How boxty became a beloved Irish dish all over the world
Smell is the only sense that connects directly to the brain's limbic system, which governs memory and emotion. So it's no surprise that certain foods are often steeped in nostalgia, particularly those from specific regions.
We don't have too many of these in Ireland - think Dublin coddle or the Waterford blaa - but one that has gone from Leitrim to all over the world is boxty.
Boxty, a traditional Irish potato pancake, is one food that often reminds people of days with their grandparents or breakfast with their cousins. Or evokes childhood memories if you're from the north-west, where it's a proud local dish. Donal Skehan's take on boxty
It's steeped in tradition, especially in Cavan and Leitrim. Boxty is believed to have been created before the famine as a resourceful way to use both leftover mashed potatoes and grated potatoes. The name itself might stem from the phrase "arán bocht ti" as Gaeilge, which means "poor house bread".
For Aine Faughnan, boxty is at the core of her childhood memories. She is the managing director for Dromod - one of the country's leading boxty makers. Her father Timmy founded the business 35 years ago after having great success baking and selling his mother's recipe in his local shop in Dromod, Co Leitrim.
She said: "So my dad was making boxty in the morning very early, at like 5am, and bringing it up and selling it in our own shop.
"So it would have been Granny's recipe he was using. And the bread men would come in and they'd ask him, 'Could you make some for us to bring on our routes to other stores as well?' So he started doing that and got really busy."
Timmy then decided to turn the shop into a bakery and as it grew bigger and bigger, he decided to open up his own company, Dromod Boxty. Customers can now buy the beloved product online or from any of its many stockists across the country, including SuperValu.
Aine said her favourite thing about Boxty is that it brings families together and is one of the truly traditional Irish foods that every tourist wants to try when they visit here. Typically made with a combination of mashed and grated raw potatoes, flour and milk, boxty can be eaten with almost anything.
While some people like to go rogue and pop sugar on the potato cake, Aine likes to keep it savoury. It can be enjoyed with eggs, avocado, ham and cheese, or even used as a pizza base.
For those who have never tried the dish before, she recommends keeping it simple with some gorgeous butter. She said: "I would advise putting it on the pan on a medium heat with some butter.
"So melt the butter and then put it on the pan until it's nice and crispy on the outside, and then you'll have that chewy potato texture on the inside.
"Some people microwave it or put it in the toaster. You can do that, but it just doesn't give you that real deliciousness that you get when you fry it."
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