{"id":579,"date":"2014-10-30T18:48:21","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T00:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engagingireland.com\/?p=579"},"modified":"2014-10-30T18:48:21","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T00:48:21","slug":"ep-35-contemporary-irish-halloween-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/30\/ep-35-contemporary-irish-halloween-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Ep. 35 &#8211; Contemporary Irish Halloween Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_582\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/engagingireland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/barmbrack.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-582\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-582\" title=\"barmbrack\" src=\"http:\/\/engagingireland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/barmbrack.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-582\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Barmbrack<\/p><\/div>\n<p>During this, the last of our special Halloween-week episodes, we are taking a look at some contemporary ways to observe Samhain\/Halloween.<\/p>\n<p>We thought some of you might be interested in trying your hand at making colcannon and\/or barmbrack, which is also known as barnbrack (bair\u00edn breac), so we\u2019re including a recipe for each here. Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barmbrack Recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This bread is the perfect companion to a nice cup of tea. We don\u2019t make it with cherries or dates, but we know people who make theirs this way. If you prefer, you can also add the zest of a lemon or 1\u20444 cup marmalade.<\/p>\n<p>Makes 1 loaf (or round)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 Cup (125 g) Raisins<\/li>\n<li>3\u20444 Cup (100 g) Sultanas<\/li>\n<li>3\u20444 Cup (100 g) Currants<\/li>\n<li>1 Cup (250ml) Hot black tea<\/li>\n<li>1 Large egg, lightly whisked<\/li>\n<li>1 3\u20444 cups (225 g) Self-raising flour<\/li>\n<li>1 1\u20442 cup (200 g) Brown sugar (light, not dark)<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp Mixed spice*<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Preheat oven to 350\u00b0F (180\u00b0C). Line a 1 lb (450g) loaf tin with parchment paper or grease pan with butter. (Some people make round barmbrack, and that\u2019s fine, too.)<\/p>\n<p>Place the raisins, sultanas, currants, (and, if you\u2019re including them) cherries and\/or dates in a bowl, then pour in enough hot tea to cover the fruit. Put a cover on the bowl and soak overnight (or at least an hour, if you\u2019re in a big hurry).<\/p>\n<p>Add the beaten egg, flour, sugar, and mixed spice to the fruit and tea mixture. Stir well until everything is just combined. If you\u2019re planning to put charms in the loaf (a ring, coin, piece of cloth, etc.), wrap them in a piece of parchment paper and insert them in the batter, in such a way that there will be no more than one charm in any slice.<\/p>\n<p>Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for about 90 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack before slicing. Serve slices with butter. If you have an airtight tin to store in, that is the perfect place for it.<\/p>\n<p>*For those who live an area where it is not readily available, you can make your own mixed spice using the following recipe:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 tsp cinnamon powder<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp ground coriander<\/li>\n<li>About 3\/4 tsp ground nutmeg<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 tsp ginger powder<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 tsp allspice powder<\/li>\n<li>1\/4 tsp ground cloves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Makes about 4 teaspoons worth of mixed spice.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colcannon Recipe<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As with most recipes, colcannon recipes vary from family to family. This recipe is a general starting point. A popular addition to this recipe is bacon (either the \u2018streaky\u2019 bacon bits common in the US or traditional Irish bacon pieces).<\/p>\n<p>Ingredients:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2 lbs Potatoes, cut into large chunks<\/li>\n<li>3\/4 cup Milk or Half \u2018n\u2019 half<\/li>\n<li>3\/4 tsp Salt<\/li>\n<li>6 T Butter<\/li>\n<li>1 cup Chopped onion<\/li>\n<li>6 cups Shredded green cabbage (or kale)<\/li>\n<li>Freshly ground pepper to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(Optional: 4 oz or ~1 cup Shredded cheddar cheese \u2013 We prefer sharp cheddar)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Directions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes or until very tender. Drain well and mash with skins on, adding milk and salt.<\/p>\n<p>While potatoes are cooking, melt butter in a large skillet. Add onion and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (or until very soft). Add shredded cabbage. Cook and stir for 5 minutes more or until very soft.<\/p>\n<p>Stir cabbage mixture and cheese into hot potatoes and season with pepper. Mound onto serving plates and make a well in the center of each. Pour a little melted butter into each well, if desired.<\/p>\n<p>(We know it\u2019s a bit \u201cEnglish,\u201d but we like to add leeks to our colcannon recipe. Another option we\u2019ve tried is adding one bunch of green onions instead of the leeks.)<\/p>\n<p>Makes 8 servings.<\/p>\n<p>We hope you\u2019ll try out these recipes for yourselves. Let us know how they turned our or what your family recipes are!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>O\u00edche Shamhna Shona Daoibh!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(Pronounced: EE-hyeh HOW-nuh HUN-uh DEE-iv)<\/p>\n<p>Pronounciation guide from Bitesize Irish Gaelic: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitesizeirishgaelic.com\/blog\/oiche-shamhna-halloween-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.bitesizeirishgaelic.com\/blog\/oiche-shamhna-halloween-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8242\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-579-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/engagingireland\/EI_EP35_20141031.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/engagingireland\/EI_EP35_20141031.mp3\">http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/engagingireland\/EI_EP35_20141031.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/engagingireland\/EI_EP35_20141031.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/?powerpress_pinw=579-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/engagingireland\/EI_EP35_20141031.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"EI_EP35_20141031.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><!--powerpress_player-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During this, the last of our special Halloween-week episodes, we are taking a look at some contemporary ways to observe Samhain\/Halloween. We thought some of you might be interested in trying your hand at making colcannon and\/or barmbrack, which is also known as barnbrack (bair\u00edn breac), so we\u2019re including a recipe for each here. Enjoy! [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15,27,58,67,120],"class_list":["post-579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-podcast","tag-barmbrack","tag-colcannon","tag-halloween","tag-ireland","tag-samhain"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engagingireland.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}