Boxty

Boxty comes from the north midlands and border counties - Leitrim, Cavan, Longford, Fermanagh, Roscommon - and what distinguishes it from other potato cakes is the raw potato. Grated raw potato is squeezed of its liquid, the starch settled out of that liquid and returned, and the mixture combined with mashed potato, flour and buttermilk, which gives a texture quite unlike a plain mash cake: denser, slightly gluey in a good way, and greyish rather than golden. It is cooked as a pan pancake, a boiled dumpling or a loaf baked in the oven, depending on locality. The old rhyme - boxty on the griddle, boxty on the pan, if you can't make boxty you'll never get a man - was a real domestic test. It is not on menus nationwide, and finding it usually means the border counties or a restaurant that has made a point of it, most famously Gallagher's in Temple Bar.

Highlights

• The raw grated potato - what separates boxty from ordinary potato cakes.
• The three forms - pan pancake, boiled dumpling and baked loaf.
• The border geography - Leitrim, Cavan, Longford and Fermanagh.
• The rhyme - the domestic test the dish carried.

When to go

Any time. It is a regional dish, so the north midlands and border counties are where it is normal rather than a speciality. Some Dublin restaurants have built menus around it.

Good to know

Not found nationwide - outside the border counties it is a restaurant speciality rather than everyday food. The texture is dense and divides people. Quality varies enormously with how much raw potato is used.

Nearby

Leitrim, Cavan and Longford are the heartland; Gallagher's Boxty House in Dublin's Temple Bar is the best-known city option.