A Round and Crusty Old Soul.

Many a time I have written about a world renown comfort food called bread.  Every culture, every country, has a version that dates back historically to when grains were grown, ground and used to feed the community.  So, yes, it is a foundation for the continuance of a society, as is water, but why is it so comforting as well?

Scientifically, bread has a high carbohydrate content which contributes to the release of serotonin.  Serotonin is nicknamed the “feel good hormone” due its ability to regulate mood; namely feelings of happiness, well-being, and contentment.  It also promotes relaxation to induce sleepiness; interacts with cortisol and estrogen for hormonal balance, and influences cognitive functions for better learning and memory.

Remember when, at dinner time, a bread basket was always at the table.  Or, a basket of bread, crackers and butter was served at the table in restaurants.  Serotonin signals, to the body, when it is full, and helps to regulate digestion.  If you indulged the contents of that basket, now you know why you never did finish a complete dinner, and no room for dessert.

Serotonin, and the act of eating, is not all that makes bread comforting.   Baking bread can be therapeutic with its repetitive motions (kneading) which can relieve stress. Baking engages multiple senses of sight, smell, and touch. The aroma is associated with familiarity, tradition, gives a sense of security, and makes you feel pretty darned proud of yourself for creating something so tasty.

The focus of this article will be on Irish Soda Bread, but first a little information about round and crusty breads in general.  A "round, crusty bread" refers to a loaf shaped like a ball with a thick, crispy outer crust achieved through high baking temperatures and steam during the initial baking phase. While the crust of the bread has a firm crunch, the interior is an intricate webbing of ingredients that have been interwoven to create a softer and tender texture.

 

Types of rounds are the French Boule, Italian Ciabatta, Egyptian Sourdough (sorry San Francisco, but sourdough bread originated, in Egypt, around 1500 BCE), Irish Soda Bread and Basque (Spain) Sheepherder Bread (see San Juan Record, November 20, 2019, for full article).

…and now to my focus, Irish Soda Bread.

 

Irish soda bread is a quick bread made with baking soda, flour, salt, and buttermilk; no eggs needed. It is a traditional part of Irish cuisine that is often baked in skillets over coals.  Preparation is a one bowl mix, shaping the wet dough into a ball, placed in baking pan, and first baked at a high temperature, then finished off at a lower, yet still high, temperature.  This bread was created out of necessity due to the Irish Potato Famine of the 1800s.  Now here is a very interesting historical tidbit, this bread did not originate in Ireland, but from the Native Americans of the United States of America.  The natives used pearl ash which is a naturally formed “soda” from wood ashes, and acted as the leavening agent.  Their technique and recipe made it back to the Old-World countries, with actual sodium bicarbonate used instead of wood ash.  Sour milk was the liquid ingredient, but was later changed to buttermilk. Buttermilk reacts better with the soda to give an even rise, soft interior texture, and a tangy flavor to the bread.

Eaten plain, Irish soda bread is just that.  However, warmed up, smeared with butter and drizzled with honey, it becomes a perfect light breakfast, or snack for during the day.  It is best used for sopping up gravy and sauce from various dishes, such as stews, chili, and soups.  We even used it to sop up excess sauce from a stuffed shells meal, delicioso!

So, with St. Patrick’s Day coming soon, perhaps a round, crusty Irish soda bread to go along with the Irish stew, or corned beef and cabbage?

 

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

3 and ½ cups flour

1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk

 

 

 

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450F. 

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Gradually add the buttermilk, stirring with rubber spatula.  If dough is too sticky, add a tablespoon of flour.

When dough is still wet, but not sticky, turn out onto a floured workspace. Shape dough into a ball.  Pat the ball in a round loaf to fit into a nonstick 9-inch baking pan. Place dough inside pan, but make sure it does not touch the sides of the pan.  Score an X on top of the loaf, approximately 1/4 inch deep.

   

Bake on center rack of oven for 20 minutes.  Do not remove pan from oven, but turn oven temperature down to 400F.  Bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.  Cool on wire rack before slicing and serving.

