they are too long they can exchange. The point is not to read or memorize but just to read through and get the bones of the story and tell it in their own words-

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/irish/blackbx.html

It will be music to the ears with a room full of people telling
traditional stories and wondering with the century old spark of ancient
time lighting the space.

In addition to stories the Irish are famed for their short knowledge- that is, ranns, proverbs, sayings and triads and jokes... you will find loads of these here. But remember you have to print out the texts for them but that is easy enough

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/irish/verse.html

Another thing to do is to invite your guests to bring stories of their
own. Banish the deamons and let the ancient sun shine! The meal will
take its proper pace, the host will be entertained and rested- a
treasure worth the time of preparation and clean up.

The Musical Dimension of Food-

Of course there is a musical dimension of food and you don't have to
have a cake dance either! Food and music go together and depend on each
other as foundations of the larger cultural experience-music is the
window that you open to get fresh air. As the palate and the stomach
work it is their accompaniment. It frees the mind to wander and provides
dance to work it off! In this spot recommendations for music will be
posted from time to time. Stop in frequently.

While music which is recorded is fine and good the best music is that
which comes out of the guests themselves. In order to avoid having the
music of bodily functions alone one must take a few steps.

The first thing to do is to get rid of any concept of quality. It simply
does not matter. The human mind is able to straighten out the bumps of
any performance. Traditional music is a music that is known- you will
know the tune so if played a bit off you can still follow it in your
mind. Yes there are pros but if you wait till you can afford them you
may wait for a longtime.

Second- you must make everyone welcome. Especially those learning. No
preasure...just sit in the corner and play. No one has to study you. You
just play. This is the essence of all good traditional gatherings.
Always let people know that they can bring whatever they wish. From food
and drink to music to whatever. You just coordinate.

Once everyone is welcome and tolerated you need only provide a few
resources. Most people today have not been brought up in the oral
tradition. That means that they do not have the songs in their heads
that they would have had had they grown up say for 10 or 15 years within
a culture singing regularly.

There is no way that you will have a singing crowd when you assume that
they know the words. But, all is not lost. You will have a singing crowd
immediately after providing song sheets or little booklets made up of
the songs you expect your guests to play. A little work done every so
often will see you prepared.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the tradition is growing every
day. Find a few ancient songs-the Grand Airs of Connemara but then
include others which have been added right down to the present day. You
want all generations to be welcome so mix it up for them. I am sure
that the younger folk will tolerate the Clancys and the Dubliners a lot
better with a bit of the Pogues and Flogging Molly thrown in.

Here are a few musical resources- enjoy!

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/irish/music.html

So....add the musical ingredient to your cookery. Put a spring in your
step and song in your heart.

Nun's Cake

Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons corn
starch, 4 cups sifted flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3
teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 cup mil. 1 strip citron peel.

Method- Sift flour with cornstarch and baking powder. Cream butter. Add
sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating well. Add beaten eggs one at a
time, beating well after each addition. Just before beating in the last
egg, sprinkle a little of the flour mixture. Add vanilla. Fold in dry
ingredients alternately with milk. Place strip of citron peel on top.
Bake in a greased lined tin for one hour in a moderate (350 degree)
oven. When done let stand 5 minutes in the tin before turning out onto
a rack

-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore

Lenten Cake

Ingredients: 4 cups sifted flour, 1/2 cup (1/4 pound) butter, 3
tablespoons molasses, 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 teaspoons allspice,
1/2 cup raisins, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2
teaspoon salt.

Method: Melt butter, add molasses and milk and cool. Sift flour, spice,
baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir butter mixture into dry
ingredients. Add raisins and mix well. Pour into buttered tin and bake
1 1/2 hours in 350 degree oven.

-Feasting Galore, Maura Laverty

Gur (or Chester) Cake

I imagine this cake owes its name to the fact that tuppence worth of
inferior baker's Chester Cake is the usual provender of boys who are "on
gur," i.e., playing hookey. But a grand way to use up stale bread or
cake is in making good homemade gur.

