Saturday, March 17, 2012

Weekend Cooking #17: Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Rainbow Girl Clover image

Today is the day everyone is Irish.  Here, in NYC, this is celebrated in a big way with a huge parade up Fifth Avenue.  This year marks the 251st St. Patrick’s Day Parade.   It began back on March 17, 1762, when a group of Irish immigrants decided to get together on lower Broadway and celebrate being Irish.  Being Irish in Ireland was forbidden at the time, but here they could speak Irish, dance Irish play the Irish pipes and just revel in their Irish pride and ‘the wearing of the green.’  
Unlike the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was cancelled during World War II, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held every year, with varying numbers of marchers and viewers, but always honoring the members of the armed forces.  
Now, I have always like a nice Corned Beef and Cabbage meal, with boiled potatoes and some home baked Irish Soda Bread on St. Patrick’s Day.  But I was curious about what people could eat given wartime rationing to celebrate this holiday, so I looked up some of the recommended recipes from the New York Times.
Nothing was very St. Patrick’s Dayish:

In 1942, Mock Goose 
In 1943, Ox Joints with Vegetables
In 1944, Scalloped Eggplant
In 1945, Bologna Stuffed with Cabbage
But I thought for sure there would be come kind of Irish treat once the war was over, so I looked up 1946 and found Vegetable Loaf.
I am learning to appreciate the hardships of wartime rationing more and more as I write Weekend Cooking posts, but since I am a traditionalist at heart, I am including a recipe for Irish Soda Bread that was given to me by a neighbor who had brought it with her from the Emerald Isle.  I have made it lots of times and it is delicious.
Irish Soda Bread
4 1/4 cups of flour
1/4 lb butter
1 egg 
2 cups of milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 tbsp caraway seeds
2 cups raisins
1- Beat the egg, milk and vanilla together
2- By hand, blend the butter and flour together
3- By hand, mix together with remaining ingredients except the raisins
4- Now mix in the raisins, also by hand
Put into a well greased dutch oven 
Bake at 400℉ for 20 minutes
After 20 minutes, add a pan of boiling water to the bottom of the oven
10 minutes later lower oven to 350℉
Continue baking for 40 minutes or until knife come out dry when inserted in the middle of the bread.
For something really grand, serve this hot with a lovely cup of tea.





Weekend Cooking is a weekly meme hosted by Beth Fish Reads

28 comments:

  1. Hope you have a nice day for the parade :)

    I love Irish Soda Bread and have made it often. Your recipe intrigues me -- it seems to be somewhat richer than ones I have made in the past. I am anxious to try it, particularly since, as you say, it is direct from the Emerald Isle :)

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    1. Thanks, the parade was very nice and very crowded. I agree, this is a somewhat richer recipe than many, but I only do it once a year. Hope you had a good day too.

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  2. Interesting about the wartime "Irish" recipes. I have a friend whose birthday is today. When she was a little girl in NYC, her father told her the parade was just for her birthday! She believed him until she started school and the other kids told her different. LOL.

    I love Irish Soda Bread.

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    1. LOL, that sounds like the kind of this my father would do, too. I also live Irish Soda Bread.

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  3. The bread sounds lovely. I will give it a try.

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    1. I hope you do give it a try. It is really pretty easy and tastes so good. Good luck with it.

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  4. That bread recipe sounds great :)

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    1. It is, and it is one of my favorite things about St. Patrick's Day.

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  5. I never knew St. Patrick's Day began so long ago. The bread sounds delicious!

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    1. I only knew it because they always mention it when the advertise the parade on TV, so one year I looked up the history out of curiosity. Of course, it has grown a lot over the years.

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  6. I didn't know St. Patrick's Day had such an interesting beginning. I lived in St Paul, MN for a long time and they have a very fun (somewhat drunken) parade to celebrate-I'm sure the NYC one is much grander but probably just as much fun! Enjoy.

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    1. Yes, even though the parade is fun, the aftermath is really a lot of drunken fun here, too. But at least it isn't generally rowdy and most people use public transportation to get around, which is safer. You must have had a warm St. Pat's for a change this year.

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  7. My sister makes Irish Soda Bread every St. Patrick's Day - it's delicious! I'm looking forward to a slice later today.

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    1. I hope you enjoyed your sister's Irish Soda Bread as much as I ejoyed mine. It is always such a treat.

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  8. Bologna Stuffed with Cabbage
    that sounds yummy! ;-)

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    1. Doesn't Bologna Stuffed with Cabbage sound like something weird. I can send the recipe if you would like it - LOL

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  9. I always look forward to your interesting historical posts. I can hear the parade from my apartment near the East River, seven long blocks away. It's always crazy out there on St. Patrick's Day.

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    1. I am so happy to hear you like my historical posts. I try to find as many different but interesting ideas as possible. I love this part of history. I don't live that close to the parade but close enough that I can walk to it. Yes, it is very crowded and crazy out there on St. Patrick's Day.

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  10. Interesting recipes during the war times. I'd prefer the Corned Beef and Cabbage! New Yorkers know how to put on a grand party and parade!

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    1. I am like you, I much prefer Corned Beef and Cabbage, especially to the Ox Joints and the Bologna recipes. So glad we have no rationing to worry about nowadays.

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  11. Caite said what I was going to say! LOL! We are SO lucky not to be living under war time rationing or any other food shortages...

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    1. I know, we are lucky. But sometimes visiting the past makes one appreciate what they have so much more.

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  12. We are just about to get into Corned Beef weather. Will be looking forward to it when I do try it again.

    Interesting look at the war time recommendations.

    I don't remember visiting you before, but I love reading about WWII so I will definitely be back.

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    1. I love Corned Beef, so enjoy it when you have it. I have learned so much about everyday life during the war, that I thought it would be fun to share some of it on my blog. I like to used weekends to things like this. Glad you enjoyed it.

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  13. I had no idea that the St. Patrick's Day celebration in NYC was that old. That must make it one of the longest-running events in the country! Thanks for the soda bread recipe!

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  14. Hi Alex,
    The 251st St. Patrick's Day Parade in NYC?! WOW!!! I did not know that nor would have ever guessed. That's amazing.

    I love Irish Soda Bread but am the only one in my family who does. So tonight [we are eating our Irish meal tonight since we were not all home for dinner last night], I am making biscuits and putting some raisins and caraway in half the biscuit batter for my 'Irish Soda Bread' so I don't miss out! Kind of cheating, but oh well.

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  15. Looks great. But I am not game to make my own bread. Not precise enough with quantities.

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