History

Boxty originated in the Irish midlands in the 1800s as a way to extend the potato through famine winters; the dish was a hybrid of grated raw potato, mashed potato and flour cooked on a griddle. The Dublin signature came in 1989 when Pádraic Óg Gallagher opened Gallagher's Boxty House in Temple Bar, formalising the savoury filled boxty as a restaurant plate. Today every Temple Bar tourist room serves a version; the canonical fillings are beef and Guinness, smoked salmon, or chicken with mushroom cream. The Irish proverb says 'boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan, if you can't make boxty, you'll never get a man.'

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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), half boiled and mashed, half grated raw
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 300ml buttermilk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 50g butter for the pan
  • Filling: 300g cooked beef in Guinness gravy, or smoked salmon and cream cheese, or sautéed mushrooms

Method

  1. Squeeze the grated raw potato in a clean tea towel to remove as much liquid as possible. Combine with the mashed potato in a large bowl.
  2. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix to a soft dough.
  3. Whisk the buttermilk with the egg and pour into the well. Stir to a thick batter, like American pancake batter.
  4. Heat a large non-stick pan over medium heat with a knob of butter. Ladle two tablespoons of batter per pancake.
  5. Cook for 3 minutes until the underside is golden and the surface bubbles. Flip and cook another 2 minutes.
  6. Keep warm in a low oven while you cook the rest, using fresh butter between batches.
  7. Fold each warm pancake around a heaped tablespoon of the filling and serve immediately.

Tip from the editors. The grated raw potato must be properly dried or the pancake goes soggy; squeeze it twice in the tea towel.

Where to eat boxty pancake

Boxty pancake in Dublin

Gallagher's Boxty House ★ 4.2

€€ IrishTemple Bar

Gallagher's Boxty House on Temple Bar in Dublin, Pádraic Óg Gallagher's three-room canon of boxty, coddle and smoked salmon, the boxty reference in town.

OrderThe boxty pancake stuffed with beef and Guinness, with a half pint of stout.

TipThe middle dining room is the calm one; the front bar fills with traffic from Temple Bar Square after 19:00.

Directions

The Brazen Head ★ 4.4

€€€ Cocktail barTraditional pubThe Liberties

The Brazen Head on Bridge Street Lower in Dublin 8, established 1198 as Ireland's oldest pub, the present 1754 coaching inn serves Irish stew and trad.

DrinkGuinness with an Irish stew

FoodFull Irish pub kitchen, food to 21:00

TipFood served until 21:00 daily; nightly trad music sessions from 21:00. The back snug holds eight; the courtyard runs summer only.

Directions

Spitalfields ★ 4.5

€€ Modern IrishThe Liberties

Spitalfields on The Coombe in Dublin's Liberties, a Michelin Bib Gourmand pub-set kitchen serving the city's most considered classical Irish menu.

OrderThe seasonal stew with soda bread, and the coddle when it lands on the daily card.

TipTuesday to Saturday dinner only, 17:00-21:00. Walk through the public bar and ask for the back dining room.

Directions

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