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Ireland: Porter Cake (March 13, 2008)

Porter was (and is) a style of dark beer which began to be brewed in England and Ireland in the mid-1700's. The stout style now exemplified by Guinness was closely linked to it: indeed, Guinness was originally marketed as a porter before having its name changed to "Extra Stout". The only porter being brewed in Ireland now, however, is the "Plain" porter (as in the famous line from Flann O' Brien's "The Workman's Friend", A pint of plain is your only man) that comes from the Porterhouse group of brewpubs in Dublin. (For more information about the intertwined history of porter and stout, see the Porter pages at Wikipedia and the BeerAdvocate website.)

Somewhere along the line in the 1800's, it occurred to somebody in Ireland that porter would make a good addition to the robust dark flavor of the standard fruitcake: and so porter cake was born. It usually contains, at the very least, raisins or sultanas (golden raisins): often dried candied peel (orange peel, lemon peel, candied pineapple, etc.), and sometimes even glacé cherries, come into the recipe as well. All the alcohol in the porter is of course driven off during the long baking period, resulting in a darkly rich-tasting cake which is another great standby for those who like to wheel out a well-loaded tea trolley.

This cake keeps very well if stored in a cake tin.

Click "read more" for the recipe.

Germany: Oktoberfest, 2007

The interior of the Loewenbraeu tent this morning. Click for a live image

"It's tapped!" That's what they were shouting in September 2007 in the Theresienwiese, "Queen Therese's Meadow", when the ceremonial first barrel of beer was tapped by the Mayor of the City of Munich, officially opening the 174th Oktoberfest.

Over the course of Oktoberfest 2007, more than ten million liters of beer were drunk by the visitors from all over the world who came to the "Wies'n" to visit the fourteen massive tents housing the Big Six breweries and other food and entertainment facilities, to ride the thrill rides, to eat roast oxen and roast chicken and charcoal-grilled mackerel and soft pretzels and decorated gingerbread, and generally to have a great time.

You may not have been able to get to the tents yourself, but wherever you are, if you're reading this it's easy for you to visit our extensive German recipe collections. Stop in and make a little Oktoberfest for yourself right at home!

You can also find out more about Oktoberfest here at the Oktoberfest.de FAQ page.

(Also: The article from German news magazine Der Spiegel about the big business aspects of Oktoberfest is an interesting read.)

Germany: Oktoberfest 2006 is over...

Click here to see a live webcam image of the bandstand in the HB beer tent ...but the city of Munich is still full of happy visitors eating and drinking.

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