St. Patrick's Day

[Lotta Little]

I raise a glass of Harp lager to my fellow loungers and wish you all the luck in the world.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And born this date in 1939, my mother -- who did not appreciate being reminded of the fact. "The first seventy years are the hardest...."

 

[Kermez]

Shurrin' yer drop-down drunk, the whole bleedin' lot a' ya!

 

[Prairie Dog]

I would like to wish everyone here a happy and blessed St. Patrick’s Day.

 

[Joie DeVive]

[QUOTE="Skeet" McD]Well, here are two possibilities. [/QUOTE]

Thanks so much for your ideas Skeet!

I'm sorry to be ignorant on the subject, but is that bread recipe a sweet one? If not I had another friend suggest Irish cheeses as a pairing for it. If so, it would probably go better with some fruit or something...

 

[Spitfire]

Happy St Patricks day:beer: :cheers1:

 

[celtic]

I was out enjoying the day,

so here's a late Happy Paddy's to all of you!

 

["Skeet" McD]

Irish Breads: non-sweet....

is that bread recipe a sweet one?

Yes, Joie, it is: it's really what the Irish would call a tea cake, rather than soda bread. It's the sugar and the raisins that do it. Mind you: it's not cloyingly sweet, but it's absolutely not a savory.

If you'd like a good, traditional, non-sweet bread to pair with your friend's suggested cheeses--which is a fine idea--you might try these:

The first is from the doyenne of British yeast cookery:

Elizabeth David’s Irish Wholemeal Soda Bread
Ingredients:
3 to 3 3/4 cups wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 to 4 Tbsp warm water
Method:
Preheat oven to 425°.
Sift the salt and bicarbonate of soda very carefully with the flour.
Add cold buttermilk and mix to a dough, adding warm water if mixture is too thick.
Quickly divide the dough into two pieces, form them into round buns as tall as you can make them OR make them flatter, like a scone, and score them deeply with a cross.
Place in oven and cover with a deep (at least 6 or 7 inches) cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove tins and leave loaves for another 10 to 15 minutes until crusts are brown but not over-baked.
These loaves are best when just cooled, but reheat successfully by warming in a very moderate oven covered by a tin or bowl for 7 to 10 minutes.

The second comes from a very informative website you might want to take a look at, if this sort of thing intrigues you:

IRISH BROWN SODA BREAD
From The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread
http://www.sodabread.us/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm
Ingredients:
3 cups (12 0z) wheat flour
1 cup (4 oz) AP flour
14 oz buttermilk
1 tspn salt
1 ½ tspn bicarbonate of soda
2 oz of butter (optional)
Method:
Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly butter and flour a round cake pan.
Sieve to combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Rub in butter (if using) until mixture is crumbly.
Add buttermilk sufficient to form a sticky dough. Turn out and knead lightly; form into rough round and place in prepared pan. Mark a cross with floured knife, deep enough so it will separate easily into farls.*
Place in oven, cover with another pan (to simulate bastable pot) and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Remove from pan and cover loaf with a clean tea-towel, sprinkled lightly with water to keep loaf moist until cool.

*"farl" is just the dialect word for "quarters"

BOXTY (From Theodora Fitzgibbon's A TASTE OF IRELAND)
Traditional in northern counties such as Cavan and Donegal.
'Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, If you don't eat Boxty you'll never get a man.'

BOXTY BREAD (Boxty in the pan)
I lb. raw potatoes
I lb. (4 cups) flour
salt and pepper
1 lb. (2 cups) cooked mashed potatoes
4 oz. (1 cup) melted butter or bacon fat
Peel the raw potatoes and grate into a clean cloth. Wring them tightly over a basin, catching the liquid. Put the grated potatoes into another basin and spread with the cooked mashed potatoes. When the starch has sunk to the bottom of the raw potato liquid, pour off the water and scrape the starch on to the potatoes. Mix well and sieve the flour, salt and pepper over it. Finally add the melted butter or fat. Knead, roll out on a floured board and shape into round flat cakes. Make a cross over, so that when cooked they will divide into farls. Cook on a greased baking sheet in a moderate oven (300° F. electric; gas regulo 3) for about 40 minutes. This quantity will make about four cakes. Serve hot, split in two with butter.

I've made them all, and they're all good. The important things to remember with soda breads are:
1) like all chemically-leavened breads, the leavening action will be of short duration: therefore, resist the temptation to over-mix and over-handle the dough once the liquids have been added to the solids. Really, 10 folds will do it! Don't worry about trying to get all the flour dissolved: it will be fine!

