[Sca-cooks] Early Irish food

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 10, 2009, at 8:01 AM, Etain1263 at aol.com wrote:

>
>
> In a message dated 1/9/2009 11:20:18 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> sclemenger at msn.com writes:
>
> What's  in that, besides oats and leeks?
> milk...or, if you want to be decadent: cream!   and a bit of  salt.
>
> Etain

The recipe I've been using for years calls for half milk and half  
stock as the primary liquid (remember this is a soup, not a porridge,  
so you may want to use less of a one-to-four oats-to-liquid ratio),  
with just a bit of cream added at the end.

Here's some bozo's previous post, found in the Florilegium:

> Loosely adapted from Malachai McCormick's "Irish Country  
> Cooking" (the best Irish cookbook I've seen), but apparently of much  
> greater antiquity, having been mentioned and described in the  
> writings of St. Colmcille, c. 597 C.E. There's no telling how the  
> original differs from this, though. I am assuming that Colmcille's  
> dish was a bit more austere.
> Brotchan Foltchep, a.k.a. Brotchan Roy
> Serves 6
> 3 or 4 medium-size leeks, about 1 1/2 pounds
> 1/4 to 1/2 stick butter (1 - 2 ounces)
> 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
> 2 cups milk 1/2 cup heavy cream
> 3/4 cup raw, steel-cut porridge oats, like McAnn's
> Parsley (flat Italian, chopped) for garnishing
> salt and white pepper to taste
>
> Wash the leeks well. They are usually muddy and sandy. Remove any  
> visible dirt or grit. Trim off the root ends and discard. Starting  
> at the white, root ends, slice the leeks thinly. Place in a deep  
> bowl of cold water, and rub the leeks between your hands, gently, to  
> separate the rings and encourage the last of the grit to sink to the  
> bottom. Lift the leek slices off the surface till the bowl has  
> nothing left in it but water and mud. Drain the leeks in a strainer  
> and set aside.
>
> In a large, deep saucepan, bring the stock and milk to a simmer.  
> Stir in the oats, bring almost to a boil, and simmer for 20-30  
> minutes, or until the oats are done.
>
> While the oats are simmering, melt the butter in a deep saute pan,  
> over low heat. Sweat the leeks for five or ten minutes, until they  
> begin to soften. When the oats are about half done, add the leeks  
> and their butter to the pan of soup. The leeks and the oatmeal  
> should be done at the same time.
>
> Take the pot off the heat, stir in the cream, and season with salt  
> and white pepper to taste. Garnish with the parsley.

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter