Easter Traditions and Irish Influences

Traditionally for Easter supper, my family and I have honey ham, mashed potatoes, salad, Easter bread, and various cookie danishes that my aunt loves to bake, but this year we went against tradition. For Easter, my two sisters, mom, and I prepared a traditional Irish breakfast black and white sausage and all. Now just to set the record straight, I am not the tiniest bit Irish, the desire to cook an Irish breakfast for our family came from my eldest sister whom had just spent her junior year in collage abroad in Ireland. Personally for this Irish Easter brunch, I baked two loaves of traditional Irish Soda Bread, cooked the chocolate chip pancakes, and prepared the potato farls to be fried. In all the Irish craziness, my family did stand true to one tradition, hard boiling and coloring Easter eggs.


EASTER EGGS
Family History...
Every Easter since I can remember my family and I have made hard boiled eggs, decorating them by creating designs on their shells with a couple crayons and dieing them different colors. Through the years the artwork has grown better and at times the quantity of eggs created has gone from a dozen to 4 dozen. One year, my mother volunteered to bring in 4 dozen hard boiled eggs for an Easter breakfast at church, and all 48 of these eggs had to be uniquely decorated and colored. Naturally, my mom believed such a task was perfect for Jackie, Steve, Rach, and I to complete. Afterwards I never wanted to see a hard boiled egg again... But the annoyance did not last long, because by the time the next year rolled around, there I was sitting at the table with my 3 siblings. a dozen or so eggs, crayons, and food coloring ready to keep the tradition alive.

Recipe (more like directions actually)...
Hard boil however many eggs you wish to have for the occasion.
Color the eggs using crayons. Do not press down to hard or else the shell of the egg will break.
Finally mix the 10 drops of food coloring with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and half a cup of boiling water.


Potato Farls
One of my two Irish cooking experiments...
When making this dish I referred to a recipe similar to the one on the website: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irish-Potato-Farls/Detail.aspx.

Is all dough sticky? I had quite an experience when making the potato farls, first off the dough was almost impossible to mix, so impossible I gave up on using a spoon and instead mixed the batter with my hands. After attempting to rub all the dough off my fingers, I put out a piece of wax paper and sprinkled a whole ton of flour onto it, i did not want the dough to stick to me, the table, the roller, or maybe even the floor. Taking a fistful of the potato dough, I rolled out a quarter inch circle-ish potato farl and carefully handed it to my sister, Jackie who was in charge of frying them. Attempting to keep all the circular--actually not so circular--potato farls together, took a couple tries and the realization that I could not make the farls so big. Since we were making an Irish breakfast everything, and I mean everything either contained or was fried in Irish butter, including the potato farls. Finally, the breakfast food entered the refrigerator, awaiting the arrival of my family.

History...

One of the most famous famines of all time was the potato famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845, one that lead to an influx of Irish immigrants into the United States. By the 1800s the Irish, especially the poor relied heavily on the potato harvest for food, making different assortments of dishes including farls. Even when the wheat had a bad season, the potato could always be relied on, until 1845 in Ireland when their staple crop did not produce enough to sustain the population. Over a million people died, and over a million people left the shores of their homeland in search of a stable food source. Ironically enough, in the 1600s potatoes were considered animal food and a backup source of food just in case wheat had a bad year, but as time progressed potatoes entered into the homes of the very poor as a cheap source of substance and into the homes of the rich as a delicacy. Eventually the potato grew and popularity throughout all classes in many countries throughout Europe, especially Ireland. Ireland, a country that still adores the potato crop even though it experienced such a set back in the nineteenth century and a country that created statues of famine people and placed them throughout Dublin, Ireland to remind the people of Ireland the suffering that occurred over a century and a half ago.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

After baking this Irish breakfast, I would definitely say the bread was the most difficult. In culinary class last year, I had the opportunity to make bread and pie dough multiple times throughout the course of the semester with the help of my 4 group mates and a bench mixer. I never realized how difficult making a simple loaf of bread could be! First of all, the directions gave both metric and English system measurements; a recipe with extra numbers, abbreviations, and measurements can become a confusing sight. Eventually, I had to knead the dough... I never knew how handy a bench mixer really was until then. I never thought I would be able to remove all the dough from my fingers! As the picture above shows, I added extra flour, a lot of extra flower, in an attempt to create a ball of dough and put it into a pan. When I was making the second loaf, I learned a little from my previous 'experience' and immediately began creating a ball out of the dough. At the end of the directions, it says to cut a cross into the top of the uncooked loaf... That did not end up going as planned, the sticky dough would not allow me to make the shape, but finally the dough did enter the oven and two finished loaves came out just in time for our Easter brunch.

Recipe...
(credit for this recipe goes to the back of a brown bread mix bag)
You will need:

• 350mL/ 12fl oz of Cold Water
• Flat Baking Sheet or 18cm/7'' Round Cake tin

Method:

1. Measure 500g/1lb of bread mix into a bowl.
2. Add approximately 350ml/12fl.oz of water and mix to a soft dough.
3. Knead the dough a little on a floured baord and turn the smooth side up.
4. Cut a cross over the the top and place in a floured 7"/18cm cake tin or place on a floured baking sheet.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 400ºF, 200ºC, for approximately 40 minutes.
6. Cool on a wire tray. A tea towel wrapped over the bread at this stage helps give a softer crust.