When I was a kid, my parents hosted children from Ireland through Project Children, an organization that gave kids from troubled areas in Ireland (north and south) a 6-week adventure in the United States. My parents participated with this program for many years. Each summer vacation welcomed a new friendly face from aboard with smiling Irish eyes. I made lots of pen pals, and I think about my old Irish friends often.
One of the ways we shared our cultures was through food. While my family entertained the girls we hosted with NJ boardwalk cuisine – pizza, hot dogs, French fries, sausage and peppers, brats, deep fried everything, and soft serve cones – we acquired authentic Irish recipes that were delish. My grandmother loved having the girls over. She was Scottish and Irish. And a damned good cook. She made the girls her family’s Irish Soda Bread recipe, which was well-received and deemed authentic.
For every Project Children event or St. Patrick’s Day party, we always made my grandmother’s Irish Soda Bread. It’s a hit and is guaranteed to be devoured.
So, here it is. My grandmother’s Leprechaun-approved Irish Soda Bread recipe. Guard it with your life.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons caraway seeds
3 Tablespoons shortening or margarine
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup raisins, dark or golden, coarsely chopped
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar.
- Add shortening and cut into flour with two knives or a pastry blender until shortening is in fine pieces.
- Make a well in center of flour, pour in buttermilk and add raisins. Mix lightly.
- Turn in a lightly floured board and knead gently a few times. Shape into a 5-inch thick round loaf and place in prepared pan.
- Using a sharp knife or scissors, cut dough crosswise into quarters, about 1/3 of the way through. Brush top surface with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar mixed with the cinnamon.
- Bake 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with butter or margarine.
Another reason restaurants don”t serve Irish styled corned beef as a regular menu is because a lot of people including me just barely tolerate the dish. I suffer in silence every Saint Patrick”s Day because my sister and relatives that come to our home for dinner claim they just love it and look forward to it every year. That”s the catch. They don”t go searching it out the rest of the year. Irish Americans and others have simply been brainwashed about all this. I don”t know anyone who was born and bred in Ireland that likes it, but they are too polite to mention it when some American starts plopping it onto their plate. No, I”d much rather be serving my really traditionally Irish “Saint Brendan”s Celtic Beef Stew which I described earlier this year. It”s richer, heartier, more tasty and infinitely more Irish. 0 Report