Irish Farls

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I have buckled shoes! I have a cocked hat with a shamrock! I have a long-stemmed pipe! I have a green suit! What I don’t have is a pot of gold, but you can’t have everything. 

The roots of this very simple recipe are traditionally Irish. Think tiny, thatched-roofed cottages … open hearth fires … heavy soup pots hanging over the coals. Or, in present-day times, think charcoal-fired barbecues, which impart more flavor to this bread than barbecues fired by gas.

- Google Images (bakingbites.com)

Irish Farls start with yesterday’s recipe for Irish Soda Bread. Trim inch-thick (2.54 cm-thick) slices into triangular wedges. Lightly spray-grease a heavy cast-iron skillet or griddle. 

Place griddle over the open flame of a charcoal barbecue or gas stove, preheating until moderately hot. Toast triangles 8-to-10 min. per side. Serve at once, with butter and jam.

Although I wouldn’t do it (and I’m sure you wouldn’t, either), I can see the Irish of 200 years ago dipping this toast into hot drippings. 

Cooking over an open flame or a wood-fired oven is more of an art than a science. For a marvelous essay on how cooks coped, go to: 

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2012/08/bake_at_350_degrees_oven_temperature_is_uncontrollable_and_we_should_stop_trying_to_micromanage_it_.html

To mentally transport yourself to those Irish times of yore, see: 

http://www.abigailsbakery.com/bread-recipes/history-of-irish-soda-bread.htm

One final, nostalgic word: I dedicate this recipe to one of my oldest and dearest Irish friends. Alison L. is in hospital battling a serious illness. To paraphrase an Irish blessing: May the road rise up to meet her … May the wind always be at her back … May God hold her in the palm of His hand.