Ingredients: 1/2 recipe for Lardy Cakes, 2 cups sifted flour, 2 cups
fine cake or bread crumbs, 2 teaspoons baking poweder, 1/2 cup corn
syrup (about) 1 cup currants, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, a little beaten egg.

Method: Divide the pastry in two and roll thin. Use half to line the
bottom of agreased jelly-roll pan (shallow baking pan about 112'' x
9""). Now sieve flour, baking powder, and ginger. Mix in currantws nad
crumbs. Add corn syrup to make a stiff paste. Mix thoroughly and
spread evenly in tin. Cover with remaining pastry. Brush with beaten
egg nad mark in squares. Bake 40 minutes in a 375 degree oven. When
cold, cut into squares.- Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore

Lardy Cakes

These are a delicacy associated with pig-killing time when the "flead"
or leaf lard is plentiful,

Ingredients: 3 cups sifted flour, 1 1/2 cups (2/3 pound) leaf lard, 1
teaspoon salt, 1 egg, cold water to mix.

Method: Sieve flour and salt together. Scrape 1/3 of the flead and rub
lightly in. Mix to a dough with cold water and roll out on a floured
board. Scrape another third of the lard and spread it over the paste in
flakes. Fold in three and beat out with the rolling pin. Repeat with
remaining lard and beat again. Roll out 1/4- inch thickness, cut in
small rounds, brush with beaten egg, and bake 12 minutes in a 450 degree
oven. Eat hot with butter.

N.B.: This makes good shortcrust pastry for pies.

-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore.

Nettle Soup

For many a long year nettles were to the Irish what spinach is to other
peoples. And many of us still feel that young tender nettles more than
equal the best of spinach. "One feed of nettes in the spring will keep
you healthy for the year" is a belief which persists in country parts
where the blood purifying qualities of nettles are still appreciated.

Ingredients: 6 cups (tightly packed) chopped nettle leaves, 2 medium
onions, 4 tablespoons butter, 3 cups white stock, 3 cups milk, 4
tablespoons flake oatmeal, 1 leek (chopped). For seasoning: a teaspoon
salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg. For binding: 1 egg
yolk and 1/2 cup medium cream.

Method: Melt butter in a heavy stewpan over moderate heat. Saut/e the
chopped onion in the fat (without browning), add nettles and chopped
leek. Stir in flake oatmeal. Add combined stock and milk and simmer 50
minutes. Remove from heat and stir in egg yolk beaten with cream. Add
seasoning reheat but do not allow the soup to boil.-Maura Laverty,
Feasting Galore.

Consomm/e Befinn

This soup can be nothing but ancient. Simple foods but with the alspice
flavour of the middle ages....A great use for bones.

Maybe consomm/e by any other name would taste as good, but this clear
soup is rather special. It is full of the zest of ham and beef and
vegetable juices. This particular soup inherits its name from a famous
heroine in Irish mythology. The reason we connect the lady with ham is
this: When King Midir was cajoling her to accompany him to Tir na n-/Og,
the Land of the Young, he promised her, among other things, that she
should feed on unlimited supplies of pork.

O lady, if thou comest to my valiant people,
A diadem of gold shall be on thy head;
Flesh of swine, all fresh, banquets of new milk and all
Shalt thou have with me there.

-O'Curry: Book of the Dun Cow)

Ingredients: For stock: 1 ham bone, 1 beef shin bone, 2 medium onions, 4
outside stalks of celery, two medium carrots 1 teaspoon allspice. For
garnish: 6 tablespoons each of ham, carrots, and celery cut in julienne
strips; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

Method: Place all stock ingredients in pot, cover with water and simmer
three hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish each bowl
with strips of ham, carrots, and celery just before serving sprinkle
with parsley.-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore.

