The following dishes are traditionally served on Samhain in Celtic countries as divination games.
Fuarag (pronounced FOO-uh-rack) originated in Scotland (but is also popular in Canada and Eastern Nova Scotia). It is a large communal bowl of whipped cream and toasted oatmeal eaten at Halloween. Everyone digs in at once, each with a wooden spoon. A ring, a coin, a button, and a wishbone are hidden. Whoever gets the ring will be the first to marry. The one who gets the coin will be rich. The button represents poverty, but if you find the wishbone, your wishes for the future will come true.
Fuarag
1/3 cup toasted oatmeal
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons Scotch whiskey
a coin, a button, a (clean, dry) wishbone, and a ring- all wrapped in wax paper
Whip the cream until very stiff. Stir in honey, Scotch whiskey, and charms. Layer cream and toasted oatmeal alternately in a large glass bowl, hiding the charms in the different layers. Chill for about an hour before serving. Eat within three hours of assembling.
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The next two are from Ireland. -I’ve posted my recipe for Barm Brack before, but this one is a traditional recipe. Whoever finds the ring will marry within the next year, if already married, will find wedded bliss. Whoever finds the coin will have wealth over the following year. The person who finds the bean will have contentment. Whoever finds the pea or rag will have a year of poverty or bad luck in one’s love life.
Barm Brack
3 ½ cups flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 ¼ cups milk
¼ cup butter
2 beaten eggs plus 1 egg yolk for glaze
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
salt
½ oz. yeast 1 ½ cups golden raisins
1 ½ cups currants
¾ cup candied peel
strong cold tea
a ring, pea, bean, coin, and a piece of rag, each wrapped in wax paper
Soak the fruit in the tea overnight, then strain. Warm the flour and sugar in a warm oven and heat the milk until you can put your finger in it comfortably. Leave the butter and eggs out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Sift the flour, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt together. Mix yeast with a teaspoon of sugar and a little warm milk and set aside until it begins to froth. Add remaining sugar to the flour. Add the frothing yeast to the milk and add the two beaten eggs. Beat the batter until well mixed and springy to the touch. Fold in the fruit and push in the ring, pea, bean, and rag.
Grease an 8 inch cake pan and pour in the batter. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. Glaze the top with remaining egg yolk. Return to oven for five minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into thick slices, being careful to make sure the charms remain hidden in each piece. Warn guest about the charms, so that they will be careful to not bite down hard and break a tooth on one of the charms.
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This one is a variation on a recipe I have posted before. (At Imbolc colcannon is made with cabbage, but at Samhain it is made with kale.) In this traditional Irish Samhain dish, the only charm hidden is a ring, the finder of which will be the first to marry in the following year.
Colcannon
2 cups cooked and mashed potatoes, kept warm
¼ cup butter, melted
1 finely chopped onion or 2 chopped scallions
half-and-half or heavy cream
¾ cup cooked kale, kept warm
salt and pepper
ring
Fry onion in a teaspoon of the butter. Beat the potatoes with a little milk or cream until they are light and fluffy. Chop the kale, mix with the rest of the butter and stir into the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and hide the ring at the bottom of the dish. Just before serving, make a well in the center and pour in melted butter.
If you have any leftovers, make them into potato cakes and fry until golden on both sides. Young women have been known to save the last piece of colcannon in a stocking under their pillow to dream of their future husband.
“Did you ever eat colcannon
When ’twas made with yellow cream
And the kale and praties blended
Like the picture in a dream?
Did you ever take a forkful
And dip it in the lake
Of heather-flavored butter
That your mother used to make?
Oh, you did, yes you did!
So did he and so did I,
And the more I think about it
Sure, the more I want to cry.
God be with the happy times
When trouble we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon
In the little three-legged pot.”
-Traditional Irish Song
