I just picked up a book over the weekend that features recipies that are allegedly popular in Ireland. Before I trash my kitchen, has anyone ever tried this?
Guinness Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup brown sugar 1-1/4 cups Guinness 1-1/2 cups raisins 1-1/2 cups currants 1-1/2 cups golden raisins 3/4 cup mixed candied citrus peel 5 cups flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. mixed spice 1 tsp. nutmeg 3 eggs
Directions:
Butter and line a 9 inch cake pan with wax paper. Place the butter sugar and the Guinness in a pan and bring slowly to the boil stirring all the time until the sugar and butter have melted. Mix in the dried fruit and peel and bring mixture back to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave until cold. Sift flour spices and baking soda into a large mixing bowl, stir in cooled fruit mixture and beaten eggs turn into cake pan and bake in center of preheated 325°F oven for 2 hours. Test with a skewer. When done cool in pan before turning out. Lightly dust with confectioner\'s sugar.
I'm curious to hear reviews...Anyone have any other favorites?
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Brett "I drink whiskey with me whiskey, and water with me water."
I haven't made the Guiness Cake. It sounds yummy and truly high calorie. If you try your hand at it and still live let me know how it taste. The bad think about cooking, there is always the cleaning up to do afterward, and I make a really big mess when I cook.
I just picked up a book over the weekend that features recipies that are allegedly popular in Ireland. Before I trash my kitchen, has anyone ever tried this?
Guinness Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup brown sugar 1-1/4 cups Guinness 1-1/2 cups raisins 1-1/2 cups currants 1-1/2 cups golden raisins 3/4 cup mixed candied citrus peel 5 cups flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. mixed spice 1 tsp. nutmeg 3 eggs
Directions:
Butter and line a 9 inch cake pan with wax paper. Place the butter sugar and the Guinness in a pan and bring slowly to the boil stirring all the time until the sugar and butter have melted. Mix in the dried fruit and peel and bring mixture back to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave until cold. Sift flour spices and baking soda into a large mixing bowl, stir in cooled fruit mixture and beaten eggs turn into cake pan and bake in center of preheated 325°F oven for 2 hours. Test with a skewer. When done cool in pan before turning out. Lightly dust with confectioner\'s sugar.
I'm curious to hear reviews...Anyone have any other favorites?
Your recipe sounds a bit like one of mine...
FAVORITE FRUIT CAKE RECIPE
Ingredients: 1 cup water 1 cup sugar 4 large eggs 2 cups dried fruit 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 1 cup brown sugar lemon juice nuts bottle of whisky
Sample the whisky to check for quality. Take a large bowl. Check the whisky again. To be sure it is the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again. Make sure the whisky is still okay. Cry another tup.
Turn off the mixer. Break two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the whisky to check for tonsisticity.
Sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares? Check the whisky.
Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find. Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window, check the whisky again and go to bed.
Here is a link to some Scottish recipes - most of them have Oats in them in some shape or fashion. I often wonder why our own American Quaker Oatmeal company never includes Scottish recipes in their books?
Please note: pinhead oats are not the same as regular oats - they are called Steel Cut Oats in the USA and can be ordered through health food stores and gormet food specialty shops.
Janet I've seen this site before, but thanks for reminding me about it!
I have to say, that some of his recipes appear a little 'eccentric'.... putting oats in mince an tatties - and adding a mealie pudding (known as a white pudding in Scotland)? Why would you add an oats based savoury sausage-pudding to something that you have thickened with oats already? Naaaah, never in a million year!
The site 'chef' seems to be an Aberdonian, and there are very definite regional differences around Scotland in how we prepare the same dish...
Mind you the Butteries are wondeful and are only available in the Aberdeen area.... always a treat when visiting the North East of Scotland.
Although I am not Irish, and have no Irish connections, I spent many happy holidays in Donegal with a school friend and her family (they WERE Irish!) at their summer home.
Her mother was a wonderful cook. Her soda bread was wonderful and so was her Irish Stew. This is her recipe and I still use it. I'll have a look for her soda bread recipe, too as it was great.