2) it is all too easy to over-bake these breads; set the timer on the short side and test with a straw frequently towards the end. Overbaking will really dry this stuff out....and then, as "Fletch" said, you really CAN use railway cake--or any of this stuff--to derail trains!

3) it is VERY important to wrap up your loaves in a damp tea-towel to allow them to cool; what you're doing, really, is steaming the loaf: and that will result in a nice, soft, bread.

4) If you're serving it the same day, just leave it in the towel. If you want to go all old-school and keep it longer, wrap it in a dry towel (to discourage mold); or, for a more modern approach, you can stick the loaf in a plastic zip-lock bag. Leave about a quarter inch of the seal open, so that moisture will be conserved, but excess moisture can evaporate slowly, again to avoid mold.

Hope this helps. Do write and let us know what you choose to do, and how it all comes out.

"Skeet"

 

[bettydarling]

La Feile Padraig Gach Duine!!!

Happy Paddy's Day everyone! Hope you have a great day where ever you are. Maybe with a few of these !:beer: Being a good Irish gal, I'll be having a kitsch filled Paddy's Day dressed in green! And just did a green-themed post on my blog to get in to the spirit!

Have a good one!
xx

 

[Harp]

It´s a good holiday, I wanted to celebrate it this year, but all my friends are lame and all of them made up some excuse... Does it really matter that it´s a regular working day?

No, it most certainly does not.

 

[23SkidooWithYou]

For all the tea toddlers...


I'll dust off my Belleek tea pot and put the water on. We can raise a cup on this splendid day ask...

Lord, may you turn the hearts of our enemies.
And if you cannot turn their hearts, Lord, may you turn their ankles so that we know them by their limping.

 

[Caity Lynn]

I'll be listening to Rocky Road to Dublin, Molly Malone, Cod-Liver Coolies, and Lannigans Ball all day today.

:eusa_clap Approval. Molly Malone and Lannigans ball are amazing songs. I'll be listening to those as well as Wearing of the Green, Irish Eyes, and of course, Seven Drunken Nights.

 

["Skeet" McD]

Move to Boston!

No, it most certainly does not.

]

Of course, here in Boston, we have the excuse of "Evacuation Day" (the day on which the British retired from the City in 1776)....which the natives managed to work on...but after the Irish got into city gov'mint in the late 19C, a swell of patriotism (or something) made March 17th a holiday. So we don't have to worry about working, at all at all.

"Skeet"

 

[HadleyH]

 

[HoosierDaddy]

For My Pal Paddy

A Texan walks into a pub in Ireland and clears his voice to the crowd of drinkers. He says, "I hear you Irish are a bunch of hard drinkers. I'll give $500 American dollars to anybody in here who can drink 10 pints of Guinness back-to-back."

The room is quiet, and no one takes up the Texan's offer. One man even leaves.

Thirty minutes later the same gentleman who left shows back up and taps the Texan on the shoulder. "Is your bet still good?" asks the Irishman.

The Texan says yes and asks the bartender to line up 10 pints of Guinness. Immediately the Irishman tears into all 10 of the pint glasses, drinking them all back-to-back.

The other pub patrons cheer as the Texan sits in amazement. The Texan gives the Irishman the $500 and says, "If ya don't mind me askin', where did you go for that 30 minutes you were gone?"

The Irishman replies, "Oh... I had to go to the pub down the street to see if I could do it first."
__________________
HD

 

[Fletch]

I tell one Irish joke a year. Don't worry, it's clean. (Well, substantially so.)

Old Tim's Hat

Old Tim shows up at Mass one Sunday. Father Donnelly can't believe his eyes, for Tim hasn't been in a church since anyone can remember. "Tim!" Father says. "Blessed be, it's old Tim come to Mass."

"It is meself," Tim nods.

"And what might have brought ye after all this time?" Father Donnelly inquires.

"Wayll, Father, I'm bound to tell ye the truth," Tim begins. "Not long ago, I misplaced me hat. A fine Donegal she was, no better tweed to be had. And I happen to know Seamus Boyle had one just like 'er, and ye know Seamus, 'tisn't Sunday but he's up and at the marnin' Mass, and leavin' his hat on a peg at the back o' church.

