Halloween & My Barmbrack Recipe

Halloween, celebrated on October 31st, is one of those true Celtic traditions that has become a world-wide celebrated occasion. Historically, it is based on the Celtic festival of Samhain which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".

With the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600's, the Scottish colonists brought with them the festival of All Hallow's Evening (All Hallows Even') celebrated on the same night and the two traditions merged. This was the night that the souls of the dead were thought to walk the earth and many people believed it a setting for supernatural encounters! I remember how Holy Water was sprinkled on the outhouses, sheds and farm animals  to keep them safe during the night and mirrors in our house were covered with sheets so that the poor souls could not enter the living world.

The traditional bread served on the night was the Halloween Barmbrack, meaning speckled cake, which is a sweet fruit bread. The word Barm comes from an old English word, "beorma", meaning yeasty fermented liquor and Brack comes from the Irish word "breac", meaning speckled - which it is with the dried fruit and candied peel.

The bracks made with yeast are called "barmbracks" and those that use baking powder and fruit soaked in tea are called "tea bracks".

Each member of your family must get a slice and it was always a great treat, to find the penny in the cake as this meant you were going to be rich. Other items buried in the barmbrack are: a ring for the bride-to-be, a thimble for the one who would never marry and a small piece of cloth indicating the one who would be poor. This is the recipe I have used for many years and it makes one loaf.

My Ingredients:

450g (3½ Cups) plain flour 

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

1/2 tspn ground nutmeg

7g (1 sachet) (2 teaspoons) dried yeast 

75g butter (4 tablespoons)

75g (1/3 Cup) castor sugar 

250ml (1 Cup) milk 

1 beaten egg

150g (1 Cup) raisins 

100g (3/4 Cup) currants 

50g (1/4 Cup) chopped Dried Fruit Peel 

A little melted butter for greasing

My Method:

1. Warm the milk, add the butter and let it melt in the warm milk.

2. Mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add half the warmed milk mixture. Add the beaten egg.

3. Sift the cinnamon with the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour the yeast and liquid mixture into it. Sprinkle a little flour over the liquid and leave it in a warm place for 1/2 hour until yeast froths up.

4. Add in the remainder of the liquid and mix the whole lot into a dough. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead the sugar, raisins, currants and chopped peel into the dough.

5. Put the dough into a butter-greased large bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

6. Knead it back again and then shape into your greased bread tin. Brush the top with melted butter and cover until doubled in bulk again.

7. Bake for 40 minutes in a pre-heated hot oven at 200°C until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. To give it a nice glaze stir 1 tbls sugar into 50ml boiling water and brush this over the top of the loaf when it comes out of the oven and is still hot.

zack

My Easy to Make Christmas Pudding and Brandy Custard

Hi!

Christmas pudding is also known as plum pudding because of the abundance of prunes in it! This rich tasty pudding is boiled or steamed, made of a mixture of fresh or dried fruit, nuts and suet (beef or mutton fat). Vegetarian suet may also be used.

This pudding is very dark and is saturated with whiskey or brandy, dark beer, or other alcohols. They used to be boiled in a "pudding cloth," but today they are usually made in pudding bowls.

You can't beat a Traditional Christmas Pudding flamed with Irish Whiskey

People have always stirred lucky charms into their Christmas pudding mixture for good luck similar to Halloween Barmbracks.
These were always:
silver coins (for wealth), tiny silver wishbones (for good luck), a silver thimble (for thrift), a gold ring (for marriage) or an anchor (for safe harbour)
and whoever got the lucky serving, would keep the charm!

Ready-made and cooked puddings are now available in the shops but they will never compete with the pleasure that comes with the flavour of your own Christmas Pudding!

Here's my easy to make Christmas Pudding recipe with a whiskey/brandy custard cream too!

