The recipe for soda bread from a well-established Irish chef casually includes the instruction to cut a cross on it "to let the fairies out", because there's only two things people correctly fear on this island: open slurry pits, and angering the Aos Sí - ThreadSky

ciaraioch.bsky.social • 104 days ago

The recipe for soda bread from a well-established Irish chef casually includes the instruction to cut a cross on it "to let the fairies out", because there's only two things people correctly fear on this island: open slurry pits, and angering the Aos Sí

Comments

roisindubh1.bsky.social•103 days ago

Make an X ...and all the best ones head for the blue, blue sky 🦋

joermurphy.bsky.social•104 days ago

I went to a wonderful show/workshop by Manchán Magan where he made bread, talked about Gaeilge and the audience made butter, then we all ate it. It was magic. And he quizzed the audience on the slash and why we did it. Wonderful.

auldbendy.bsky.social•104 days ago

I mean, they're not wrong

annettesjl.bsky.social•103 days ago

Did exactly that, yesterday.

alwaysjathis.bsky.social•103 days ago

True, though.
It's one of the things that carried over.
I'm an atheist skeptic raised Irish Catholic and I was poo-pooing something recently and my kid said, "Except for fairies, right?"
And I said, "Yeah, no. We don't fuck with fairies."

cakavanagh.bsky.social•104 days ago

Every time. Have never dared not to cut one in.

markdowling.bsky.social•104 days ago

Yup https://youtube.com/shorts/qjGJEvGt0HI?si=zHUTGK6g2RonKM9w

roisindubh1.bsky.social•103 days ago

Learned that young

amokura13.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wow, until now I never knew why I cut the cross.

drkatedevlin.bsky.social•104 days ago

And if those don’t get you, putting new shoes on the table will.

alanpbourke.bsky.social•104 days ago

That's just meddling with forces mankind was not meant to meddle with.

richrennicks.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wait… Wut? Did not know that one, and as a runner I feel I’ve broken that Geis a fair few times

lisafitz.bsky.social•104 days ago

I remember showing my Australian mate how to make soda bread & saying the same thing, she looked at me like I was mad, she reminded me that I didn't believe in god, but believed in fairies, I said you don't f*ck with fairies, never lived it down!

homebrewandhacking.bsky.social•103 days ago

Welll.... Australians. Don't know fear do they?

lizbenbrooks.bsky.social•103 days ago

I think…if they can’t see it it’s not a problem. They have to deal with divebombing magpies, giant snakes that like to come right in the house, and spiders the size of your head first.

homebrewandhacking.bsky.social•103 days ago

Super venomous fish that pretend to be stones, plants so painful they can make you want to kill yourself, adorable octopi that can stop your heart in seconds.

I wish I was making these up.

lizbenbrooks.bsky.social•103 days ago

And I know you are not!

pacmannewry.bsky.social•104 days ago

I once went out the front door (to take the bin to the side of house) and came back in through the back door. My wife's been chucking holy water at me ever since.

caitrionaw.bsky.social•104 days ago

I make mine in a loaf tin and no cross. Fairies don’t seem too bothered.

ruthanasia.bsky.social•104 days ago

Are you sure though....

melvinman.bsky.social•104 days ago

Yeah, I wouldn’t chance not.

kelonwheels.bsky.social•103 days ago

Well no wonder mine always comes out like a brick.

66alw99.bsky.social•103 days ago

Gotta ask, though - wtf are fairies hiding in your dough for?

caias.bsky.social•103 days ago

What do you think makes the bread rise, farting microorganisms or something silly like that?

It's the fae.

66alw99.bsky.social•103 days ago

But... why are they hiding in my dough?

caias.bsky.social•103 days ago

They aren't hiding.

They are *working*.

Making the bread rise.

Say what you will about the fae, but they aren't narrowbacks.

thedelfinclutch.bsky.social•103 days ago

If you hex the moon and the fae, it's your ass. But if you BAKE them, there are no other dimensional planes you can hide from them upon

cathcroi.bsky.social•104 days ago

Love it

billburke.ie•104 days ago

When a neighbor of ours lost a leg, one might have been inclined to chalk it up to his diabetes. Of course, the real reason is that he thoughtlessly bulldozed a fairy fort 50 years previously

homebrewandhacking.bsky.social•102 days ago

Cause of diabetes: fairies putting sugar in his tea.

marybuckley.bsky.social•104 days ago

Imagine a little fairy covered in flour and bread soda wriggling out of an uncrossed loaf. She'd be raging, your milk would go sour, your hens woudn't lay and your fire would go out. Cut that cross folks

cheekyian.bsky.social•103 days ago

People joke about quick sand and spontaneous combustion as terrifying things from childhood that they never actually encountered in real life. They always forget the slurry pits.

shazbear.bsky.social•104 days ago

Don't get me started on the "Stray Sod". As a culchie, playing in fields when we were kids was a thing. If ya stood on a 'stray sod' you couldn't get out of the field you were in,and the 'cure' was putting your jacket/jumper on inside out else you'd have to sleep in the field until sunrise 😅

caias.bsky.social•103 days ago

My father was 4 generations removed from his Irish refugee ancestors and he knew this.

Hell, I'm Buddhist and I know you need the cross to let them out.

kevinmagoo72.bsky.social•104 days ago

Was it Paula McIntyre? Bet it was Paula McIntyre.

cathdibella.bsky.social•104 days ago

My mam always did and I do too. Don’t mess with the fairies ➕

lapysaoneeris.bsky.social•103 days ago

They know what they’re dealing with.

antisyzygy.bsky.social•104 days ago

The greatest fear of all: leaving the immersion on.

tidals.bsky.social•104 days ago

A mortal sin…

ruthanasia.bsky.social•104 days ago

Great way to get of an awkward situation or boring party that one. "Ah jaysis I've left the immersion on! I'll have to gooooo..)"

seandba.bsky.social•104 days ago

I follow that recipe and it’s at 5:14 in the video - obviously it’s the worst possible karma to mess with fairies

https://youtu.be/bZhpdFHMkxs?si=_8BtKkf5JMi_KZmz