An Irish Country Christmas (66 page)

“At Easter, and I will book in time. I promise.”

He nodded in agreement.

“And to us all in this room. May nineteen sixty-five be the best of New Years and the happiest.”

And happy and at peace with the world, Barry Laverty sipped his wine, and inside he smiled.

Dia dhuit
. Hello. It’s December the twenty-sixth, and I’ve a chance to take more of a breather than usual. All my life, because my mother drilled it into us children, Boxing Day was the day that thank-you letters had to be written, even if one was to an auntie who lived next door and had given you a string vest that you didn’t want in the first place. So here I am sitting at my kitchen table with a pen in my fist and this writing tablet before me, but it’s not for thank-you letters.

This year, glory be, I’m going to break with that tradition. Doctor O’Reilly says I can use the telephone to talk with anyone I don’t feel like writing to. He did say there was a condition, so. I was to use the time saved to sit down and give you some more of my recipes.

He says that Taylor fellah who spins these yarns has had a lot of letters since I put my recipes in his first two books. One nice lady from America said she’d tried my mock turtle soup, and by the hokey it was better than the recipes she’d got from four other cookery books, so.

I have the time to do it because I’ll not be cooking today. My doctors are away to Flo Bishop’s hooley, and when they come home I’ve a fridge full of cold turkey and ham. I took the meat off the bones this morning, and the carcass and the hambone are boiling away so I can make stock. Ould Arthur’ll get the hambone later, and I’ve some turkey treats put aside for Her Ladyship. The wee dote.

Himself says for me to give you a clatter of Christmas recipes, and
that’s not as silly as it sounds even if Christmas Day is over. Of the things I’m going to tell you about, Christmas puddings and the Christmas cake are traditionally made the year before in Ireland. I made my Christmas cake last August, but ever since the pudding ate my steel bowl, I’m not so sure about doing them too soon either. I think they can wait a while.

You’ll see when you read on that this year I’m making a change from just giving you quantities in pounds and ounces, cups and spoonfuls. Your man Taylor’s first book was translated into German, Dutch, and Russian—how in the name of the wee man you translate “not come within a beagle’s gowl” is beyond me—but there’s been a request for me to use these newfangled grams for the sake of the continentals. Now I can’t convert measures, but when that nice schoolteacher lady Miss Nolan comes back next term I’ll get her to give me a hand.

Whether you follow the old measures or the newfangled ones, here are the recipes. I hope they turn out well for you.

225 g/8 oz/1 cup vegetarian suet

225 g/8 oz/1 cup Bramley apples, peeled, cored, and chopped finely (These apples are grown in County Armagh, so if you cannot find any, use any apples that you like.)

115 g/4 oz/½ cup candied peel, chopped

225 g/8 oz/1 cup each of seedless raisins or yellow raisins

225 g/8 oz/1 cup currants

175 g/6 oz/¾ cup demerara sugar

1 teaspoon mixed spice or allspice

zest and juice of an orange

60 ml/2 fluid oz brandy

Mix all the ingredients together. Pack into sterilised jars and seal. Store in a cool dark place until you want to use it.

This makes about 1.8 kg/4 lb/8 cups of sweet mince, a traditional Irish filling for individual mince pies, served warm at Christmas. It has been used in my family down through the ages, and originally it did contain meat. Now the only meat present is in the suet, and for the sake of vegetarians like Miss Moloney I have used vegetarian suet.

Here’s another wee Christmas speciality of mine which goes down a right treat with your mince pies or your Christmas pudding, and it’s made in no time at all.

115 g/4 oz/1 stick unsalted butter, softened

115 g/4 oz/½ cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoon boiling water

3 tablespoon brandy

Cream together the butter and the icing sugar. Beat in water and brandy until smooth. Chill until needed, and serve with hot mince pies or Christmas pudding.

225 g/8 oz/2 sticks butter

225 g/8 oz/1 cup soft brown sugar

225 g/8 oz/1 cup plain or all-purpose flour

225 g/8 oz/1 cup each: currants, raisins, muscatel raisins, and seedless raisins

115g/4 oz/½ cup each: glacé cherries and mixed peel

55g/2 oz/¼ cup ground almonds

1 teaspoon mixed spice or allspice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

grated rind of one lemon and one orange

Preheat oven to 140 C/275 F/gas mark 1. Grease and line an 8-inch cake tin so that the paper extends above the sides by 1 inch.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating in well. Stir in the almonds, flour, salt, and spices. Finally add the cherries, dried fruit, and rinds. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for 3 hours. Check for readiness by inserting a thin skewer. When it comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool on a wire rack, and store in an airtight container until you are ready to ice it.

3 egg whites

575 g/20 oz/2½ cups confectioner’s sugar, sieved

1½ teaspoon liquid glycerine (optional)

3 teaspoon lemon juice

Lightly whisk the egg whites, adding the sugar at intervals. Beat well until the icing reaches soft peaks. Add the glycerine (if using) and the lemon juice.

150 g/5½ oz/⅔ cup ground almonds

140 g/5 oz/caster or white sugar

juice of ½ lemon

glycerine, 10 drops approximately

almond or vanilla essence, to taste

Mix together the ground almonds and sugar. Gradually add the lemon juice and glycerine until you get a marzipan texture. Flavour to taste with almond or vanilla essence.

Place the Christmas cake on a cake plate or foil board. Dust hands with flour and work surface with a little icing sugar. Knead the marzipan (see accompanying recipe) until soft. Roll out half of it to fit the top of the cake and the rest to fit round the sides. Brush the cake with warmed apricot jam and place the marzipan on top. Cover with a tea towel, and leave for four days before covering with the royal icing (see accompanying recipe).

You can buy marzipan and royal icing or make your own. But whichever you do, please make sure that after you put the marzipan on the cake, you leave it for four days to dry out before you go putting on the royal icing, or you’ll spoil it, so.

175 g/6 oz/¾ cup soft bread crumbs