"mother's ruin"

yesterday was gin day down in champaign. sooooooooooooooooooooooo

jack bless

last week liam asked me how to make "boxty" and i had never herd of it. i do love wikipedia sometimes.
"Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan. There are many different recipes but all contain finely grated, raw potatoes and all are served fried. The most popular version of the dish consists of finely grated, raw potato and mashed potato with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and sometimes egg. The grated potato may be strained to remove most of the starch and water but this is not necessary. The mixture is fried on a griddle pan for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake. Traditional alternatives include using only raw potatoes, boiling it as a dumpling or baking it as a loaf. The most noticeable difference between boxty and other similarly fried potato dishes is its smooth, fine grained consistency."
Boxty was seen as so much a part of the local culture in the areas in which it was made, that the following poem was written-
"Boxty on the griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
If you can't make boxty,
You'll never get a man."----ha, well im glad i know now.

one thing that is traditionally served with boxty for breakfasf in england, ireland,and scotland, is blood pudding. it is made from cooking blood with a filler untill it is thick enough to congeal when cooled(it normaly looks like sausage). then it is sliced and fried.Typical fillers include meat, fat, suet, bread, sweet potato, barley and oatmeal. it sounds gross but im gonna try it soon, ill let ya'll know.
i looked up some recipes for boxty. and decided to write my own. as big of a fan as i am of tradition......i wanted to add some more flavor and options.

boxty.
1 medium russet potato. cooked and mashed. 1 cup in the end.
1 medium russet potato. raw, grated using a cheese grater or food processor. 1 cup. (you could sub a sweet potato, or 1/2 sweet potato 1/2 beet)
1 tablespoon roasted garlic paste(you can buy in the store)
3/4 cup flower
1 teaspoon baking soda
about 1 cup buttermilk
salt and pepper to taste.
some things you can add for flavor. if so inclined.
1 tablespoon each cumin and oregano. and serve boxty with salsa.
1 tablespoon curry powder, 1/2 table chilly powder. serve with sourcream and cucumber.

all you do to prepair this is take the cup mashed potato and mix all ingredients except buttermilk. at the end add buttermilk till the mix becomes a thick but runny mush.
heat some oil in a pan. and scoop about 2 tablespoons of mix into oil. cook till brown on both sides. and enjoy. this is a good group brunch item.