Brothch/an Buidhe

This is pronounced "Brohawn Bwee" and it means Yellow Broth. A savory
concoction of vegetable stock, thickened with oatmeal and enriched with
milk, Brothch/an Buide was the favorite pottage of St. Columba.

There is a story that when Lent came around the saint decided to mortify
himself with ersatz broth, so he instructed his cook to put nothing into
the broth except water and nettles, with a taste of salt on Sundays.

"Is nothing else to go into it, your Reverence?" asked the cook in
horror. "Nothing except what comes out of the pot stick," the saint
replied sternly.

This went on for two weeks. The saint grew thinner and weaker, and the
cook grew more and more worried. And then, all of a sudden, St. Columba
started to put on weight again and the worried look left the cook's
face. The devoted lay brother had made himself a hollow pot stick down
which he poured milk and oatmeal. Thus he was able to preserve his
master from starvation and himself from the horrible sins of
disobedience and lies.

When questioned by the saint he was able to assure him honestly that
nothing went into the broth save what came out of the pot stick.

Ingredients: 45 cups chicken stock, 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup flour,
2 tablespoons flake oatmeal, ,1 medium onion, 1 stick celery, 1 small
carrot, 1 3/4 cups spinach, 2 tablespoons cream, pepper and salt to
taste, 1 tablespoon parsley.

Method: To stock add chopped celery, onion, carrot and salt and pepper
to taste. Cook 30 minutes. Knead butter and flour together and add to
stock. Sprinkle in oatmeal and add chopped spinach. simmer 15 minutes.
Pass through a sieve, correct seasoning, stir in cream. Sprinkle with
minced parsley.-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore., 1952/61.

Brigid's Broth

Ingredients: 2 pounds lean mutton, 4 tablespoons barley (soaked
overnight in cold water), 4 tablespoons each chopped carrot, turnip,
onion, celery and cabbage; 2 chopped leeks, 2 tablespoons butter, pepper
and salt to taste, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, 5 cups cold water.

Method: Cut the mutton in 1/2 inch cubes, season and cover with cold
water, bring quickly to boiling point, skim, and add the barley; simmer
1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Fry the diced vegetables in
butter for five minutes without browning. Add to soup with salt and
pepper to taste and continue cooking until vegetables are tender.
Finally, add the parsley. Shin of beef may be treated this way , too, to
make a very good broth known as Hough Soup. Use 6 tablespoons of rice
instead of the barley.-Maura Laverty, Feasting Galore, 1952/61.

Irish Bacon-Boiling Bacon that is....the Wiltshire Cure

Corned beef found in the USA is not something which has a long tradition
in Ireland- certainly it has made its way there as with everything else
but not a long tradition. If you wish to work with beef then use the
spiced beef recipe- much more flavour but similar to a corned beef. If
you wish to cook something with cabbage you should use boiling bacon
generally available from web based importers of which there are several.
This is not generally pork belly but a joint, boned above the ham or
collar. This is nothing at all like American bacon. It has a sweet
rather than a salty flavour and is in texture slightly like corned beef
but not as rough or fatty as when brisket is used.

The process of making the ham is not all that complex. The process is
known as a "wet cure" or Wiltshire Cure. The steps are laid out below.
You can purchase cure mixes ready made. The essence of it all is being
very clean, measuring out the ingredients properly to create a proper
brine and then watching the time and controlling the storage temps.

Generally sugar is added-treacle-or molasses and at times beer. All must
be thoroughly boiled first. Spices seem to vary. Spices noted are
nutmeg, juniper berries etc...

The meat can be smoked but is generally not smoked. In Wiltshire- a pork
producing region of England they also do a salt dry cure but this is not
what you want for boiling bacon. Recipes are often closely guarded. Farm
workers on holiday would bring their own prized bacon with them.
Although they used a common pot each man would tie his bacon with a
special identifiable string.

Some recipes and sources to get you thinking-
Steps for performing a Wiltshire Cure

1. Start with pork sides

2. Brine injection

2.. NaC3 placed in scapula

3. cover brine 3-5 days 4-5 degrees C.

