Potato Stuffed with Potato - A Old Irish Cottage Christmas Meal

Unveil Your Irish Family Heritage, One Meal at a Time

Passing on Irish Heritage

A chara,

I hope you are all set for Thanksgiving if you are celebrating it.

If you are sitting down to a nice family dinner this week and have an old generational Irish castle in your family tree somewhere, you might like this family story and turkey recipe. Or if you came from simpler dwellings like my mother’s side of the family, the simple potato stuffed with potato “luxury” dish might be closer to the heart strings. Or maybe you know very little. Now would be a great time to try and look for some of those story threads.

This week I wanted to share an old personal family story with you in the hopes that it might help you consider your own family heritage stories in a different light and help you pass them on the next generation.

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Jim’s Dad’s Story

During WW1 my great grandfather O'Kane was a young man working on the family sheep farm with his brother just outside of Dungiven, Derry in Northern Ireland. One night they saw a strange light on top of Benbradagh mountain. They decided to investigate but couldn't leave the farm until their only day off, Sunday, which was almost a week away. They didn't have a car or a horse and it would take half a day to walk to the top of the mountain and half a day to walk back again but they were determined.

That Sunday they set out early to the summit of Benbradagh and when they finally got there, they were alarmed at what they found. A German WW1 plane had gotten lost in the fog during the London blitz and had crash landed on the mountain. The two pilots within were trapped and had died. Enemy or not, my great granddad and his brother were incredibly upset because it was obvious to them that the first pilot died immediately on impact and that the second had lived for a few days. At this point in the story my aunt, or uncle or whomever is telling it, always stops to ask us, how the brothers might have known that one pilot passed away immediately and the other passed away a few days later? Today I ask my children this question, but I add on a second question.

The answer to the first question is that both brothers suddenly realized that the first pilot must have died on impact because he was closely shaved, while the second pilot had died within the last 24 hours as he had almost a weeks’ worth of stubble growing on his face. They were distraught when they realized that if they left the farm on the first night, they might have saved him before he died of exposure, thirst and his injuries.

I love this story because his son, my granddad Jim, learned from his father to never hate anyone and to live your life in peace, while always helping others. Even after his family's generational ancestral home was destroyed in the Ulster plantation and his ancestors who were once Irish kings became shepherds.

Included is a picture of Dungiven castle which was built in the 17th century upon the ruins of the family O'Cahan's ancestral castle which they had to pass on this journey.

And the second question I ask my children when I tell this story is what they think the lesson is? The answer surely is compassion.

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Sometimes I like to share Irish castle and cottage recipes alongside each other to show us both a glimpse of our ancestors lives.

This 1746 old Irish recipe for soused turkey by Sara Powers is written in her own words. “Boyl” means to boil, by the way. I have also included a Christmas “luxury” potato recipe that would have been eaten by the poorest of the poor. Cheese was a luxury afforded to only those who had a cow and could afford to make and keep cheese at home. You see, cheese was most often made to sell, in order to bring in additional family income.

Many Irish still make potato stuffing for Christmas but this recipe may have been the main meal for many families who were wealthy enough to stretch to keeping a little cream and cheese for Christmas.

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Soused Turkey, written by Sara Powers, 1746

Ingredients:

• 1 turkey, one year old

• 4 nutmegs

• Mace (amount to your liking)

• Cinnamon (amount to your liking)

• Salt and pepper

• 150g of butter

• 1 pint of white wine

• 1 lemon rind

“Get a fat turkey, of a year old, kill and hang him up for two or three days, then take out the bones, and get four nutmegs and the like quantity of mace, some beaten pepper, cinnamon and salt enough to season it. Put all these in the body of the turkey and a good piece of butter; boyl in half a pint of white wine and half a pint of water, with the rind of the lemon.”

(Boyl means boil today).

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Stuffed Baked Potatoes – Prátaí líonta agus bácáilte

Ingredients:

• 4 large potatoes

• 3 fried rashers or leftover cooked ham (bacon)

• 3 tbs grated cheese

• 1 tbs chopped parsley

• 2 tbs of butter

• 2 tbs of cream

• Salt and pepper

Choose four potatoes really large that are roughly the same size. Scrub them well and prick them all over before baking on the middle shelf in a moderate oven 180°, Celsius 350°F, gas mark 4 for an hour or longer until they are soft when squeezed between your finger and thumb. Remove the potatoes from the oven once done and while they cool slightly prepare the stuffing.

Combine in a bowl 3 rashers of bacon that have been fried until crisp and then chopped or crumbled, the grated cheese and chopped parsley. Split the potatoes down the middle taking care not to damage the skins. Scoop out the potato and put it into the bowl with the other ingredients then add the butter, cream, salt and pepper and mix well together. Place the mixture into the potato shells, sprinkle a little more cheese on top and heat in a hot oven 200°C four 100°F gas mark 6 for 20 minutes.

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Well, I best end this letter here, it’s getting late. I hope you have a wonderful few days if you are celebrating and do let me know how you are getting on and if you are enjoying these letters. As always if you would like to share a story, please write to me at info@oldirishrecipes.com.

Beir bua agus beannacht,

Róisín Hynes

P.S. By the way, the December Turn of the Year newsletter is being sent tomorrow with all the old Irish December and Christmas traditions that you might like to enjoy with your friends and family.

P.P.S. You can see all previous letters at Old Irish Recipes below.