My Ingredients:

125g ready-to-eat prunes, chopped

225g raisins

225g currants

225g sultanas

Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

50g chopped almonds

1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated

1 medium carrot, peeled and grated

225g demerara sugar

225g suet (I use vegetable suet rather than beef)

125g fresh white breadcrumbs

125g plain flour

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

3 eggs

150ml Stout

1 tbsp black treacle

35ml Irish Whiskey or Brandy

It sounds like a lot of work - but the Christmas Pudding is very easy to make!

My Method:

1. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.

2. Whisk the eggs, stout, whiskey or brandy and black treacle together and stir into the mixture.

3. Cover and leave to stand overnight in a cool place.

4. Butter three x 600ml pudding bowls and put a circle of grease-proof paper in the base.

5. Pack the mixture into the bowls and smooth the top. Leave about 2.5 cm space to the top of the bowl.

6. Cut a double layer of grease-proof paper into a 30cm circle. Cover each pudding with the paper and tie with string around the edge. Tie another piece of string across the top of the pudding so that it can be easily lifted in and out of the pan.

7. Put the bowls into a heavy-based saucepan (placing an up-turned plate in the bottom of the pot first, to raise the pudding bowls off the bottom of the pot). Pour boiling water around the edge until it comes two-thirds of the way up the sides of the bowls. Cover with a lid and simmer for 3 hours. Top up the pot with boiling water to the starting level every hour.

8. Lift out the puddings after 3 hours and let them cool. Put on a new grease-proof or parchment cover and then cover tightly with foil.

9. Store in a cool dark place until Christmas. The puddings will keep for up to six months.

10. To serve cut into portion sizes and heat in a microwave, on full power, for 1 minute until piping hot. Warm two tablespoons of whiskey or brandy in a small saucepan. Set alight and carefully pour over the pudding. Serve with my flavoured custard cream (see recipe below).

Christmas Pudding with a Brandy Custard Cream!

Brandy Custard Cream

This is a very simple and tasty Christmas cream that I prefer to serve with my Christmas Pudding more than anything else!..

Whip 250ml cream until it holds a figure eight shape and stir it into 250ml of cold custard (you can make this yourself or buy it pre-made). Pour in 35ml (one shot) of Irish Whiskey or brandy and add a pinch of grated nutmeg and stir until smooth.

This can also be served over warmed mince pies for a delightful change to the usual! Enjoy!

Zack

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French Toast or Gypsy Toast made with Duck Eggs

Ordinary plain white bread that is dipped in egg and milk and fried on the pan is called Gypsy Toast, French Toast, Eggy Bread, Pan Dulcis, Torrija, Fatias Douradas, Lost Bread and Pain Perdu. The name used today apparently comes from a New York innkeeper named Joseph French, who created a dish in 1724 and advertised it as "French's Toast". The printer made a mistake on his Menu and it became French Toast!

It's really simple to make and is a great way to get kids eating eggs. You can eat it with savoury or sweet additions or just with a knob of butter!

Traditionally French Toast is made from older or stale bread because it soaks up the egg mix better than when fresh, but you can use fresh bread anyway. When I was over in Norway last year one of the gourmet restaurants we were eating in served it up as a dessert with cinnamon-sugar and ice cream. Simple.

I picked up a half dozen lovely big free-range Duck Eggs at our local Leghowney Country Market yesterday, so I decided to make a big batch of French Toast with them. 

Funny thing is, the man who was selling the eggs had never heard of dipping bread into beaten egg and frying it! I was telling him how to make it and was astounded that he'd never come across it before. He was going home to make some straight after the market! So, here is my recipe for French Toast.


My Ingredients:
2 large Eggs (Duck or Hens eggs)
100ml / ½Cup Milk
12 Slices White Bread (more or less)
rapeseed oil or vegetable oil to fry

My Method:

1. Cut the bread into half slices. Beat the eggs and milk together in a bowl.

2. Heat the pan on a low heat with a tiny rub of oil covering the base of the pan. Dip the bread into the egg mix, turning it over to cover both sides and shaking off any excess. Place on the frying pan leaving a space between each slice.

