J - Comhaltas Archive

"Did you ever eat Colcannon when
'twas made with thickened cream,
and the greens and scallions
mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top
to hold the melting lake of the
heather-flavoured butter that
your mother used to make?
Oh, you did, so you did! So did he
and so did I,
and the more I think about it sure
the nearer I'm to cry,
Oh, hadn't we the happy times
when troubles we knew not and
our mother made colcannon in the
little skillet pot".
'Tis well I remember Sean Og 0
Tuama singing that song by my persvnal
memories of our Irish Traditional
Cookery only go as far back as a grand·
aunt of my own who used to make her
4
As Things Were Then
Kay Sheehy
brown bread in the pot oven on the
open fire. There were still a few places,
in my childhood, where the stove hadn't
yet been installed, and where we used
sit in the chimney corner and "blow"
the fan which turned the turf to a glowing
red and where we watched the fire
being lifted with a tongs onto the lid of
the pot oven after the big cake of bread
had been laid inside.
In my time electricity was making its
appearance in many houses and others
had the big black ranges with the polished
metal trim which had to be black·
leaded and emery-papered to keep them
clean and shining- hard work they were ,
but in the days before television we sat
round them at night with our faces
roasted from the heat they threw out as
we listened to old men and women tell
stories of how things were in their
youth.
Memories! When you start to think
back isn't it funny the things you re ­
member? Do you remember being sent
down to the local shop for bread? It
was always wrapped for us in sheets of
brown tissue paper then. Did you ever
slip your fingers under the soft brown
wrapping and peel strips of bread off
the loaf on your way home? There was
a great flavour from the turnover, es·
pecially if it was hot from the bakery.
Did you ever get a clip on the ear when
you got home and it was found that
you'd eaten the whole centre out of the
same turnover and there was nothing
left for the rest of them but the crisp
crust?
" The greatest thing since the sliced
pan!" How often we say that. Bread
wasn't ever sliced in my childhood. In
fact white bread wasn't even white. Can
you remember the excitement when