4. Drain

5. Maturation 5 days 4-5 degrees C

-A Colour Atlas of Food Quality Control
By Jane P. Sutherland, A. H. Varnam
1986 (see Google Books)

A typical cure follows:

250 gms salt

150 gms Molasses or Demerara sugar

10 gms Saltpetre (Potassium Nitrate) – Anti bacterial, provides pink colour.

Method:

Use 40 gms of cure mix per ½ Kg of pork hind leg. Add the mix to enough
liquid to totally cover the meat. The liquid typically can consist of 3
parts water and 1 part ale.

Pickle the meat for 4 days. Remove the meat from the pickle and hang for
a further 2 weeks in a cool room.

Traditionally, the Wiltshire cure does not require smoking.

Jane Grigson's English Brine Ingredients:
7 pt Water
1 1/2 lb Sea or coarse salt
1 lb Dark brown sugar
2 oz Saltpeter
1 Bayleaf
1 Sprig thyme
10 Juniper berries; crushed
10 Peppercorns; crushed
________________________________________
Jane Grigson's English Brine Instructions:

Boil hard for 5 minutes.
Leave to cool.
Clean crock or bucket and lid with soda dissolved in boiling water,
rinse well, and leave to DRAIN dry.
Pour in cold brine, though a muslin lined strainer.
Immerse the meat (duck, pork, beef, mutton) and keep it below the
surface by laying a piece of boiled wood, or scrupulously clean plate on
top.
Cover and keep in a dry place at a temperature below 60°F Salting time.

This depends on the thickness of the meat.
Trotters, 24 hrs, a leg of pork can take 10 days.
NB.
Joints required for roasting rather than boiling will be improved by a
12 hour soak in brine, without tasting too salty afterwards.
In home conditions, in a cool larder, meat can be kept in brine for up
to a fortnight or three weeks, sometimes longer.
The moments islands of white mould begin to float on the surface, remove
meat and throw away the brine.
The crock will need washing in boiling soda again.
The meat will be OK.
Recipe Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery - Jane Grigson

And another.....

2kg course salt
50g saltpetre (You can get this at the pharmacy)
6 ltr water.

Bring all of above to the boil and then boil for 10 mins.

Allow to cool completely and then place in a container which can be
glass, plastic or earthenware but definately not metal. Put the meat
into the liquid and make sure it is fully submersed in the brine by
placing a board on top of it. Allow to cure for 12 hours per kilo.

When you take them out dry them with a cotton cloth and hang them in a
cool place to dry. ( I hang mine in the fridge) They must be hanging and
not touching anything else. Dry for at least 24 hours and then they can
be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

There are further recipes for Wiltshire cure which involves molasses,
beer and is lovely or a Suffolk cure which involves vinegar, cloves and
brown sugar.

And another....

Wiltshire Ham Cure

Course : Pork
From: HungryMonster.com
Serves: 1
Ingredients:
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 pounds cooking salt
4 ounces saltpeter
2 ounces prunella
1/2 ounce juniper berries
2 pounds treacle
1/2 pound bay salt
1 ounce black pepper
2 quarts beer
Preparation:
Mix together 1 1/2 lbs cooking salt, 4 oz saltpeter, 2 oz sale prunella,
1/2 oz juniper berries, 2 lbs treacle, 1/2 lb bay salt, 1 oz black
pepper, 2 qts beer. Boil together, cool slightly & pour over ham, which
has been sprinkled with cooking salt, left 12 hours and wiped dry. Turn
& rub pickle in each day for 1 month. Dry well before storing. I said
some time back that I would post these ham & bacon cures. They are all
traditional methods, and assume for the most part that you have a whole
pig to deal with. I have not used all of them, but have based cures on
some. If you need any further info, let me know. Some scaling will be
needed, and some modification. I have not bothered to update units or
nomenclature, but that will add to the fun :-)

Cure sources:

http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Brine_Cures_for_Ham.html

http://www.sausagemaker.com

I have found the greatest difficulty with available recipes is that they
tend to assume that you know how to make the cure brine and adjust it
properly for the cut of meat you are using. Perhaps the best way to go
is to select a prepared mix which will have proportions laid out
correctly. Enloy!

