My earliest memories include a family favorite - what we called "Slim" but is more properly known as Irish Farls, a variation of Irish Potato Bread or Pancake. My paternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland. As they tried to survive the depression, their small house was filled with six hungry children. My dad often told stories of a meal consisting of bread covered with lard. Unlike my maternal grandmother, my dad's mother was a dour woman. I never saw her smile or felt her arms around me for grandmotherly hug or kiss. Maybe it was all the children and all the poverty. I'll never know. My dad had no happy family memories from childhood except for the Irish Slim his mother sometimes made. They would spread lard over the hot potato pancake but we substituted butter (or margarine.) This is the version my mom made. We would stand around the stove as she cooked waiting for the tasty little rectangles to come off the griddle so we could slather them with butter, roll them up and pop them in our mouths. Irish Slim Boiled Potatoes Flour Salt to taste Make sure the boiled potatoes are cool and dry. Mash them without adding any liquid. After mashing, add enough flour to form a fairly rigid dough. On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it is very thin. Add flour as required to avoid sticking. You should be able to handle the dough without having it stick to your hands. Cut into rectangles - about 2" wide x 4-5" long. Heat a cast iron griddle until it is quite hot -don't ask how hot - you'll know when it's hot enough. Cook the rectangles in the DRY griddle, turning just before they begin to burn (although I like them a little burned) If necessary, keep them in a warm oven as you continue to cook the batch but they are best right out of the pan. Cover with butter, roll lengthwise, and enjoy. The outside is crispy before the butter is spread and the inside is soft and delicious. This is truly one of my favorite things in the whole world. Easy to make, great for camp cooking, a Sunday night treat and for me, surrounded by memories of the love and laughter with which I was raised.
Sweet potato biscuits 2 c all purpose flour 2/3 cup sugar 2 tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup shortning 2 c cooked and mashed sweet potatoes 1/4 cup milk In a bowl sift dry ingredients, cut in shortning. Mix in sweet potatoes add milk gradually to make a soft dough. Turn out on a lightly floured board. Knead lightly Roll or pat into 1/2 inch thickness. Cut 2" biscuits place on a well greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 450... don't burm or brown serve with apple butter....
Hey! We ate potato pancakes back in the day too. We didn't boil them though. We'd grate them on the back side of the old square cheese grater. The really rough knuckle chewing side... It made mostly a potato slurry. They'd go in the pancake batter like that and then get poured onto a fairly hot cast iron griddle. We used butter on them too though back then the griddle was pretty much always greased with fresh drippings. Crisco if the drippings can was empty. All this talk of the olden days and I'm not even 40 yet! Fun to reminisce! Byte