This is the third part of our Irish Cuisine blog post series. This time, we feature champ and barmbrack. See first part here featuring Irish soda bread and Irish stew. Read the second part here featuring boxty and colcannon. More of World Cuisine here.

 


Irish Cuisine: Champ And Barmbrack


 

Champ. Champ, also known as poundies and originated in North Ireland, is made of mashed potato flavored with scallions (spring onions), butter and milk.

Mustard champ by  Good Food | BBC Good Food

Mustard champ by Good Food | BBC Good Food

Ingredients
1kg potato, peeled and quartered
200ml milk
50g butter
1-2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 bunches spring onion, washed and sliced

See recipe here.

 

Barmbrack. A leavened bread with sultanas and raisins, barmbrack is served during Halloween and is used in fortune-telling. Wherein each item in the barmbrack carries a meaning: the pea means not get married within the year; the stick means an unhappy marriage or having disputes; the cloth or rag means bad luck or poverty; the coin means good fortune and the ring means getting married within the year.

Irish barmbrack by Donal Skehan | Good Food channel

Irish barmbrack by Donal Skehan | Good Food channel

Ingredients
375 g mixed dried fruit
50 ml whiskey
250 ml cold tea
butter, for greasing
225 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125 g light soft brown sugar
½ tsp mixed spice
1 large egg

See recipe here.

 

 


FEATURE IMAGE CREDIT:

Champ By Glane23Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11094009