Convent Loaf

Convent Loaf

Ingredients: 4 cups sifted flour, 1 cup (1/2 pound) butter, 3/4 cup
sugar, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoon caraway seeds, 2/3 cup
candied peel, 2 eggs, a little milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Method: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub in butter;
add sugar, seeds, and thinly sliced peel. Add beaten eggs with enough
milk to make light dough. Place in a well-greased tin and bake 1 1/2
hours in a moderate (375 degree) oven.

-Feasting Galore., Recipes and Food Lore from Ireland., Maura Laverty,
1952/1961

Oaten Health Bread

A concept dating well back into ancient times:

Oaten Health Bread

Ingredients: 4 cups each flour, whole meal, and flake oatmeal; 1
tablespoon salt, 2 cups milk, 1 cup boiling water.

Method: Sift together flour, whole meal, flake oatmeal, and salt. Mix
the yeast with the sugar. Dissolve the butter in the boiling water and
add to the milk. Add a cupful of the tepid milk and water to the yeast
sugar mixture. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the
yeast. Sprinkle a little flour on top and set in a warm place until the
yeast honeycombs. Add the remainder of the tepid milk and water, mix
well, turn out onto a floured board, and knead well for at least 10
minutes. Return to the bowl, cover with a cloth, and leave in a warm
place until the dough doubles its bulk. Cook 50 minutes in a hot (475
degree ) oven.

-Feasting Galore., Recipes and Food Lore from Ireland., Maura Laverty,
1952/1961.

Sunday Tea Cakes from Maura Laverty

Always good to be prepared for a traditional tea-time.

Sunday Tea Cakes

Ingredients: 4 cups sifted flour, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 package dry yeast,
2 teaspoons sugar, 4 tablespoons lard, 1/2 cup boiling water, 1/2 cup
milk, 1/2 cup currants, 1/3 cup candied peel, 1 cup white seedless
raisins, milk and sugar for glaze.

Method: Sift flour with salt. Mix yeast with 2 teaspoons sugar, add 1/2
cup lukewarm milk. Make a well in center of four, pour in yeast mixture,
sprinkle a little flour on top, and leave to honeycomb in a warm place
about 20 minutes. Dissolve lard in boiling water, add milk mixture.
Leave until lukewarm. Add this mixture to flour and mix to a smooth
dough. Turn onto floured board, sprinkle with fruit, and knead well.
Divide the dough into 6 balls, flatten, and pierce with fork. Place on
greased and floured baking sheet, cover, and leave to rise 30 minutes in
warm place. Bake 20 minutes in hot (450 degree) oven Five minutes
before the cakes are done, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

-Feasting Galore., Recipes and Food Lore from Ireland., Maura Laverty,
1952/1961.

Irish Soda Cake

SODA CAKE.— Take one pound of flour. half a pound of moist sugar and rub
in half a pound of butter, lard, or dripping. Then take four eggs well
beaten, a teacup- full of milk a little warm, and half a tea- spoonful
of soda dissolved in the milk. Mix all together, and put It Into the
oven immediately.
Flour, 1lb. ; sugar, 1/2 lb. ; butter, lard, or dripping, 1/2lb. ;
eggs, 4 ; milk, 1 teacup full soda 1/2. • teaspoon full. . Two hours will bake it In a quick oven.

-Source:The Dictionary of Daily Wants.,Robert Kemp Philip, 1861

Recipes from Maura Laverty

Recipes from Maura Laverty

Source: Maura Laverty's Cookery Book.,Longmans, 1946-48.

Maura Laverty was an Irish author and playwright who brought wonderful
descriptions of life in Ireland and her experiences to her recipes. The
cook book has modern or one might say internationally inspired recipes
but also contains a number of Irish standards.

