Boxty

This is a recipe for the ladies! As the old rhyme goes: “Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan; if you can’t make boxty, you’ll never get a man”. Single? Are you looking for someone to keep you company on those lonely nights? Once you’ve mastered this recipe your only chat-up line should be along the lines of “well... Have you tasted my boxty?”. Any self-respecting countrywoman could whip up a batch of boxty no bother at the request of her loved one! So, to entice that special someone or to keep them by your side all you need do is follow this recipe!

It is one of the traditional Irish recipes that nearly everyone knows of or at least has heard of in some shape of form. It consists of two of the main staples of Irish cuisine: potatoes and flour. Translated from the Irish to mean ‘poor house bread’, like all peasant food it has naturally become a favourite amongst the working class and has even crept onto the palates of the more privileged.

What I like most about this recipe is its versatility. Once the mix is made, it is entirely up to you how you want to cook it. Personally I like it rolled out to about one centimetre thick and pan fried for a few minutes on either side until crisp and brown. It goes down great when smothered in butter! You can also roll it out to about 1-1½ inches thick and bake it in the oven at 200°C for 20-30 minutes for something more bread-like. Another way of doing it is to use a good bit of milk to make the mixture more like a batter and pour it into a greased frying pan to make potato pancakes. Delicious! Without further ado, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

1 lb Potatoes                                  10 oz. Self-Raising Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder            2 oz. Melted butter

Milk to mix                                     Salt and Pepper

Method

1.       Divide the potatoes in half. Boil one half until tender. Grate the other half and wring out the water through a paper towel into a bowl. Reserve this liquid as it will be needed later.

2.       Drain the boiled potatoes. Mash and season to taste.

3.       Mix the grated and mashed potato together. Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix into the potato mixture.

4.       Go back to the liquid drained from the grated potato. By now the starch will have separated from the liquid. Drain off the liquid and add the left-over starch to the potato mixture.

5.       Melt the butter and add to the mixture to enrich it. Add enough milk to create a soft dough. What you want is something that holds together well and isn’t too runny.

6.       Shape into rounds about 8-10 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick.

7.       Cook in a buttered pan on a medium heat for a few minutes each side until golden brown.

Simple and delicious!

Classical Technique: Consommé

Consommé is defined as a clear broth made from meat, poultry or fish served as a soup course at the start of a meal. It is full of flavour yet is very light on the palate. It is a great way for chefs to show off their skill as the technique is very specific. A perfect consommé should be crystal clear, amber to light brown in colour and be full of flavour.

My first experience of consommé was in Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London. It was a roasted vegetable consommé and was a delight. It was beautifully flavoured and was so clear it sparkled.

The method isn’t really as complicated as the hype would suggest and the original technique can be adapted by the home chef. Purists would probably scoff at the idea of veering slightly to the left of the original method but why should we deny ourselves of this delicious dish at home? In the old French style restaurants there was a specially designated position such as the ‘saucier’ who was in charge of making stocks, soups and broths. This person, when making consommé, had a specially designed vessel for making consommé. This was a large pot with a tap at the base which allowed the chef to drain the crystal clear liquid while leaving the sediment soaked egg white at the top. It’s easy to do, I swear!

You can garnish the consommé with various things such as a chiffonnade of herbs etc. but I prefer it as it is in its pure simplicity.

Ingredients

500g lean beef (any cut really)                               1 stick of celery

500g beef shank (with the bone)                            1 medium sized onion

1½ litres water                                                         1 sprig of fresh thyme

3 carrots                                                                    1 bay leaf

½ parsnip                                                                ½ garlic clove

2 egg whites                                                             3-4 whole peppercorns

Method

1.       Fill a large stock pot with the water.

2.       Separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs. Discard the yolks and lightly whisk the whites just until bubbles begin to form. Add to the pot of cold water.

3.       Next, prepare the stock vegetables. Peel and dice the carrots and parsnip. Dice the onion and peel and slice the half clove of garlic. Add to the pot of water.

4.        Trim the beef as much as possible, getting rid of anything that isn’t muscle so as to obtain a clear, and honest meat flavour.

5.       Add the vegetables, trimmed meat, herbs and spices to the stock pot and slowly bring it close to boiling point.

6.       Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 1½ to 2 hours maximum.

7.       At the end of the cooking time an egg ‘raft’ should have floated to the top of the pot. This will contain the majority of sediment, herbs, spices and fat. Remove this and discard along with the meat.

8.       Finally, line a sieve with a coffee filter and pass the liquid through it. You should now have a crystal clear consommé that is ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Limerick's Packet and Tripe

Recently, I finally decided to try the famous Limerick dish called Packet and Tripe. I could not avoid the signs selling it in the windows of the many family owned butcher shops that occupy the city centre. This great presence of family owned butchers reflects the city’s past as a hub of the meat industry (that was dominated by bacon curing which gave forth to the well known Limerick Ham).

It has been called a working class dish but having spoken to a wide range of people, its mere mention gave the same mouth watering, nostalgic reaction across the social spectrum. It was very much a dish from peoples’ childhoods that their “mammy used to make”, usually of a weekend.

So, what is Packet and Tripe you ask? For those that didn’t grow up with it, it is quite a challenge to try first time but once you taste it you grow to like it. It is a sheep dish, the tripe being the sheep’s belly and the ‘packet’ being a blood pudding made from that of the sheep and its intestines forming the casing for the sausage shaped pudding. It does, to a degree sound a bit off putting to some but if you consider how widely black pudding (made from pigs’ blood) is enjoyed, the concept of the ‘packet’ doesn’t seem so bad.

