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Celticsprite’s Blog

Celtic Cookery: Freckle Bread
March 30, 2012, 2:31 pm
Filed under: Celtic Cookery

It is renowned that “potatoes” were brought to Europe by Spanish colons from America, and became the basis of many receipts in celtic countries, introducin Different varieties of potatoes lend themselves to different cooking methods, specially in Ireland, Galicia and Asturias. I have been featuring several receips containing this particular vegetable… Hereby is another one which I would love to share with you.

Celtic Cookery: The Cornish "Figgie ‘obbin" aka "Figgie Hobbin"
December 27, 2011, 5:02 pm

Celtic Cookery: Scottish Shortbread Cookies
December 6, 2011, 5:22 pm

December seasonal feasts are coming soon,  and cookies are usually shared on these days…with its’ rich buttery flavor and tender and crumbly texture!. While it is particularly associated with bringing in the New Year it is certainly popular in Scotland throughout the year.

A basic biscuit (cookie) recipe includes flour, shortening (often lard), baking powder or soda, milk (buttermilk or sweet milk) and sugar. Common savory variations involve substituting sugar with an ingredient such as cheese or other dairy products.

Shortbread is a popular biscuit in the UK and USA, so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter.

According to the Scottish National Dictionary, its Scottish name derives from the diminutive form (+ suffix -ie) of the word cook, giving the Middle Scots cookie, cooky or cu(c)kie.
Cookies came to America in the early English settlement (the 17th century), although the name “koekje” arrived with the Dutch. It also gives an alternative etymology, from the Dutch word koekje, the diminutive of koek, a cake. There was much trade and cultural contact across the North Sea between the Low Countries and Scotland during the Middle Ages, which can also be seen in the history of curling and, perhaps, golf.
The secret to making a good Scottish Shortbread is to have a light hand when mixing the ingredients and to use the finest ingredients. So that means a high quality salted butter, my personal preference being an imported butter (I used Kerrygold Irish Butter to test the recipe). Now, butter in the States is graded according to flavor, color, texture, aroma and body and one easy way to tell the quality of the butter is by the letter code or numerical number listed on the butter’s package. The highest grade is AA (93 score), then A (92 score), followed by B (90 score). Also, these shortbreads contain rice flour which gives the shortbread a more crumbly and tender texture. Rice flour is a fine gluten-free flour produced from white or brown rice. It can be found in some grocery stores or else health food stores. In the absence of rice flour you can use cornstarch (corn flour) which is a fine white powder that comes from the inner grain (endosperm) of corn.

“Only the best ingredients should be used. The flour should be dried and sieved. The butter, which is the only moistening and shortening agent, should be squeezed free of all water. The sugar should be fine castor. Two other things are essential for success – the careful blending of the ingredients and careful firing.”

Advice also comes from ’The Baker’s Repository of Recipes – With Special Reference to Scottish Specialities’, published post-WWII by The British Baker to help reinvigorate the baking trade by providing a comprehensive collection of national recipes:

Scottish Shortbreads are made by hand using just one large bowl. An electric mixer is not needed. To make the shortbreads, first mix the flour with the rice flour and sugar. Next, very cold butter is grated over the flour mixture. Then, with your fingertips, take small handfuls of the mixture and gently rub the butter into the flour. Keep lifting and rubbing the butter and flour together until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs (you do not want a dough to form). Take the shortbread and place it in an eight inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press into an even layer and prick the surface with the tines of a fork. The final step is to take a sharp knife and ‘score’ the top of the shortbread into 16 wedges. (‘Score’ means to lightly mark or make shallow cuts into the top surface of the shortbread with a sharp knife or prongs of a fork. Do not cut all the way through the pastry or bread. Scoring is done both for decorative purposes and as a way for gases to escape during baking.) Bake in a 300 degree F (150 degrees C) for about 40-50 minutes or until biscuit colored (watch carefully). Remove from oven, place on a wire rack to cool for five minutes before removing from tart pan. Place the shortbread round on a cutting board and cut each shortbread round into 16 wedges (along the lines scored). Cool completely on a wire rack.

110g slightly salted butter (or unsalted butter with a pinch a salt) – use direct from fridge
50g caster sugar
50g rice flour/ground rice

Related Sources:

http:// www.bakingforbritain.blogspot.com

MacDonald, Claire. Sweet Things. Century Publishing. London: 1984.
McNeill, F. Marian. Recipes from Scotland. The Albyn Press. Edinburgh: 1946.
McNeill, F. Marian. The Scots Kitchen. Mercat Press. Edinburgh: 1929.
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Celtic Cookery : Balnamoon Skink, an Irish Soup
September 2, 2011, 4:19 pm 


Compiled by Conrad Bladey from the book “The Cook and Housewife’s Manual” by Christian Isobel Johnstone, 1847. Posted by kind permission of Conrad Bladey. All rights reserved.)

Have one larger neatly trussed as for boiling.

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.

Nowadays Common Ingredients

2 chickens

Herbs (such as thyme, rosemary, marjoram)



Chopped chives

Chopped onions


Green peas



1 cup of cream

Add celery and green peas.

Stew until the vegetables are tender.


Celtic Cookery : Gwledd y Cybydd (The Miser’s Feast)
July 4, 2011, 2:23 pm Gwledd y Cybydd (The Miser’s Feast) is a traditional Welsh recipe for a classic, frugal supper of potatoes, onions and bacon rashers boiled together until tender. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Welsh version of: The Miser’s Feast (Gwledd y Cybydd).
Original Recipe

Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/cym/fetch-recipe.php?rid=gwledd-y-cybydd
Copyright © celtnet


665g potatoes, peeled and sliced
225g onions, peeled and sliced
450g bacon rashers, sliced salt and black pepper, to taste


Place the potatoes and onions in a pan of lightly-salted water and bring to the boil. Once the mixture is boiling add the bacon pieces and season with pepper. Reduce the mixture to a simmer, cover and cook for about 100 minutes. Drain and serve hot.

A variant of this dish, includes Eggs + Back Bacon + Potatoes + Onions + Garlic


Coat a medium frying pan with the olive oil and add the potatoes. Cook the potatoes over low-medium heat for 5-10 minutes–until they begin getting soft. As the potatoes are cooking, stir and flip them fairly frequently. Add the back bacon, onions, and garlic; cook for another 5 or so minutes, continuing to stir and flip the ingredients. Add the eggs and keep on the heat, while continuing to stir and flip, until the eggs are cooked through. All rights reserved by the authors.
 

The Ancient Oaten Past

Use the flat paddle blade.

Let dough sit for about three hours.

Using a glass or cutter cut out rounds of the dough.

Now you have something that a Bronze Age Celt would recognize!


>Celtic Cookery : Potato Farls
May 12, 2011, 4:49 pm Irish potato cakes are traditional and come under various names: fadge, potato farls, tattie bread, tattie scones or simply “that splodge that I came up with from the leftovers”. Today I share with you this cute review called
“Couldn’t Be easer or more traditional- Potato Farls”, excerpted from Dublin University Magazine – 1854 . Compiled by Conrad Bladey. Posted by kind permission of Conrad Bladey . All rights reserved by the author.
A centerpiece of the Ulster Fry but also very close to Boxty and known as Potato Bread. Boxty is more of a batter and made with raw as well as cooked potatoes. Interesting that these can be given a sweet content generally apples prepared as apple pie filling with brown sugar etc…pre cooked or raw. Apple potato cakes are associated with the eve of St. Brigid’s day (February 1) so they are on my mind.


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