Every time Ireland is put in the dock, I feel our diplomats are sadly
lacking as a counsel for the defense that they don't bring forward in
mitigation of our crimes the fact that we have given a four-leaved
shamrock to the world. One leaf is W. B. Yeats, another is boiled
potatoes in their jackets, another Barry Fitzgerald. The fourth is
Soda-bread. And the greatest of these is soda-bread. Spongy white
soda-bread with a floury, brown crossed crust…flat sweet griddle-bread
with an inch-and-a-half of tender well baked dough sandwiched between
thin crisp crusts…wholesome brown bread with growth and health and
energy in its pleasantly rough nuttiness…dark spicy treacle bread that
has been left for twenty-four hours to become firm and mellow and is
then sliced thinly and spread with good country butter---current bread
and buns, Indian meal bread, "spotted dog" rich with raisins, seedy
bread- there seems to be no end at all to them. The queer thing is that
in its native habitat soda-bread is never so called. We call it "cake"
or "cake bread." A loaf of bread comes out of the baker's van, but a
cake of bread comes out of the pot-oven. The secret of good cake-bread
is 3-day old buttermilk, a light hand for mixing and kneading and a
brisk oven. Buttermilk is not always easy to come by. In the winter
when the cows are not milking some people use instead the water in which
potatoes have been boiled. Far better is the "winter buttermilk" which
they used in Cork and Meath and this is how it is made.

Winter Buttermilk

Mix 1/4 lb flour to a smooth paste with 1 cup cold water. Put this in
the bottom of a large jug or crock. Add 2 grated raw potatoes and 2
mashed cooked potatoes. Now mix in 7 cups cold water. Cover and leave
it on the kitchen mantelpiece or in some such warm place for 2 days.
When you are baking pour off carefully, and without disturbing the
sediment, as much liquid as you require. This can be used in exactly the
same way as buttermilk and will give you lovely light bread. Add fresh
water to make up for what you have3 used. Stir up the contents of the
vessel, cover it and put it by for the next baking. The one lot of
potatoes and flour will give you a fortnight's supply of winter buttermilk.

Buttermilk Plant

There is another way of making sure of a constant supply of buttermilk.
You can start a buttermilk plant with yeast, sugar and skim milk, or
milk and water. The buttermilk plant is a kind of fungus like the
vinegar plant. After a few weeks it will grow and grow and you'll be
able to supply all your friends with a cutting. The milk it produces is
very good for the blood, particularly in rheumatic cases. It is
pleasant to drink too. (I first heard about this miraculous plant form
Miss Florence Irwin, of Belfast who is the best cook in Ireland). To
start the plant, you'll need:--
1 oz. sugar,
1 oz, yeast
1 quart tepid milk and water.

Cream the yeast with the sugar, gradually add the tepid milk and water.
Put the mixture in some vessel that may easily be washed and scalded,
cover it, and leave it in a warm place for a couple of days or until the
milk smells and tastes like butter-milk. When you want to use the
buttermilk, put a piece of muslin in the bottom of a strainer and strain
the milk through this. The funny-looking thing like lumpy corn flour
which remains will be the plant. Rinse every drop of milk off it, by
pouring a cup of tepid water over it. Let the water run through the
strainer into the buttermilk- it will all make excellent liquid for
mixing cake-bread. To start a new lot of buttermilk, scrape the plant
off them muslin and put it back into the scalded and well-rinsed vessel.
Add another quart of tepid milk and water, cover it and leave it as
before to increase and multiply.

That first ounce of yeast will go on growing and multiplying giving you
buttermilk until the end of time. But the plant needs a certain amount
of care.

1.--It must be strained at least every five days. If you don'
t want the milk for baking, you can always drink it. I knew a woman so
crippled with rheumatics that she couldn't kneel down to say the Rosary.
After six months of drinking this buttermilk, she was able to do the
Lough Derg Pilgrimage on her knees.