Makes one round loaf.

Mary Cokenour

 

Fusion Cuisine is Not a Novel Idea.

In 2020, there was a barrage of “Lives Matter” movements occurring across this great nation of the United States of America.  It got me to thinking, about this section of North America, and why the sudden divide.  “Together we stand, divided we fall” is a meaningful quote that is mainly attributed to one of the country’s founding fathers, John Dickinson.  A Pennsylvanian farmer who penned many a letter that would influence the thinking, and opinions, of the colonists.   He opposed British taxation of the colonies, but also opposed the use of force against mother England.  You could say that Dickinson believed that compromise and peace could be achieved via communication, not violent acts.  The American Revolution proved that ideology not to be necessarily true.

By the way, John Dickinson did not come up with the phrase, “Together we stand, divided we fall”, but took it from Aesop (620–564 BCE).  Aesop was a Greek storyteller, and this line appeared in one of his fables, “The Four Oxen and the Lion”.  John Dickinson placed the line in his song, “The Liberty Song”; written in 1770, reflecting on the growing tensions between the colonies and mother country.  “Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,

By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall”.  So, and this is my personal take on it all, of course, but, as a nation, should we not be standing together, instead of planning on taking a fall?  We are a nation of various races, religions, cultures, ancestries, beliefs, ages, genders and cuisines which, as a melting pot, should fuse together.  Perhaps we all should read, or reread, the European folk story, “The Stone Soup”?

Now to food, and Fusion Cuisine; what exactly is it? When a fancy restaurant advertises fusion cuisine, you are paying an exorbitant price for a “current fad”.  Guess what?  This type of cuisine has been around for centuries.  Fusion cuisine is not just the merging of food from different cultures, but the cooking techniques as well.  As different countries and cultures, visited, immigrated to, or invaded elsewhere, food items and recipes were either brought along, or discovered; not unusual to also discover that many went well together.  Cooking techniques were also shared, so where a culture had only baked bread over open coals, now they learned about the clay oven.

If you go into a restaurant that offers different cuisines, that is not necessarily fusion.  The dishes may be Greek, Korean and Mexican, but each dish is prepared and served in its traditional form.  An example of fusion would be to take the ingredients of a Greek Gyro (roasted lamb, tzatziki sauce, vegetables), but preparing them as a Mexican Enchilada; adding some of the ingredients usually found in a traditional enchilada, and/or taking away some of the gyro ingredients.  While this might sound simple, care must be taken to ensure that the tastes meld together successfully.

The recipe I am giving to you is my attempt at fusion cuisine; a mixture of Irish with Mexican.  The O’Brien potatoes are cubed potatoes that are fried with diced onions, pimientos (roasted red bell pepper), or diced red and green bell peppers; this is the Irish part.  The other part will be ingredients that would typically go into tacos; the Mexican part.  The technique will include some frying, but finish off baking in an oven.

Taco Beef and Potato Bake

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. lean ground beef

1 cup diced onion, divided in half

1 envelope taco seasoning, medium

1 (14 ½ oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chilies, medium

1 (16 oz.) can light kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (28 oz.) bag frozen O’Brien potatoes, thawed

1 (10 ½ oz.) can cheddar cheese soup

¾ cup 2% milk

¼ cup diced red bell pepper

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground black pepper

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a skillet, over high heat, brown the beef; add ½ cup of onion halfway through cooking; drain.  Reduce heat to low; add taco seasoning and tomatoes; mix well.  Let simmer for 5 minutes.

Spray a 3 quart baking dish with non-stick spray; spread meat mixture in dish.  Spread on top of meat mixture the beans and potatoes.

In a large bowl, mix together the soup, milk, bell pepper, remaining ½ cup onion and Worcestershire; pour mixture over the potatoes, spreading evenly to edges of dish.  Sprinkle the paprika and black pepper over the sauce.

Bake for 1 hour covered with foil; bake uncovered for 15 minutes.  Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Mary Cokenour