h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Irish Potato Bread - A Recipe - A3546362
Author: King_Bomba - U891566

My second local food Entry.

Last two paragraphs need tags around them to space it out....

Apart from that, good entry, shall have a go at some point

*sits back and awaits all the variations these entries inspire*

Thanks Skankyrich. Yeah, one of these days I'm waiting for "Well my granny always said you shouldn't..."

WELL my granny always said you shouldn't just use metric measurements

Okay so it wasn't my granny but close enough. You need to put the imperial measurements in footnotes.

Also the links at the end need to be 'Related BBC Links', and as a list. But that's a small point.

Are there variations on the recipe? Can you add things to it or anything?

I've already been on about my Granny on one of Kat's thread, I can't keep dragging her into things

I think all the suggested variations are likely to appear below, very shortly, Kat

>> If you ask an Irish person living abroad what food they miss most from back home, potato bread will probably be one of the top answers. <<

Now I'm just an Irish pat, not an ex-pat, but I must say I have never before heard of potato bread.

But other than that, a good read.

Will see to it Kat.

Skanky, you want to be careful about your granny. She could start developing a cult or something!

Added imperial measurements. I didn't use footnotes - tried it but it seemed a bit too clumsy, so I just added them in brackets.

Short and to the point. Known in Scotland as 'Tattie scones'. Served fried (of course) on a roll.

Would it be churlish to say...for measurements, I'm coming around to the American way of thinking. Measurements in cups make a lot more sense than weights.

Hmmm. Idea for a short Entry - converting systems of measurement in cooking?

Thing about grams is everyone agrees how much a gram is. Surely standardization makes things simpler?

Remember when digital watches started appearing on everyone's wrists? The argument was that they were 'better' because they were 'more accurate'. So you'd ask someone the time and they'd say "It's twelve fort-nine and forty-five seconds." Only...you don't need to know that. Alls you need to know is that it's about ten minutes to lunchtime.

Similarly...I know of no recipe in which it is important to weigh to the nearest gram. In *some* baking, exact-ish quantities are relatively important. But the key is convenience. I reckon that for metric, we want quantities to the nearest 50g, with other ingredients scaled proportionally. What this means is, effectively, two recipes: 1 in lb and oz and the other in 50g.

But it's not really important here.

And I bet your granny never measured anyway!

Whether it's gram or ounce or pound though, at least it's agreed amounts. A cupful? What size of cup? Some are twice the size of others.

I hardly ever measure anything out to precisely when I'm cooking anything though. But surely the first comment on peer review if someone said "throw in oil until it seems like enough" would be "How much oil is enough? How can you tell?"

That's not a gripe either, because it's a fair question. Until you arse around a bit and get a feel for something, it's handy to have more precise measurements. Recipes are just a guide anyway, so if you don't like them first time, you can fiddle the next time.

Ah, but you see - provided you use the same cup throughout, it doesn't much matter The US 'standard' cup is what we'd call a mug.

Recipes are funny things. Those of us who can cook don't really need them: Just a list of ingredients and a rough idea of how to combine them. It's only the Delia slaves who need to be led by the hand.

Then you get the questions like 'can you add...'. The only sane answer is 'Of course you can. Depending on how you want it to turn out.'

Jaysus, it's not as if cooking was difficult!

I'd thought of that - but some items aren't suitable for being measured in cups, and they'll be all out of proportion then!

True - you probably want the correct proportions of stuff like yeast and baking powder to flour. But all the other stuff is either pretty non-critical or can (should!) be assessed by taste.

Hmmm. Another idea for an entry: 'How not to be scared of recipes'.

Hey come on Edward! No cup measurements are happening around here and you know it. And whether or not you follow recipes strictly or bung stuff together, recipes in the EG need to be nice and simple to follow and lead you by the hand.

For example...I haven't a clue what potato bread tastes like so I don't know what might be nice to eat with it...I could hazard guesses, but it's nice to be solidly suggested something...and yes I am actually able to cook very well and have worked in various kitchens. Just in case...

Is the Scottish variety made differently/with other things from the Irish?

Kats

I was just sticking my provocative nose in to the debate over grams v pounds! I know 'm on a hiding to nothing. Funny, though...h2g2 biazarrely adopts various other American conventions...

Irish potato bread is not fundamentally different to Tattie Scones (in England, 'potato cakes') - only the Irish version is rolled thicker.

I always called these 'potato cakes' rather than 'potato bread'.

Hi Edward! What American customs and conventions does h2g2 adopt?

Same dough though.