2.--Make sure the milk-and-water is never more than lukewarm. Strong
heat kills yeast.

3.--Cleanliness is very important. That careful rinsing after
straining, and the scalding of th container must be done if the plant is
to live.

Basic Recipe for Soda Bread

1 lb flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon bread-soda
Buttermilk to mix.

Sift the dry ingredients several times through your fingers. Make a
well in the centre. Pour in the buttermilk gradually, mixing in the
flour from the sides. Don't have the mixture too dry. Turn it out on a
floured board, knead lightly for a few minutes, pat the dough to a round
and cut a cross on it to keep it from cracking in the baking. Let the
cuts go over the sides of the cake to make sure of this. Brush with
milk and bake at once in a hot oven (450 degs.--Regulo 7-8) for 45 mins.
If you have any doubts about doneness, tap the bottom of the cake. If
it sounds hollow it is cooked. (When using milk from the buttermilk
plant, it doesn't hurt the bread to let it stand 15 mins. before baking).
Some people like to add 1/4 teasp. of cream of tartar or 1/2 teasp.
baking powder. I think this is unnecessary. The teaspoon of bread-soda
and good buttermilk provide all the leaven needed for a pound of flour.

Yalla Male Bread
Add 1/4 lb. of Indian meal.

Treacle Bread
Increase the sugar to 1 tablesp. and add to the milk 1/2 cup of treacle.
A beaten egg may bge added as well, in which case you may as well go
the whole hog and rub 2 oz of butter into the flour. Raisins, Currants
and chopped nuts make this a party cake.

Brown Bread
Use 1/2 lb. whole meal and 1/2 lb., flour. Increase the sugar to one
desseertsp, and rub in, if you like 1 dessertsp. of dripping. I always
add as well a handful of flakemeal. It gives a lovely nutty texture.

The Proper Irish Tea

It is said that the mixture of Asam and Ceylon teas that go into an
"Irish Blend" tea is designed to give one strength to ward of the cold.
It is strong medicine. One needs to make sure that it steeps for at lest
five minutes and that you use about 1/3 good real cream. Put cream and
sugar in first...Here is an interesting account....it must have been
strong indeed at times!

Nearly twenty times as much tea must be drunk now in
Kerry as in the early sixties, and so far as I can recollect tea
was unknown, not only in the cabins but among the farmers
until after the famine. Fairly good tea is obtained, for the Irish will never buy
tea unless they are asked a high price, and for that price
they usually, owing to competition, obtain an article not too
perniciously adulterated. What is highly injurious is the method of making
the tea. A lot is thrown into the pot on the fire in the cabin in
the morning, and there it stands simmering all day long, that
those who want it may help themselves. This is in sharp contrast to the method employed by
Dr. Barter, the famous hydropathic physician at Cork, one
of the cleverest men I ever met and one of the very few
who never permitted medicine under any circumstances, relying
on water, packing, and Turkish baths, with strict attention
to diet. He used to make tea by putting half a teaspoonful into
a wire strainer which he held over his cup, and pouring
boiling water upon the leaves, the contents of his cup became
a pale yellow, to which he added a little milk and
instantly drank it off, the whole process lasting but a few
seconds. I remember he equally disapproved of the Russian
method of drinking tea in a glass with lemon, of the fashionable
way of letting the water ' stand off the boil' upon the
leaves in a teapot, and of the Hibernian stewing arrangement
alluded to above.
-From: The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent., Samuel Murray Hussey, 1904

