Maya hasn't shown an interest in potatoes, which is astonishing to me. I love potatoes in any form: French fries, baked potatoes, tatertots, home fries and pretty much any preparation. A few years ago, I went through a phase where I tried to make perfect hash browns from scratch, even getting a mandolin in the process, though I could never match the packaged variety. If I was going to be stranded on an island with any food, potatoes would be my likely pick. Maya is somewhat indifferent to potatoes, despite the fact that she loves pasta. However, I believe that she has a latent potato gene that will eventually turn on and I can't think of a better time than St. Patrick's Day to try and flip the switch.
Since I was going to cook some Irish food for her this week, I wanted to start with a potato based dish and Boxty seemed like a good choice since it's well known. While there are many varieties of Boxty, the basic recipe is an even mix of mashed potatoes, grated potatoes and flour that is made into a mix and fried, baked or boiled.
Boxty is often mentioned with the following ancient saying which goes “Boxty on the griddle, / Boxty in the pan, / If you can't make boxty, / You'll never get a man.” (Almost sounds like an Irish rap song, doesn't it?) I'm surprised that this relatively simple food could become so culturally important, though clearly it is relevant even today. A chain of restaurants in Ireland called Gallagher's Boxty House clearly reveres this dish and emerging chefs are using basic Boxty recipes and putting their own spin by adding other ingredients like meat and cheese.
There doesn't appear to be universal agreement about the origin of Boxty. The name, for example is variously described as a derivation of the Irish word for “poor” (from 'The Country of Cooking of Ireland' book) and a derivation of the Irish word for “grilling over an open flame" (from irishcultureandcustoms.com). Boxty is generally attributed to north of Ireland or sometimes the mid-north and because there are so many different types of preparation, this food is variously described as dippity, stompy bread, and poundy. These names should only be said with a heavy Irish accent, while picking clovers.
To make the Boxty, I followed a recipe from 'The Country Cooking of Ireland' cookbook. Since I didn't have any leftover mashed potatoes, I had to make some from scratch, which was simple enough. After I peeled and grated another potato, I had all the main ingredients for Boxty: mashed potatoes, grated potatoes, flour and baking soda. Once I combined the ingredients, I had thick dough that was relatively dry but still held together well enough. Other recipes like the one from Gallagher's above, use milk and thus produce a mixture more similar to pancakes versus my ingredients which produced something more akin to bread dough.
I then rolled the dough out to 3/4th inch thickness and used a floured cup to cut uniform disks and fried each piece for 3-4 minutes on each side, as the recipe suggests, until the surface was golden brown. The last pancake was misshapen and craggy, since I had to peice it together from the leftover dough.
I wondered if the Boxty would be flavorful enough, given that salt and pepper was the only spice. Sure enough, the taste was relatively bland or at least similar to plain bread, with the taste of potato and salt most apparent. That said, the experience was enjoyable because the outside had been crisped during to the frying and the inside felt substantial as I was chewing, if somewhat dry. The real magic came when I added jelly to the top, creating a sweet and salty taste that was no longer dry.
Since Maya was asleep when I completed the recipe, I could only let her try it the next morning, which was fitting since that was St. Patrick's Day. I fed her some after her Cheerios, cereal and banana because I wasn't confident that she would eat it. I had saved the cooked patties in the refrigerator and heated them up in the microwave for a few seconds so they were lukewarm. I also applied some jelly and cut the Boxty into pea sized pieces. To my amazement, she loved it and immediately jutted her arm toward the counter and grunted, which is her way of asking for more. Her chewing was loud and sounded sticky, probably because of the dryness and the jelly. I thought I saw the smile that she only gives when trying a new food that she likes, but I could not be sure. Possibly, she was responding more to the sweetness of the jelly than the Boxty, I don't know. However, she ate more potatoes in this sitting than I had ever seen before. Welcome to the world of potatoes Maya.
Since I was going to cook some Irish food for her this week, I wanted to start with a potato based dish and Boxty seemed like a good choice since it's well known. While there are many varieties of Boxty, the basic recipe is an even mix of mashed potatoes, grated potatoes and flour that is made into a mix and fried, baked or boiled.
Boxty is often mentioned with the following ancient saying which goes “Boxty on the griddle, / Boxty in the pan, / If you can't make boxty, / You'll never get a man.” (Almost sounds like an Irish rap song, doesn't it?) I'm surprised that this relatively simple food could become so culturally important, though clearly it is relevant even today. A chain of restaurants in Ireland called Gallagher's Boxty House clearly reveres this dish and emerging chefs are using basic Boxty recipes and putting their own spin by adding other ingredients like meat and cheese.
There doesn't appear to be universal agreement about the origin of Boxty. The name, for example is variously described as a derivation of the Irish word for “poor” (from 'The Country of Cooking of Ireland' book) and a derivation of the Irish word for “grilling over an open flame" (from irishcultureandcustoms.com). Boxty is generally attributed to north of Ireland or sometimes the mid-north and because there are so many different types of preparation, this food is variously described as dippity, stompy bread, and poundy. These names should only be said with a heavy Irish accent, while picking clovers.
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| Yup, I'm also drinking Irish beer as I make this |
I then rolled the dough out to 3/4th inch thickness and used a floured cup to cut uniform disks and fried each piece for 3-4 minutes on each side, as the recipe suggests, until the surface was golden brown. The last pancake was misshapen and craggy, since I had to peice it together from the leftover dough.
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| Uniformly round, with help of a cup |
Since Maya was asleep when I completed the recipe, I could only let her try it the next morning, which was fitting since that was St. Patrick's Day. I fed her some after her Cheerios, cereal and banana because I wasn't confident that she would eat it. I had saved the cooked patties in the refrigerator and heated them up in the microwave for a few seconds so they were lukewarm. I also applied some jelly and cut the Boxty into pea sized pieces. To my amazement, she loved it and immediately jutted her arm toward the counter and grunted, which is her way of asking for more. Her chewing was loud and sounded sticky, probably because of the dryness and the jelly. I thought I saw the smile that she only gives when trying a new food that she likes, but I could not be sure. Possibly, she was responding more to the sweetness of the jelly than the Boxty, I don't know. However, she ate more potatoes in this sitting than I had ever seen before. Welcome to the world of potatoes Maya.
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| She seems to like it. Note the green for SPD. |
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