Mayo memories: Barcastle sausages, beetroot and porridge

By Tom Gillespie

WHEN we were growing up as children our culinary expectations were far less demanding than they are today.

Okay, we had porridge for breakfast during the winter. This was prepared the night before and made with milk and oats and left to cool.

In the morning we skimmed off the ‘skin’ on the top and reheated it, not in a microwave, which were unheard of then, but on the Jubilee range which was kept alight 24/7.

The porridge was washed down with a cup of tea and a slice of toast, initially made by holding the slice of bread impaled on a long-handled fork in front of the opened ‘door’ of the Jubilee.

We were happy to have the bread toasted on one side only and what a treat it was when we got out first electric toaster as we could have two-sided toast.

In spring and summertime cornflakes were the order of the morning. There were no other cereals to chose from. We covered them with milk and sugar and if you were the first out of bed you got the cream from the top of the milk bottle.

One of my neighbours had a liking for cornflakes covered with milky tea and sugar.

Only on a Sunday did we have a ‘fry-up’, the highlight of which were Castlebar (Barcastle) sausages, the signature produce of the local bacon factory of which my grandfather, T. H. Gillespie, was a founder member and secretary for many years.

The original recipe for these ‘bangers’ was unique and it is a pity they are not still available today.

They were always pan-fried and the skin on the sausages often split while cooking and some of the sausage meat would ooze out. The trick then was to turn this section of the sausage on the heat and fry until the escaped filling crisped - not like Donnelly Sausages that were ‘wrapped for double protection’.

Today, I am not much of a sausage lover as the fillings do not excite me. However, now and again I treat myself to the mouth-watering Jack & Eddie’s sausages, which are produced on the O'Malley family farm which has been in existence for five generations.

Jack is fifth generation and Eddie, Jack's dad, is fourth generation. The farm is nestled in the hills between Westport and Leenane.

Jack and Eddie use a secret family recipe for their sausages and a traditional cure for rashers from only the best cuts of pork - no white gunge guaranteed.

The Sunday sausages were accompanied by ‘proper’ rashers - not the type we often get today that ooze that white gunge.

Sunday breakfast was not served until we returned from Mass as you had to be fasting from midnight then in order to receive Communion.

On the way home from church we got the smell of frying rashers wafting from every house.

In those days, in the 1950s and ‘60s, we had our dinner at one o’clock and tea in the evening. The dinner menu depended on the day of the week - chicken on Sunday, bacon Monday, chops Tuesday, etcetera, with fish on Friday. Offal was common - stuffed beef or sheep hearts, ox tongue or lamb’s liver with onions.

We resided in Marian Row in Castlebar and thankfully we had a fine garden at the rear which produced the finest of potatoes and vegetables. We did grow rhubarb but I never liked the bitter taste and still detest it today.

Beside it was a bed of beetroot, one of my favourites to this day. My two sisters and I loved to eat it once it cooled after boiling. The secret is not to puncture the skin or the boiling water will become a vivid red. We three had a contest after eating the beetroot as to who would ‘pee red' first!

My father, Dick, and uncle Denny Fahey were keen anglers and during the season fine Carra, Mask, Conn and Cullin trout were often on the menu.

Sunday for me meant a day on the lake with Dick or Denny and how proud I felt when I returned with a trout for two.

I remember one occasion when my grandmother, Sarah Fahey, cooked some lovely mackerel for our tea. We lovingly eat them up only to discover they were meant to be pike bait for my father the next day.

In the shooting season - November to the end of January - a cock pheasant or wild duck often graced our table, compliments of Denny.

Denny was a crack shot and during the Second World War years, I was told, he earned half-a-crown for a brace of rabbits from the bacon factory, which were then exported.

As I grew up rabbits and hares were often cooked and hare soup was spectacular.

After school a fine treat was a raspberry jam sandwich as we listened to the radio.

Tea time would often see scrambled eggs or beans on toast served up, nothing too exciting. At this time of the evening we could be in any of the neighbours houses where we would all tuck into the same fair.

Home baking was normal then and my mother’s brown bread was special - thankfully it is still a daily treat in my household.

I remember other specials from my mother’s kitchen, upside-down cakes and, at Easter, hot-cross buns.