2 1/2 c Mixed dry fruit--currants

Dark & golden raisins. 1 c Boiling black tea

1 ea Egg

1 ts Mixed spice (see note*)

4 ts Marmalade

1 c (heaping)superfine sugar

2 1/2 c Self-rising flour

Place dried fruit in a bowl, cover with the hot tea and let soak overnight. The next day, add the remaining ingreds. and mix well. Preheat oven to 375 F. Pour batten into greased 7" square pan and bake in the center of oven for 1 1/2 hrs. Let cool in the pan on awire rack. Slice and serve buttered with tea. NOTE* (Mixed spices: equal parts of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, and mace.

1. In Northern Ireland and in the Republic, BRACK is the Celtic word for salt and is used to mean "bread". Barm brack is leavened bread, the word BARM meaning yeast. 2. The term "barmbrack" for an Irish fruit loaf or cake does not derive from barm or leaven. It is a corruption of the Irish word "aran breac" (Speckled Bread).

7 lg Potatoes (or more)

1 ea Large bunch kale greens

1/4 c Butter

Milk or cream as needed 4 ea Strips of bacon, cut up

1 tb Onion, minced

Salt & pepper to taste Peel and boil 7 or 8 med. to lge. potatoes until done. Remove stalks from leaves of kale greens and tear or chop into very small pcs. Bring to a boil with a bit of bacon and simmer while potatoes cook. Mash the potatoes with 1/4 c. of butter and milk or cream as needed. Add salt and pepper. Drain the chopped, cooked kale. (You should have about twice as many potatoes as kale. Mix the two together with 1 tb. minced onion. Correct seasoning and serve with butter.

NOTE: Colcannon is a mixture of buttered greens and potatoes. Traditionally concannon was eaten at Halloween. A heaping portion is dished onto each plate. A well is made in the center of the mount to hold a generous portion of butter. The colcannon is eaten from around the outside in. You take a scoop, dip it in the well of butter in the center and eat. With a glass of buttermilk, the WAS a meal in itself. In the Midlands, colcannon is called "thump". In the north and western parts of Ireland it is called "champ". To tell fortunes on Halloween, a ring and a silver coin were mixed into the colcannon...whoever got the ring was soon to marry and whoever got the coin would be wealthy.

1 lb Bacon bits (pref. smoked)

1 lb Good meaty sausages

3 ea Large onions

3 ea Potatoes (or even four)

1 x Handful fresh parsley

1 x Grind fresh pepper

Bacon bits are the off-cuts from the various types of bacon, which are sold very cheaply in Dublin pork butchers' shops, specifically for making coddle. They contain a good mixture of fat, lean and skin. I prefer to buy regular bacon with the rind on and cut it up into even-sized pieces. Leave on the rind, as it adds great richness to the soup. Buy the finest quality pork sausages you can afford (or find). Peel and chop the onions roughly. Peel the potatoes as thinly as possible. If they are large, then cut them into two or three large pieces; otherwise leave them whole. Chop the fresh parsley. -- Place a layer of onions in the bottom of a heavy pot with a good close-fitting lid. Layer all the other ingredients, giving each layer a grind or so of fresh-ground pepper. Add no more than 2 cups of water to the pot. Bring the water to the boil, then reduce the heat at once, cover tightly, and barely simmer for 2 to 5 hours. The perfect way to cook it is in a heavy casserole pot in a very low oven at 250F. I know this sounds vague, but if the pot is heavy and the lid tight, it really can't come to any harm. The longer and slower the cooking, the better. If you prefer, before serving, remove the sausages and quickly brown them on one side under the broiler. Serve with white soda farl to mop up the soup, and bottles of stout. It is a most restorative food.

2 1/2 c Flour

2 ts Baking powder

1 ts Salt

1/2 ts Baking soda

1/4 c Margarine

1/2 c Sugar

1 Egg; beaten

1 1/2 c Buttermilk *

1 c Raisins

1/2 c Currants

1 tb Caraway seeds (optional)

I would like to share with you our family's traditional Irish Bread Recipes which has always been a staple in our household. These recipes are shared by fellow Hibernians throughout the Boston area: Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and soda, set aside. Cream the margarine and sugar. Add beaten egg and buttermilk, blend well. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients. Mix by hand only until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in raisins, currants, and caraway seeds. Pour into greased 1 1/2 quart casserole. Brush top with melted magarine. Sprinkly with a little sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees for 30 minutes longer. Test in the middle of the loaf before removing from oven.

1 c Raw grated potatoes

1 c Leftover mashed potatoes

2 ts Baking powder

2 ts Salt

2 Eggs

1/4 c Milk, to bind (more or less)

Squeeze grated raw potatoes in cheese cloth to remove as much moisture as possible. Sift flour with salt and baking powder. Mix all potatoes with dry ingreds. and add beaten eggs. Mix well, and add sufficient milk to make batter. Drop by tablespoons onto hot buttered frying pan and cook over moderate heat until browned (4 min. per side.) Serve hot and well buttered with or without sugar.

NOTE: Boxty is the traditional Irish fare for Shrove Tuesday. Composed of grated raw potatoes, mashed cooked potatoes, with flour added as a binding agent, Boxty is either fried in a pan or browned on a griddle. It is mentioned in a traditional children's Irish jingle: "Three pans of boxty, baking all the day, What use is boxty without a cup of tay?"

3 ea Med. potatoes

1 lg Onion

Salt & pepper to taste 2 ts Chopped parsley

1/4 lb Raw bacon, diced

2 tb Butter

1 c Scalded milk (still hot)

1/4 c Grated cheddar cheese

Peel the potatoes and cut into very thin slices. Chop onion. Place a layer of vegetables on a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with seasonings, parsley and diced bacon. Dot with butter. Repepat layers until all ingreds. are used. Pour milk over top with cheese. Cover and bake in a preheated 350 F. oven for 45 min. Uncover and continue cooking until potatoes are done and top is nicely browned.

NOTE: A collop is a small portion of any food.

12 Young carrots

3 tb Butter

1/2 c Milk

Salt & pepper to taste 1/2 c Heavy cream

2 Egg yolks

1 ts Chopped fresh parsley

Trim and wash the carrots and halve lengthwise. Melt butter over med. heat. Add milk, season with salt and pepper. Add carrots and cook gently until just tender. Remove from heat and stir in cream and beaten egg yolks. Reheat but do not boil, stirring constantly until the eggs thicken. Correct seasoning and add parsley.

NOTE: The reddish crest of Sleieve na mBan (The Mountain of Women in Ireland) rising above the milk-white mist that forms there gives its name to this dish of cream-wreathed carrots.