"So ye see Father, I planned on comin' to Mass, and then when all got up for the Communion, it'd be me snakin' quiet like to the back o'church and stealin' Seamus's hat. But befarr me plan could go farward -- I happened to hear yer praychin' on the Ten Commandments, and I was strook with the realization -- I don't need to be stealin' Seamus's hat!"

Father Donnelly beamed. "So! You heard the words, Thou shalt not steal -- and decided you'd best go without yer hat than face eternal damnation."

"No, Father," Tim shook his head. "I heard the words, Thou shalt not commit adultery -- and it's then I remembered where I left me hat."

 

[Edward]

Despite my wearing of the green....

They hanged people for that once, you know.... damn Brits. (I kiiiddd! I Kiidddd! Well, not about the hanging...).

Actually at one time, way back around the 14th century, if memory serves, they passed a law forbidding the wearing of orange in Ireland as it was, at that time, the colour of extreme anti-Englishness and separatism.... Irish history is full of those little ironies.

And hey, what's this talk I hear of the Protestant work ethic (believe me, in the North at leas,t that's a myth in large part...) clashing with celebrating the Saint's day? There's plenty of porud Irish martyrs were Protestant, Roddy Macorley and Wolfe Tone among 'em! (Not that there aren't plenty of folks on both sides very keen to sweep that under the carpet) lol. Bu let's not drag politics into it.... I hope everyone had a good one. I alas have not managed to celebrate it actvely for one reason and another these last three years. Maybe next year.... The last one I went out for was 07, Imelda May played the Pigalle Club in London.... quite a night, the friend I took with me even managed to get me onto the dance floor - a rare occurence indeed.

I believe it is not a traditional irish dish but a New World adaptation.

Not sure, myself. It's certainly something i never encountered in the North, but it might be one of those Southern things, in the same was as the Dublin Coddle. Irish Stew is pretty universal across the Island. FWIW, the best Irish stew I have ever had outsie Ireland was in Delaney's Irish Bar in downtown Kowloon, Hong Kong....

Also there a traditional broth (which I use both as started and main course at various times). Easily made - drop a decent bit of shin or stewing beef, even lamb will do nicely (I've also used venison, but that sure ain't traditional), into a pot, bring to the boil, simmer for 45 minutes. Then add lentils, barley, dried peas, and chopped leek, onion, carrot, celery and parsley, other herbs to taste (I like a sprinkling of salt, pepper, origano and powedered garlic, just a tiny touch), bring to the boil again, and simmer for a further 45 minutes. Great stuff for the Winter.

Champ is a traditional dish, certainly in the Six Counties (I think universal again) - mashed potato with butter, mashed through it you have parsley and scallions (spring onions).

Then, of course, there is the true food of the gods: The Ulster Fry, also known locallyas the Heart Attack on a Plate. What distinguishes this dish from the sausage / egg / bacon / etc fry you see served in the South, or in England as "The Full English", are the bread products. Soda Farls, and potato bread, in the main. Excellent stuff. (Closest I've had to this was in Scotland, mainly down the Western side - the fry is essentially the same except you have haggis too.... yum!.... and the bread products might vary). Baked beans are a newer element - at least, in our family tradition they weren't part of a fry, but they have more recently become something you will find as a standard part of the dish.

A variant on the fry I have encountered mainly along the Causeway Coat area (Coleraine, Portrush, Portstweart - very top NE coast of the Island) is the Soda Burger. This consists, in it's truest form, of a full soda farl sliced in half and fried, served with the following contents: burger, sausage, fried egg, bacon - or commonly any mix thereof.

Sometimes I wonder whether our traditional dishes were designed by Cromwell - 'if we can't deal with them by force, we'll keep 'em down by diet' lol

Hope everyone had a great St Patricks, wherever you are, whether in the Old Country itself or carrying it with you.

 

[Edward]

I raise a glass of Harp lager to my fellow loungers and wish you all the luck in the world.

but.... but..... it smells like wee wee!!

 

[John in Covina]

After Lenten Vespers I joined my Pastor and his wife for a late snack of corned beef.

We had a Guiness and toasted St. Patrick chasing the snakes out of Ireland.

We then put on "The Quiet Man" DVD as I made some Guiness and barely wine ale blends for sipping during the movie.

 

[Wally_Hood]

We enjoyed feast of homemade corned beef, cabbage, absolutely amazing mashed potatoes, and soda bread. For the grown-ups, Powers Irish whisky. In the background, The Quiet Man playing in the living room, and some Irish singing and instrumental cds in the kitchen. It's an annual event, eagerly looked forward to.