Dublin: Libraries and Potato Pancakes
image from lonelyplanet.com
Dublin is beautiful, even in winter. We found wonderful shops and interesting museums, lively music and delicious food. We skipped the Guiness tour and went instead to the Decorative Arts & History museum which was definitely worth visiting (http://www.museum.ie/Decorative-Arts-History), with great shows on fashion, Irish soldiers, and furniture. We also went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, which is even more fascinating that I expected.
remarkable library at Trinity College
book plate for a biography of Saint Bridget, who founded the first convent in Ireland
Based on the recommendation of a colleague, we went to Mulligan's, the pub that James Joyce spent free time in during the time he was writing Ulysses. It's a lovely dark panelled pub, with lots of TVs playing sports, so we hung out, drinking Harp and Guiness and watching rugby.
pint of Harp
where better to drink Guiness and read Yeats?
We also went to a wonderful restaurant called Winding Stair that is also a bookstore (http://winding-stair.com/food/). The food was based on fresh, local ingredients and everything we ordered was fabulous. We ended up chatting with the men eating at the next table, and in classic Irish charming fashion, they invited us to go with them out to hear some live music. Listening to a capella Irish sea chanties and folk songs was a lovely ending to our Dublin experience.
On Fleet Street, a popular tourist street, is Gallaghers Boxty House (http://boxtyhouse.ie/). They serve potatoes many ways, especially as boxtys. A boxty (bacstaí in Irish) is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Donegal (where it is known locally as poundy or poundies; also known as potato bread in Ulster), Fermanagh, Longford, Leitrim andCavan. There are many recipes but all contain finely grated, raw potatoes and all are served fried.
The most popular version of the dish consists of finely grated, raw potato and mashed potato with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and sometimes egg. The grated potato may be strained to remove most of the starch and water but this is not necessary. The mixture is fried on a griddle pan for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake. Traditional alternatives include using only raw potatoes, boiling it as a dumpling or baking it as a loaf.
Boxty Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw, grated potatoes
- 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
- Butter or oil for frying
Directions:
- Place the grated raw potatoes in a clean cloth and twist to remove excess moisture.
- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Combine flour mixture into raw potatoes, mashed potatoes, and eggs.
- Add enough milk to make a batter.
- Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat and add butter or oil.
- Drop potato batter by the tablespoon into the hot pan.
- Brown on both sides (about 4 minutes per side).
- Butter each boxty and serve hot.