Mrs Aisling O'Donnell's Irish Stew
1.5 lb lamb (use neck fillets or lean chops) 3 or 4 large carrots 2 large onions small swede (I think that's what is called a Rutabaga in the USA) 3 lb large, maincrop potatoes Approx 1 pt of lamb or vegetable stock. I sometimes use bouillon cubes! Salt and pepper to taste
If using neck, cube into one inch pieces. Sautee the onions and the meat until they have turned brown. Peel and slice swede and carrots.
Peel the potatoes and slice into rounds (about .75 to 1 inch, you can slice more thinly if you want the potatoes to 'melt' into the gravy!)
Layer the ingredients into a casserole dish as follows
Thin layer of potato, layer of meat and onions, layer of potatoes, layer of carrots/swede. Ensure you finish with a layer of potato.
Add salt and freshly milled black pepper and add stock to below the final layer of potatoes, you don't want to 'wet' the top of the last layer.
Cover the casserole and put in an oven at Gas mark 5, 375 dedgrees Fahrenheit, 190 degrees Centigrade. After 45 minutes, remove lid and 'dot' the surface of the potatoes with a few small knobs of butter. This makes the potatoes go nice and brown and 'crunchy' in places... Absolutely delicious! Continue cooking for another 45 minutes or so, until the meat is cooked.
Goodness, if it wasn't so hot today, I'd cook it for dinner this evening!
Realm: second star to the right, straight until morning
QUOTE (free2Bme @ Jun 7 2003, 01:37 PM)
Here is a link to some Scottish recipes - most of them have Oats in them in some shape or fashion. I often wonder why our own American Quaker Oatmeal company never includes Scottish recipes in their books?
Music is holy, art is sacred, and creativity is power
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"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." Oscar Wilde
Some men are drawn to oceans, they cannot breathe unless the air is scented with a salty mist. Others are drawn to land that is flat, and the air is sullen and is leaden as August. My people were drawn to mountains- Earl Hamner Jr.
1.5 lb lamb (use neck fillets or lean chops) 3 or 4 large carrots 2 large onions small swede (I think that's what is called a Rutabaga in the USA) 3 lb large, maincrop potatoes Approx 1 pt of lamb or vegetable stock. I sometimes use bouillon cubes! Salt and pepper to taste
6oz self-raising wholemeal flour 6oz plain flour Half tsp salt Half tsp bicarbonate of soda Half pint of buttermilk
Although it is not traditional, to make a fruit soda bread, add a couple of oz of sultanas or raisins to the dry mix before pouring in the buttermilk.
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6. Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to form a soft dough. ( You may need to add a little milk if the flours are very absorbent, but it should not be wet or sticky) Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly- not too much or you will knock out all the 'raising' that the bicarb of soda has put into the mix! Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet. Cut a cross on the top and bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.
Delicious sliced straight from the oven and only slightly cooled, melting with butter A fruited soda bread is great spread with home made jam, such as blackberry.... or even, at a push, marmalade!
Mind you, it is not as delicious as a good Scots scone - but it's ALMOST as good
Catriona you have given the precise measurements and recipe for Hot Home Made Country Biscuits! The only difference is in the very last step before baking - instead of shaping it into one large loaf, we cut it into small round cakes with a floured drinking glass or a clean empty soup can.
Although I know in the UK that biscuits are cookies, here in the states we looooove our hot biscuits with spicy country sausage patties and smothered in milk gravy! YUM! YUM!
You are too right about the fruit - add a cupful of raisins to the recipe, and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon. After they are baked, drizzle the tops with a glaze made of powdered sugar mixed with a tiny bit of milk. I just adore cinnamon biscuits warm from the oven with a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning!
Although I know in the UK that biscuits are cookies, here in the states we looooove our hot biscuits with spicy country sausage patties and smothered in milk gravy! YUM! YUM!
Don't forget the sliced home grown tomatoes and a big glass of sweet tea!
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May all your up's and down's be under the sheets!
Religion is for those who are afraid of going to Hell. Spirituality is for those who have already been there. - Anonymous
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