Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Starting the day with a cooked breakfast has faded into memory as the constraints of time and convenience take over our lives. However, the traditional South Wales breakfast of bara lawr or lava bread is a bit of an acquired taste but once acquired there is no going back.
Welsh Breakfast
Lava bread is seaweed of the same species used in Japanese cuisine (Porphyra Umilicalis). Lava bread is a wholesome, healthy food as it is rich in vitamins, iron and iodine.
The pre-cooked lava is mixed with oatmeal rolled into a ball and wrapped in rashers of bacon then shallow fried in the bacon fat. The traditional way to serve this breakfast is with cockles or accompanied by triangles of fried bread and fried tomatoes. The taste is not at all fishy or salty but the essence of its ingredients gives it a distinctive flavour.
Lava added to soups, sauces, stuffing, bread and even pasta, lifts the dishes to new heights of taste while bestowing its own distinctive and refreshing tang to any dish.
A traditional mid-morning reviver, there is nothing better than a few fresh-from-the-griddle Welsh cakes (picau ar y maen). This round griddled cake is eaten everywhere in Wales.
When cooked the cakes are disc-shaped about two to three inches in diameter and half-an-inch thick, they can be eaten cold but are best straight from the griddle: warm, dusted with sugar and perhaps spread with slightly salty Welsh farmhouse butter, makes the perfect companion to a cup of freshly brewed tea.
Bara Brith
Another Welsh delicacy is Bara brith, this takes a little overnight preparation but it is not difficult or onerous. The main ingredients of which are mixed fruit, cold tea (without milk), Muscavado sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice and its zest. The time consuming part is steeping the mixed fruit in the cold tea over night: the rest is simplicity itself, just follow the recipe.
Perhaps the best know of all Welsh foods is Welsh Rabbit, or is it Welsh Rarebit? The Oxford English Dictionary insists that the correct name is Welsh Rabbit. No matter what name this treat has it is a quick, easy and filling delicacy that uses simple ingredients to make a tasty snack.
The dish is a two-step process, first toast the bread and then prepare the cheese-based topping.
There are many versions of this dish but the easiest is to simply to toast a couple of slices of bread, lightly butter them and completely cover with a layer cheese and grill until golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. But for a real treat try a more elaborate recipe.
The basic ingredients are simple and few, butter, milk (or ale), mild mustard, salt and pepper and of course mature Welsh farmhouse cheese. To these can be added a variety of ingredients from tomatoes to crispy bacon.
Cawl is a soup-cum-broth made from root vegetables, leeks, onions and perhaps garlic. The meat base is either mutton or lamb. A brimming bowl of cawl warms from the top of your head to the tips of your toes as well as the cockles of your heart.
Cawl has a long history first mentioned for its king-making qualities in an 11th century legend the tale of the feckless Prince Gruffydd who inherited his father’s vast Welsh realm. Gruffydd was soon over run by a rival king thereby loosing his father’s kingdom.
To make this hearty broth is simplicity itself just a few pieces of mutton or lamb cutlets on the bone, potatoes cut in half, carrots, either suede, parsnips or turnips, leaks and finely chopped onions, salt and pepper to taste. Throw the whole lot into a saucepan of water boil until the meat is nearly cooked and then add the vegetables when coocked serve steaming hot.
On tasting this delicious concoction, cooked by Gruffydd's sister he re-discovered tattered ego and restored his courage and self-faith. One sip and Gruffydd's bravery re-emerged to challenge the usurper and retake his father's kingdom.
Welsh cuisine can do more than fill a stomach. It can make a king of you.
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