Anyone out there have a decent, has to be good, recipe for potato bread and soda bread.... I live in Canada and can't get any without sugar in it... Oh to have a load of the stuff for the upcoming Fall and winter. Jim McKeown used to bake great breads and that Royal Cake, full of currants and real butter... We used to get it when I worked for my Dad, Jim McCleery, in his butchers shop on Sloan Street, beside Alexanders Pub.

Hi Richard,when I lived on Young St.a butchers shop opened at the corner of Sloan St.and Gregg St.where the post office used to be.I think it was called Cromies,there was a person working there called Jim McCleery,(BUCK ) is he your dad ? I recall when we used to swim in the lagan he would be there as well.Ken.

sorry I haven't a recipe for potato bread..I wish I had...
I remember Jim Mcleery's butcher's shop...wasn't it next door to a fruit shop that Lorna (Maiden name Higginson) use to have.
Kenny I also remember a butchers on the corner of sloan street and Gregg street but I was sure it was called Sammy McConnels?

Hi Maureen,wasn't McConnels butcher shop on the left side of bridge st. going up,and there was also Andrew Scholes butcher shop there as well.Do you remember a little sweet shop in the middle of the block accross from the wee park? Mckay's and they also sold sewing material's as well?Ken.

Ken,

I'm not sure that my Dad worked in the butcher's at Sloan St./ Gregg St. He served his time in the shop half way up Bridge Street that started out as a fishmongers and later, became Billy Lawson's Butchers, he worked for both. Sadly old Bily passed away a couple of years ago tho' Minnie is still kicking around I believe. I do recall my Dad talk about swimming in the Lagan when he was younger, somewhere around where the old canal was, there's a pedestrian bridge to the Low Road there now and that was where he swam. I remember the other shop being owned by Jimmy Skelton and run by Sinclair Morgan. Lorna Mulholland did have the fruit shop next to my Dads, it was originally run by my Mom and her, it's now a clothes shop or something and my Dad's old shop is a hairdressers owned by Roy Presho and his wife.. He's a son of either Billy or Tommy Presho who owned the Perseverance Pub at Ravarnette... Alexanders or the Great Eastern Pub is now owned and run by Gary Alexander, Ted's son, since Esther and Norman McMullen and Ted Alexander have all passed away...

Recipe for potato bread,
Boil 2 lbs potatoes in jackets and allow to cool, better still boil the day before. Remove jackets and mash well in mixing bowl, add a handfull plain flour and a pinch of salt and mix well. On a floured board roll the mixture out to a quarter inch ( 6mm ) thick and about a foot diameter ( 30 cm ), cut in quarters and bake for about 10 min. or until brown in a dry frying pan.

Güten Appetit!
Donald

Recipe for soda bread,
one kilo flour, one teaspoon backing powder, one HALF teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, one HALF teaspoon salt, add buttermilk until mixture reaches consistancy of a stiky dough. Using floured hands and board knead and roll out to a cake about half inch ( 12mm ) thick and 12inch ( 30cm ) diameter , cut in quarters and bake in preheated dry, lightly floured pan as with potato bread, keep turning for ca 20 min. or until cooked. Test with knitting needle. Can also be formed into bannock and baked in pre heated oven for ca. 30 min at 200c.
Güten Appetit!
Donald

Well done Donald. I liked the "test with a knitting needle"! Does your wife know? I must try this recipe. Long ago I gave up and tried the shops. Marks and Spencer sell the best outside of Nornirn.


Liz

Hiya ken I do remember the wee shop on that row facing the wee park.
The only reason I thought that butchers was called McConnels is because my granny use to send me there and she would say "go and get me a quarter of vegetable roll from sammy McConnels" or even more to the point she would say " Go and get me half a pound of mince and tell Sammy McConnel I want none of his oul fatty stuff!" On the other hand Ken maybe I was suppose to be going to bridge street!!!!
Richard. I do remember your mum when she was in the fruit and vegetable shop........I actually didn't until you mentioned it .....
You were talking about esther and Norman McMullen and I was wondering if you knew anything about Roberta ..their daughter? I remember once Muriel Higginson and I dressing Roberta up in a Veil and taking her round as Queen of the may. She was really pretty.

And Tattie Bread, bacon,soda & wheaten bread. Hard to beat.
There is a Scottish Bakery in the Golden Mile Mall Scarborough Toronto Canada. That sells the above.
Re/ Richard Mc cleery. Spud Murphy