Having tasted it I have to say it is rather delicious. Once you put behind you what it is, getting it down you isn’t difficult. The tripe has a unique, soft texture that when cooked right still has a small bit of bite to it. The ‘packet’ has a small bit more of an acquired flavour. It is incredibly soft and is relatively bland but has a slight metallic finish at the end. Cooking in milk and onion gives the dish a comforting taste that is certainly perfect for a cold day. The addition of breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce lends it a silky, unctuous quality that no doubt gets people salivating when they think about it.

Studying this dish has reminded me of the strength of character of regional food. When people outside of Limerick try to think of food associated with the city, Limerick Ham springs to mind. Those more familiar with the place do often times mention Packet and Tripe. Placenames can become synonymous with culinary specialities, for example Clonakilty and its Black Pudding, Clarenbridge for its Oysters and Waterford and its famous bread, the Blaa. What I am trying to stress here is the importance of keeping these regional specialities lasting well into the future. If we choose to ignore these foods, they will fade into history and the delightful diversity of Irish Cuisine will slowly diminish and give way to burgers and pizza and all those other things that we are becoming so easily accustomed to. Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

Ask the butcher for Packet and Tripe (specify the amount of people you are serving)

Milk

About 2 small to medium Onions per person

Breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper

Boiled Potatoes or Crusty Bread

Method*

1.       Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.

2.       Wash the tripe in cold water. If it wasn’t cut by the butcher cut it into small cubes.

3.       Add the tripe to the pan of water. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.

4.       While the tripe is cooking chop the onions into a medium dice.

5.       Drain off the water and add enough milk to cover the tripe and add roughly one third to a half more of that if you want a generous helping of sauce. Add the onions and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

6.       Halfway through the final cooking process add the breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce. Five minutes before the tripe is ready add the sliced ‘packet’ as this only needs to be warmed through.

7.       Adjust the seasoning and it is now ready to serve.

8.       Serve with boiled potatoes or ‘Cottage Loaf’.

*I have come across many recipes for this dish but this one proves to be the most popular. Some people suggest a much longer cooking time but both the majority and I (having tested both this and the longer cooking time version) prefer the method given here. Enjoy!

My Irish Stew

And so it begins...

I want to start my blog with a recipe that’s true to the place where I am working, that’s simple yet versatile because that is how I would like to work. I want to create food that represents its context and celebrates our local producers. This is the food of the people and as chefs it is our job to interpret these dishes and hopefully herald a revival of Irish cuisine. As a culture we are inclined to emphasise the liquid aspect of socialising and have slowly begun to forget our culinary heritage. Brought about by the ease of travel and transportation of goods, the dialogue between our native ingredients and those of other countries is something to be praised, however, I believe it is our own ingredients and dishes that should be pushed to the forefront.

Looking outside I think that the current weather situation warrants a dish like this, something comforting, something warming. This serves 2-3 people depending on how hungry you are, so adjust the measurements to suit your needs.

However cliché you might think it is to start a food blog based in Ireland on Irish stew, this truly is one of our national dishes but many people actually don’t know how to make it. It must be made with lamb and must include potatoes and onions. Anything else you add afterwards makes this dish your own. Here I’ve added carrots for their wonderful sweetness and pearl barley which helps enrich the liquid and adds a nice textural quality to the dish.

Enjoy making this dish! After all, cooking is an essential life skill. If you can’t feed yourself, well then, you’re kind of screwed! Having to resort to eating fast and convenient food the whole time will no doubt lead to you becoming a fat homogeneous mess and nobody wants that! So all I can say is get cooking and enjoy the learning process as it will stand to you in years to come!

My Irish Stew

You will need:

1-1½ Lbs of lamb chops                                        ½ pint water                      

4 carrots                                                           1 fresh sprig of thyme

4-5 medium to large potatoes                               2-3 tablespoons of pearl barley

4 medium sized onions                                         salt and pepper to taste

1½ pints chicken stock                                         chopped chive to garnish

Method:

1.    Skin the potatoes. If they are large, cut them in half. If not, keep them whole. Set aside.

2.    Peel and roughly chop the carrots. You want them nice and chunky as this is supposed to be quite a rustic dish. Set aside.

3.    Once peeled, remove the rootlets from the bases of the onions. Next, quarter the onions from the base so as to keep all the layers together. Set aside.

4.     Prepare the stock. If using stock cubes use 1 cube per ¾ pint.

5.    Next, trip the chops of their fat. Keep this fat though as it will be used in the next step. Chop the lamb into bite size pieces.

6.    In a frying pan render the fat to make the cooking ‘oil’ for the meat.

7.    On a high heat brown off the lamb pieces in the pan of fat. Allow the juices to caramelise on the meat as this adds a lot of flavour.

8.     Now add the stock, lamb, vegetables and thyme sprig to a casserole dish and simmer for 1½ hours. About half way through the cooking add the pearl barley. This helps thicken the liquid and adding the barley half way through ensures they still have a bit of texture when served. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

9.     To serve, spoon the stew into a deep bowl. If you wish, garnish with chopped chives. Serve with soda bread spread thick with butter.

Simples!