Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Although the potato famine in Ireland killed nearly half of the country’s population, a lot of the Irish cuisine still revolves around the potato.
Many homes in Ireland still have their own potato patch. Even though Roger Guiney doesn’t live in Ireland anymore, he continues this tradition with potato plants tucked in his garden at Elberton.
Roger, now a retired Garfield school teacher, has lived in Elberton with his wife, Linda, for the past 12 years.
He grew up in Ireland and can still recall as a boy wandering back into the practically uninhabited nooks of the country and finding potato furrows from the days of the famine.
Roger explained the way potatoes are planted in Ireland. Barnyard manure is laid down six months before planting. Then two strips of sod are plowed to form a teepee shape and the potato starts are planted between the two strips. To keep the weeds down, a 250-pound rock known as a furrow stone is pulled down the furrows. One pass would kill almost all the weeds, Roger noted. The soil from the furrows is used to mound around the potatoes as they grow.
When the blight that caused the potato famine hit, the Irish thought if they planted potatoes away from the normal sites, those potatoes would be safe. They didn’t know the blight was airborne. Now, 100 years later, those un-harvested furrows can still be found.
As a boy, Roger was always fascinated with America. When he was 13, his uncle and aunt brought him to the United States, to Prescott, where he graduated from high school.
Roger attended Yakima Valley College and then Eastern Washington University where he earned a degree in teaching. In the fall of 1972 he became a teacher at Garfield Elementary and over the next 29 years worked his way up to the middle school. For the first half of his career he taught elementary and for the second half he taught P.E. and shop. He met his wife, Linda, after moving to Garfield.
As a “utility teacher,” Roger did just about everything the school asked.
“They’d say, ‘We know you can do this,’” he recalled.
That included coaching. During his second or third year, Roger was called to the superintendent’s office where the superintendent told Roger he looked like a volleyball coach. Roger replied that he did not have a lot of knowledge about volleyball, but the superintendent said he was confident Roger would learn.
“I did,” Roger said. He also coached most other sports, except football and baseball.
He said he was lucky he had training in college for teaching physical education. He also had assistance and help from other coaches around the area.
Roger didn’t slow down any after retirement.
“I find more things to do than I have time to do it,” he said. He works in his shop, around the house and in the garden around their Elberton home.
They moved to Elberton about 12 years ago. He used to rent a place in “downtown” Elberton and now owns a home not far from his former residence. He has remodeled parts of the house and has done a lot of landscaping.
“I’m always planting something,” he said. From roses to vegetables, Roger maintains a variety of horticulture in his terraced garden. He often buys plants on sale and then nourishes them back to health before finding them a permanent location.
Roger returns to Ireland every summer for a month or two to visit family.
“I left a different Ireland than it is now,” he noted.
Linda has relatives in England, and she sometimes goes back with him. He brings bits of home back with him, including an Irish tea which is popular among his friends and neighbors. Every once in a while someone asks him for an Irish recipe.
“Like everything else, you get your recipes out of cookbooks,” he said, showing three cookbooks with traditional Irish cooking and recipes.
Occasionally Roger prepares an Irish dish at home, including a mashed potato recipe his mother used to make regularly.
“Took me a long time to figure out how she did it,” he said. To make it, first peel and boil the potatoes. While the potatoes are boiling, chop an onion. The ratio is five potatoes to one onion. After the potatoes are boiled, quickly dump out the water and put the chopped onion in the steaming pot and mash together. Let the dish steam for a while so the steam will cook the onion. Add some sour cream and mash again before serving.
Other popular items for Irish cooking are lamb, leeks and turnips. One of Roger’s cookbooks recommended using old floury potatoes as they break down easier.
Irish Stew
2 1/2 lb. boned mutton
4 lg. potatoes
2 lg. onion
3-4 med. Carrots
Sprig of parsley
2 cups water
Salt and pepper
Cut meat into good sized chunks. Peel vegetables and slice thinly. Chop parsley. Choose a pot with well-fitting lid and put in ingredients in layers, starting and finishing with potatoes. Pour in water and season to taste. Cover and put on very low heat about 2 1/2 hours until meat tender and potatoes have thickened the liquid. Dish may be made with lamb which requires only 1 1/2 hours cooking.
Salmon and leek soup
10 oz. salmon
3 medium leeks, thinly sliced
4 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. flour
1 glass white wine
5 cups fish or light chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
4-5 leaves fresh tarragon or pinch dried chervil
Salt and black pepper
Lemon slices to garnish
Melt butter in large saucepan, add tarragon and leeks. Cover and cook gently, about 5-6 minutes until softened but still retain a good green color.
While leeks are cooking, bring stock to a boil and gently poach the salmon for 4-5 minutes, until just cooked. Lift out and carefully remove the bones and skin. Break gently into flakes and set aside.
Pour wine into saucepan with the leeks and bubble hard for a minute or two to concentrate flavor. Add flour, stirring well to cook a little, gradually add the hot stock, stirring until the soup has thickened slightly. When ready to serve, reheat the soup, add the flaked salmon, allow a few minutes for salmon to heat up, and serve immediately. Garnish with lemon wedges.
Jana Mathia is a reporter at the Whitman County Gazette.
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