Snipes

No. 503.—POTTED SNIPES, IRISH FASHION.
The snipes intended to be used for this purpose must
be perfectly fresh. After being plucked, their logs and
wings are to be cut off; merely remove the gizzard
with the point of a knife, leaving all the inside or trail
undisturbed; the snipes should be split in halves, and
placed on a dish. Next, take what is called an earthenware
oval pie-pan, suc]i as is commonly used for potting
meats. >fcc.; line the bottom and sides of this with very
thin layers of fat bacon ; arrange therein the prepared
snipes in neat rows; season between each row with
coarsely ground black pepper and salt; and when the pan
is nearly filled, pour in sufficient clarified fresh butter
to cover the surface of the snipes ; put the lid of the pan
on; lute all round the edge of the pan with slack flour-
aud-water paste to confine the steam which arises from
the snipes, &c., while baking, and which, by being thus
prevented from escap ng entirely, not only improves the
flavour of the pie by condensation, but also tends to
dissolve the bones sufficiently to render them edible:
there being a hole on the top of the lid, it acts as a
safetyalve. These pies must be baked in an oven of
moderate heat, and are intended to be eaten when quire '-
old only. The snipes shot in Ireland are the finest flavoured known, and
are or were prepared in a very simple yet excellent fashion, which
renders them a great delicacy for the breakfast-table. In order to
enable you to indulge in this delectable bonne-bouche, I will at once
furnish you with the necessary instructions to solve the mystery and
gratify your longing. Note.—Woodcocks, fieldfares, plovers, young
pheasants,
partridges, or grouse, larks, wheatears, and especially
ortolans and becafioos, are most excellent when dressed
as indicated in this number.

.-From:The Cook's Guide, and LHouskeeper's &Butler's Assistant. Charles
Elme Francatelli, 1867.

Irish Sandwhiches

No. 361—IRISH SANDWICHES.
Between slices of very thin crisp toast place alternate
layers of very thin slices of roast game, shred celery,
and Tartar sauce; dish up on a napkin.
Note.—This pasts- serves also for potato croquets.
.-From: The Cook's Guide, and LHouskeeper's &Butler's Assistant. Charles
Elme Francatelli, 1867.

Work house cookery pre-famine

As among most classes in Ireland and England, the day is divided into
three acts or meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. By the_ last is not
to be understood the noonday meal» but the chief meal of the day. The
lunch is participated in only by the children and invalids. The healthy
and full-grown are excluded from it. The hours at which these meals are
taken are later than with us in Germany. Nine o'clock is the hour for
breakfast, and four in the afternoon for dinner. The breakfast, as
inmost parts of Ireland, among those who have the means of decent
maintenance, consists of new milk and stirabout, a kind of porridge of
oatmeal ; the dinner is composed of potatoes and buttermilk. The
children, for their lunch, receive bread and milk. On Sundays, holidays,
and on every Thursday, a little brose, or soup, is given, in addition to
the customary diet. An adult receives seven ounces of oatmeal and half a
pint of new milk for breakfast, and four pounds of potatoes and a pint
of buttermilk for dinner. The board of an adult is calculated to- cost
one shilling and fourpence three-farthings weekly. That of the children
is more expensive, on account of the bread, and the more liberal supply
of milk. The most costly of all is the board" of the children under two
year» old, who cost one shilling and sixpence three- farthings a week,
for which they receive one pint of new milk and a pound of bread daily.
There is therefore a potato diet for adults, л bread diet for children,
a rice and meat diet for the sick, and lastly, a fever diet for the
class of patients always most numerous in an Irish
workhouse-From:Ireland:Dublin, the Shannon, Limerick, Cork, and te
Kilkenny Races…,,Johann Georg Kohl, 1844.

I was astonished by the appearance of the potato-kettle at this house.
No less than 167» pounds of potatoes are boiled at once. This enormous
quantity is all divided into portions of three and a half and four
pounds, and eacli portion is enclosed in a small net. All these nets are
laid together in a large basket, and. this basket, with its nets and
potatoes, is deposited in the boiler. When the potatoes are supposed to
have been sufficiently boiled, the basket is wound up again by a
machinery^ constructed for the purpose, and the poor are then marched up
in military order, when each receives his net and marches away with it.-
-From:Ireland:Dublin, the Shannon, Limerick, Cork, and te Kilkenny
Races…,,Johann Georg Kohl, 1844.