Celtic Folklore Cooking - The Magick Moon

Celtic Folklore Cooking by: Joanne Asala

A treasury of delectable recipes, Celtic Folklore Cooking by Joanne Asala will help you select foods to serve at your celebrations of the Sabbats and Esbats: the festivals and ritual times for Witches and Wiccans. It is also a terrific introduction to Celtic culture.

The recipes in this book were gathered during four trips the author took to Ireland and Britain, as well as visits to Scotland and Wales. She searched for people who still cooked in the traditional of their ancestors, passing down recipes from generation to generation.

The result is a book that is rich in Celtic tradition. And the foods are delicious any time, too.

Like a well stocked larder, Celtic Folklore Cooking offers plenty of tempting choices for daily meals or special celebrations. Pick from more than 200 tasty traditional dishes, all nestled among colorful food-related proverbs, poems, tales, customs, and other nuggets of folk wisdom.

Each recipe lists ancient and modern holidays associated with the dish so you can select the perfect fare to complement the season. Recipes include:

- Mushroom and Scallop Pie
- Heather Wine
- Pratie Oaten
- Beestings Pancakes
- Hot Cross buns
- Figgy Pudding
- Boxty on the Griddle
- Barm Brack
- Sweet Scones
- Scotch Eggs
- Colcannon
- Cockle Soup
- Flower Pudding
- Flummery
- Mead

The ancient Celts celebrated their Sabbats with music, dance, games, food, and drink. Whether you are a solitary practitioner or a part of a larger group, food and drink should always be a part of your festivities, rituals, and ceremonies. This book can be the key to a wide variety of foods that will make you the talk of the town.

If you are involved in Celtic traditions, this book is a must. If you simply like unique recipes for foods that are as tasty today as they were hundreds, even thousands of years ago, you'll want this book, too.

Publisher Review: Celtic Folklore Cooking

Many people today are following Celtic traditions as part of their spiritual paths. But the foods eaten by the ancient Celts have been little known until now.

In Celtic Folklore Cooking author Joanne Asala reveals recipes she has gathered from journeying to the British Isles. She found the best traditional cooks in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall who center their menus today around the same simple foods that have fed the Celtic people for generations: fresh meats and fish, nutty grains, wild fruits, rich dairy cream and butter, and home grown vegetables. More than 200 of their recipes are included in Celtic Folklore Cooking.

But there's more!

Through the generations, the foods of the Celts have inspired a rich crop of proverbs, legends, and songs. Celtic Folklore Cooking combines the recipes with their folklore, resulting in a book that is valuable to Wiccans, chefs, and people interested in ancient traditions and folklore.

This book is as charming as a whitewashed cottage and cozy as tea and scones by the fire. Celtic Folklore Cooking will draw you into the culture, folkways, and character of the Celts, who have always lived close to the land and the changing of the seasons. This delightful book with fill your mind with joy and your stomach with tasty food. Get a copy today.

Library Review: Celtic Folklore Cooking

More than a cookbook, Asala has brought together a wealth of Celtic folk tales, poetry, proverbs and herbal lore to supplement the historic cuisine of Britain and Ireland. She selected over 200 recipes from old cookbooks, restaurants, and private homes she visited while traveling through Celtic regions. The eight sabbats of the Celtic year are identified, along with their sacred foods, symbols, and customs.

Each recipe is linked to specific holidays for practitioners who want to enhance their rituals with traditional foods. The glossary defines both Celtic Goddess terminology and cooking terms. An extensive bibliography lists books placing more emphasis on Celtic religion and mythology. This attractive book, with its variety of tempting recipes and interesting bits of whimsy, will appeal to all cooks who understand the primeval magic of butter and cream.

Reviewed By:
Betty Glass
Getchell Library
Reference Department
University of Nevada, Reno

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Mussel and Onion Stew
By: Joanne Asala

If an onion skin is very thin, a mild winter is coming in; if an onion skin is thick and tough, the coming winter is cold and rough (Scottish saying).

This stew is perfect for cool autumn days, while reflecting on the harvest festivals and the coming changes of the seasons and the wheel of the year.

5 pints mussels
2/3 cup white wine
6 small onions, sliced
1/4 cup butter
4 shallots, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
2 carrots, chopped
4 potatoes
Fresh parsley, thyme, and bay leaf, tied together
Chopped parsley
Black pepper

Scrub and debeard the mussels. Discard any that remain open after tapping; shellfish should be alive before cooking. Place them in a large saucepan with the white wine. Cook on high heat until the mussels are open. Again, throw away any that remain closed. Remove the mussels; strain the liquid and reserve. In another pan, saute the onions in butter or olive oil. Add the shallots, garlic, and chopped carrots. Peel and slice the potatoes. Put them in a pan with the herbs, chopped parsley, and reserved liquid from the mussels. Season to taste with pepper. Simmer for about one hour. Shell the mussels and, if desired, save the shells. Take a ladle of the vegetable broth, making sure to include potatoes, and puree in a blender, food processor, or food mill. Add to the rest of the vegetables again and put all the mussels in the pot. Simmer until the mussels are hot. Remove and discard bay leaf. The shells may be added for decoration. Serve with white wine and slices of garlic bread.

Serves 4 to 6.

an excerpt from Celtic Folklore Cooking, by Joann Asala.

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Halloween Barm Brack

Halloween comes from the Celtic celebration of Samhain, known as the split between the worlds, where time ceases to exist and mortals may get a glimpse of the Otherworld. As Samhain is a time of fortunetelling and divination, various objects may be wrapped up in waxed paper and baked into the barm brack.

Traditionally these items include a thimble, representing spinsterhood; a pea, for poverty; a wedding ring, for marriage; a coin, for wealth; and a stick, representing a walking stick for one who is to travel far.

Barm comes from the Anglo Saxon word beorma, which was fermented liquor that was used to raise a cake. Brack comes from the Irish word brac, meaning speckled.

I once attended a feast where the bread was thrown against a wall, and the children then scrambled to collect the trinkets.

4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large tablespoons butter
1 package yeast
1 cup sugar, divided
1 cup warm milk, divided
1 egg
1-1/4 cups golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup mixed, candied peel
Ring, coin, stick, pea, thimble, each individually wrapped in waxed paper

Sift together the flour, spices and salt; pinch or rub in butter with fingers. Cream the yeast with 1 teaspoon of the sugar and 1 teaspoon warm milk; mixture should froth up. If it doesn't, it means the yeast is old.

Add the remaining sugar to the flour mixture and blend well. Pour the remaining milk and the egg into the yeast mixture and combine with the flour mixture. Beat well with a wooden spoon. The batter should be stiff, but elastic. Fold in fruit, chopped peel and wrapped divination pieces.

Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place until the dough doubles in size. Turn out and divide into 2 loaves. Place each loaf in a greased 7-inch cake tin. Cover again and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Test with a skewer before removing from oven. Glaze with 1 tablespoon of sugar dissolved in 2 teaspoons boiling water and return to oven for 3 minutes.

Turn out onto rack to cool. Slice and serve with butter. Barm brack keeps very well, but if it does get a little stale, you may try toasting it.

Excerpt is from Celtic Folklore Cooking by Joanne Asala

7"x10", illus, glossary, bibliog., index

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