Happy Oíche Shamhna Everyone!
Halloween tricks from our founding Halloweeners
Saturday News Digest, V1/E29
Table of Content
Dispatch from the Breaking News Desk
Cheffy Bakes Bread
Dispatch from the Breaking News Desk
A true tall tale from a practicing liarIt is not uncommon to doubt half of the stories this family will spin for you. People outside the family don’t generally know this. To be clear: family members know the distinction between lying and storytelling. The first is self-serving, the second is entertaining. Family members call each other out on fishy stories all the time but they appreciate the creative effort and, given that their audience is usually left laughing, don’t expect one bit of embarrassment from perpetrators at all.
This was the situation when my brother told us that Halloween was founded by the Irish. Contrary to popular family lore, the Irish are not perfect nor the source of all life’s treasures. But he stuck to his spiel and explained that he was dragging us to Derry—the apparent Halloween epicenter—to take part in the modern interpretation of ancient Celtic rituals for when the violent birth of winter from a dying summer tears a hole in the heavens and the dead cross over to wander among the living.
It turns out my brother was telling the truth. What’s more, everyone in the world knows this to be true. This must be said: given the family’s fondness for fabrication, they can be surprisingly unaware of many well-known facts.
A slew of our Halloween traditions emanate from the ancient Celts. For today’s discussion, we’ll settle on the food aspects of the holiday. As we all know, the best thing about Halloween is Halloween candy. Bags of it are first available around Labor Day. Some of us buy many more bags than needed for the few trick or treaters who will come to the front door. Customarily, the empty wrappers are squirreled all over the house or thrust deep into the trash to minimize berating.
Beyond candy, there are specific traditional Irish food for the holiday. Pretty unique to the culture is the insertion of charms into dishes that will foretell the future of the person who finds them. The Irish are a romantic lot and most of the charms reveal whether the year will bring romance. Others seem to harken back to aspects of the island’s religious and economic history.
An Irish charm crib sheet:
A ring for marriage A thimble to remain a spinster A button to remain a bachelor A silver coin for coming wealthy A rag for a fall into poverty A religious medal to enter the priesthood or nunnery
Forget for a moment how the charms are stuff into dishes or if they in any way improve their flavor, especially with a rag. The charms also engender choking or making a complete mess if everyone at the table goes treasure hunting before actual eating.
Let’s ignore those possibilities for now and bake the two most charm laden dishes. I’ve eaten them before but without anything unnatural baked inside and they are delicious. Just be sure to tell your guests if you go all in with charms and don’t forget to make a plate up to leave outside your front door for the fairies and ghosts. Bad things will happen to you if you leave them hungry even if you find a lucky charm.
Colcannon A potato dish
4 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and quartered 1 green cabbage 1 cup milk or cream 1 stick of butter, divided into three parts 4-5 scallions or parsley (or both), chopped Salt and pepper to taste Various small charms (no bigger than the size of Monopoly game pieces)
Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover them with water. Bring the saucepan to a boil then lower the flame to a gentle simmer while you tend to the cabbage.
Meanwhile, remove the cabbage core and slice the leaves thin then place them in a large saucepan. Cover with boiling water and bring the water once more to boil. Lower the flame and cook just until the cabbage begins to soften, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Drain the cabbage very well. Return it to the saucepan. Add one-third of the butter and cover the saucepan with a lid. Hold in a warm oven while you finish the potatoes.
Drain the potatoes once they are cooked and return them to the saucepan. Turn the flame low under the saucepan and cook for about 30 secondss more or until the excess moisture evaporates from the potatoes. Remove from the heat.
Add the milk, a third of the butter, and the chopped scallions or parsley to the potatoes. Begin to mash the potatoes with a masher or the back of a fork. Do not use a ricer or, worse, electric beater—they’ll make the potatoes too gluey.
Stir the potatoes until the butter has melted and the milk is thoroughly incorporated. The potatoes should be fairly smooth but a few lumps won’t hurt anyone. Take the cabbage out of the oven and gently stir it into the mashed potatoes. If you’re using them, now is the time to stir in the charms. Mix well.
Before serving, season the potatoes with a pinch of salt and sprinkle with fresh scallions and parsley. Press the back of a spoon into the middle of the potatoes to make a well and add the remaining butter.
Barmbrack A fruit cake
1 cup milk 4 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons (1 packet) dried yeast 1/3 cup sugar 1 beaten egg 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 3 1/2 cups flour 1 cup raisins 3/4 cup currants 1/4 cup chopped dried orange or lemon peels Various small metal charms (see note above for size) For the glaze 1 tablespoon sugar 4 tablespoons boiling water
Grease a loaf pan with butter. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, warm the milk over a low flame then add the butter and stir until the butter melts. Remove from the stove.
In a bowl, mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add half the warmed milk and the beaten egg. Stir to blend everything together.
Sift the cinnamon and nutmeg with the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast and milk mixture. Sprinkle a little flour over the liquid in the well. Place the bowl somewhere warm and leave for around 20 minutes or until the yeast froths up.
Add in the remainder of the milk to the flour and mix everything together until it forms a dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. As you knead the dough, mix in the raisins, currants, and chopped peels. Continue kneading until all the fruits are smoothly incorporated into the dough.
Put the dough in a large bowl smeared with butter. Roll it around a bit to coat the dough. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size.
Once more, turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and briefly knead the charms into it, then shape it into the prepared loaf pan. Brush the top with melted butter. Place the pan in a warm place to rest until the dough doubles in size once more.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
While the cake is still warm, stir the sugar and water together in a small bowl and pour it over the top of the loaf. When it is almost cool, remove the cake from the pan top a serving plate.
Cheffy Bakes Bread
It’s the first really chilly autumn day, the trees outside the kitchen window at their beauty-pageant peek, and I decided to make a loaf of bread to warm the house. It’ll also go with the pot of bean soup recently unearthed from the freezer. Made last year, the soup will be even more delicious for having a long frozen sleep.
We turn now to Cheffy, our expert on all things cookery, for bread making tips. He is sometimes hard to understand so we have interpret his simple baking directions for you. You will find them below his instructional video.
Pick your favorite happy song to hum as you work. Make your favorite bread dough and pat it into a fat oblong. Flour your bread paddle before you place your dough on it. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (you may want to do this beforehand). Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Tuesday’s Preview: We’ll continue our fond visit with the dead. This time involves subjecting one’s body to an impressive array of pastries from a host of local Mexican bakeries. Stay tuned as I waddle out on my tour!