The Joyce of Cooking

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In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, which is Monday, I got out the Irish cookbooks this morning. Having once spent a lot of time reading James Joyce, my favorite is ‘The Joyce of Cooking: Food and Drink From James Joyce’s Dublin.’ OK, I know it’s St. Patrick’s Day, not Bloomsday (June 16, the anniversary of the fictional day described in ‘Ulysses’), but why not. Any excuse to make Banbury cakes.

At the beginning of the Lestrygonians chapter of ‘Ulysses’ (U 153, Vintage edition), Leopold Bloom buys two Banbury cakes from an old applewoman for a penny, then feeds them to the gulls wheeling over the River Liffey. ‘Gone. Every morsel ... he shook the powdery crumb from his hands. They never expected that. Manna.’

They’re very similar to scones, made with the usual ingredients (flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, sugar) plus black currants. Make them into wedges, bake them off, then serve with a cup of strong black tea laced with milk and sugar. I even found an old mug I’d bought at Dublin’s Bewley’s Cafe, down the street from Trinity College and not so very far from Davy Byrnes pub, where Bloom ate his lunch. He was hungry, having fed his cakes to the birds. I prefer eating mine.

‘The Joyce of Cooking,’ by Alison Armstrong; forward by Anthony Burgess. (Station Hill Press; 1986.)

-- Amy Scattergood