• About Me

A Brooklyn Affair

Tag Archives: Irish

Holiday Traditions

17 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by erinjsimpson in Cooking

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

baking, Irish, St. Patrick's Day, traditions

Many may have spent their morning celebrating with green beers in raucous bars, but I opted for a decidedly more traditional and quieter start to my holiday morning. St. Patrick’s Day has long been a favorite holiday of mine and a traditional Irish soda bread is something I look forward to every year. It’s a basic bread with minimal ingredients, which says a lot of about its country of origin. For a country that has a long, tortuous history with food, soda bread was an easy way to ensure that bread made it to the table each night. I have a feeling that our Irish ancestors would be shocked to learn that we now celebrate something that, to them, was a staple in their diet.

Image

Though, I’ll be honest, some of my additions are far from traditional. I doubt orange zest was readily available to many in the countryside of 19th century Ireland.

Image

This point of this post is more to ramble on about traditions than to actually show the step-by-step baking process. The lack of documentation is my own fault and for a more thorough breakdown of the bread, I will direct you to the inimitable Ina Garten.

Image

According to Irish folklore, a cross was cut into the dough before placing it in the oven (or over an open hearth, if you live in a thatched roof cottage by chance) to let out the evil demons and spirits while baking. While I made sure to etch a cross into my dough, the end result doesn’t show any such markings. But, given the sounds and smells that my oven emits daily, I think it may be too late to purge it of any maleficent spirits.

Image

Also not present here are the snowy flakes that were flying intermintently outside my window. I hear that spring is lurking somewhere around the corner.

Image

I prefer my soda bread with a smear of butter and cup of coffee.

But not to worry, I’ll be sipping my holiday beer before long. It is a holiday, after all.

Advertisement

Recent Posts

  • Winter Doldrums
  • Upstate Escape
  • An Overdue Update…Featuring Woodwork!
  • Autumnal Remnants
  • Ghostly Renovations

Archives

  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • December 2011

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 29 other subscribers

Blogs I’m Currently Reading

  • Invasionista
  • Bucket List Publications
  • The Best Remedy
  • hula seventy
  • Red Otter Creative
  • Unruly Things
  • Butter Me Up Brooklyn
  • Hither and Thither
  • A Bloomsbury Life
  • Honey Kennedy

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Invasionista

Bucket List Publications

Indulge- Travel, Adventure, & New Experiences

The Best Remedy

hula seventy

Red Otter Creative

Unruly Things

Butter Me Up Brooklyn

baking makes friends.

Hither and Thither

A Bloomsbury Life

Honey Kennedy

Sail Away to Fancy

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • A Brooklyn Affair
    • Join 29 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • A Brooklyn Affair
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar