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The Eagle Has Landed!

I feel like an astronaut. It’s been a very long trip – been up since 6:30 yesterday morning. It’s 6:50 pm here. Lots of singing downstairs (Proud Mary, There’s a Bad Moon on the Right – I may need to join in ) at the pub, but I am not up for any more peopling.

Mary O’Toole showed me a tiny, amazingly well stocked grocery store and I am now in possession of a glass of wine, so things are looking up.

Everyone has been so lovely – lots of help along the way. The apartment is really nice.

I’ve been hearing that Ireland has had a drought, so the green is not quite as lush as it usually is. This is the scene outside my living room window.

My friend Cary has asked for foodie notes and photos every day. So, today’s entry is how I satisfied my yearning for soda bread, which I bought in the small, neighborhood grocery barely blocks away.

My grandmother didn’t write down her recipe.  I got this one from The Catholic Universe Bulletin over half a century ago:

Great Grandma Gill’s Irish Soda Bread

Preheat the oven to 350^o.

Ingredients:

1 box (15 oz.) raisins

4 C flour

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. shortening

2 eggs, beaten

2 C buttermilk

1 Tbsp. bacon drippings to grease the pan

Cover raisins with hot water and let stand 5 minutes. Sift together dry ingredients. (I just stir them with a fork in the bowl.)  Rub in shortening with fingertips. (It really makes a mess on your fingers, but it’s the only way to work such a tiny bit of shortening into so much flour.)

Drain raisins and dry by rubbing them between paper towels and add to the flour. Stir just a couple of times to distribute the raisins in the flour.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs and buttermilk (or sour milk[1]) together lightly with a fork. Stir into flour to make a soft dough.  (It’s sticky and heavy.)

Spread dough in a large iron skillet or 13” x 9” pan greased with bacon drippings.  (You could also use shortening, but the bacon grease gives a sharp-crisp crust and some flavor.) If using a round skillet, make a cross in the top of the dough with a knife dipped in hot water. 

Bake at 350^o for 50 minutes or until done. (It’s done when the dough pulls away from the sides and the top is golden brown – not too light.) If you tap it on the bottom it should sound hollow.

Remove from pan using hot pads or oven mitts (Mitts are easier and safer.) and cool on a rack. (Sometimes I leave the loaf on a cold burner on the stove. It just needs a little air under it, so the bottom doesn’t get soggy.)

Substitution: Sometimes I put a handful of rolled oats in for part of the flour. I like the texture.

Let me know what you think of it!

Slán!

p.s. Yes, I keep this recipe in my DRAFT folder because I’m asked for it so often.

[1] You can make sour milk by mixing 1 cup minus 2T of milk and adding 2T of white vinegar.