3. Cook until golden brown (approx. 1 min) on each side. Remove from the pan and cover with a cloth to keep warm. Repeat until all the egg mix is used up.

You can eat French Toast with anything! Spread it with Butter, sprinkle it with a little Sugar & Lemon, serve it with Bacon, Maple Syrup, Honey, Cinnamon Sugar, Ice-Cream, Strawberry Jam and Fresh Cream or just plain! Yum!

Zack

Rough Puff Pastry, Beef Guinness Pie & Monica Lewinsky!

My friend Chris Cassidy wrote a song in 1999 about Monica Lewinsky at the height of that particular scandal.  The Master Tape was lost until last week when we found it in a box and this week just happens to be Monica's 40th Birthday!


Chris' dad was a butcher so all his family have the 'local family name' of "Pie" eg Chris 'Pie' Cassidy etc. A local family name is a thing that you often find on the Irish west coast to distinguish one family of the same name as another. This being a food website, it was only logical that I give you a recipe for a Pie to go with the music! So here is "Rough Puff Pastry & Beef Pie" to the music of Chris Pie Cassidy!


Do enjoy both the music & the pie and please Share  it round the world - the words to the song are on the YouTube website :)

Click to play the music and the Rough Puff Pastry, Beef Guinness Pie recipes are here below :)

Rough Puff Pastry
This type of pastry is great for pies and tarts, either sweet or savoury. You can also use it for sausage rolls!


My Ingredients:
250g Plain flour
75g "Cookeen" vegetable fat
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Water
75g butter




My Method:
1. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the white fat as normal when making pastry. Add the lemon juice and cold water to mix to a stiff dough. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour to relax.
2. Roll out the pastry into a rectangle. Cut the butter into lumps about the size of a walnut and place it over 3/4 of the pastry.
3. Fold in the unbuttered 1/3 to the middle of the pastry and then fold the 1st 1/3 over this, so that the butter is layered inside the pastry.
4. Carefully roll out this pastry to it's original size keeping it lightly floured to stop sticking. Fold it in 3 again and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
5. Repeat this rolling and folding three more times relaxing the pastry in the fridge between each folding.
6. Leave the pastry for one  hour in the fridge before finally rolling it out for your Pie top.

Beef 'n Guinness Casserole

My Ingredients:
1 kg Stewing or Braising Beef
75g Butter
2 tbls olive oil
225g Onions Roughly chopped
225g Chunky-cut Carrots
100g Roughly chopped Celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped small
1 tblsp Flour
1 tspn Wholegrain Mustard
1 tblsp Brown Sugar
1 tspn each of chopped Thyme, Parsley and Marjoram
1 Orange, simply cut in quarters
500ml Guinness
Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper

My Method:
1. Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks. Melt 1/2 the butter in a large pan, add the meat and brown on all sides over a high heat. Remove with a spoon and set aside.
2. Turn down the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic to the pan with the remaining butter and cook for 5minutes.
3. Add the flour, mustard, sugar and stir thoroughly. Add the Guinness and mix well. Stirring occasionally, cook until the sauce thickens a little.
4. Return the meat to the pan, squeeze in the orange juice and add the herbs. Season with a twist of pepper and sea salt.
5. Mix well. Then cover and simmer very gently, giving it an odd stir for approximately 2 hours until the meat is tender. You can eat this straight away as a casserole at this stage if you wish.
6. When making the pie it's best to let the meat cool a bit before topping so that it doesn't melt the pastry before it gets to the oven (which would effect the rising of the pastry). Roll out your pastry to suit your Pie Dish with 2cm extra all round.
7. Add your meat to the dish, cover with the pastry and roll in the 2cm around the edge to give a crust. Decorate and brush with beaten egg and milk to glaze.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 35 minutes until risen and golden in colour!

There you go. Simple and delicious! And I hope you enjoyed the music too!
zack