Summer Soap, Part 10: An encounter, a kiss.. and a taste of heaven

This year's summer soap, The Lost Recipe, is a summer mystery with a romantic subplot and an underlying theme of food - and involves a search for a long-lost recipe. It was written by Emma Tirlot from the MA in Creative Writing Programme at UCC. Catch up with previous episodes at echolive.ie

In the final episode, an emotional meeting - plus, we run the long-lost recipe in full for you to try at home!

Chapter 10: Kelly’s Famous Currant Buns

I make my way to Fionn’s office. It’s a late afternoon in August and the campus is deserted. My steps echo into the empty building; my heart hammers in my chest. In total, there were eight missed calls from Fionn.

I slow my pace when I recognise the hallway. A plate reads Dr McDonough next to his door cracked open. Fionn sits at his desk, raking a hand through dishevelled hair. Realising I’d been holding my respiration, I take a long, deep breath.

I knock softly on the door. “Losing track of time again, Dr McDonough?”

I startle him so much that he drops his pen, wide eyes whipping towards me.

I wince. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you… Well, I guess I should’ve thought of that earlier, considering the gloomy building…” I trail off.

“Claire?” Fionn slowly stands up, “What… what are you doing here?”

“Well”, my eyes trail over the brimming bookshelf behind him before jumping back to him, “you didn’t answer the phone. And then I tried your place, but you weren’t there, so... I thought I’d try campus.” I slowly step towards his desk. “Sorry I missed your calls.”

He rubs the back of his neck. “I assumed you were on a plane back to France.”

I offer him small smile. “Slight change of plan.”

He tilts his head in a frown and my heart leaps. “We tried a new ingredient,” I blurt out.

His eyebrows shoot up, “The recipe! Hold on...”

He digs a folder out of his messenger bag. “Here, I thought you’d like to know.”

He rounds the desk to meet me and hands me a single page. My eyes fly over the document. It’s a scan of an old handwritten recipe. My eyes widen. Of course. He found it.

That’s why he called. “Oh...” I can’t believe I trusted Margaret when she said he called because he wanted to see me.

I tear my eyes away from the recipe to face Fionn. He frowns.

I shake my head, “sorry, uh, I...” I inhale, “How did you find this?”

“The second bakery. The Gallaghers went into business again, without the Kellys. A tiny business that only lasted a couple years, on the north side of Cork city.” He smiles softly. “They would sell their bread through the window.”

I look up into his eyes, but no coherent sentence forms in my mind.

“Claire. I never wanted this to add to the weight on your shoulders,” he nods at the recipe in my hands. “I’m really sorry. About the way we ended that night.”

“No, I was freaking out; I was just...” My throat tightens.

“I know,” he says, searching my eyes.

I continue. “I’m the one that’s sorry I shut you down like that,” I look down at my hands clutching the paper. “Thank-you so much for this”. I skim over the page once more. There’s a little blurb above the recipe. There it is.

Soak the currants in Beamish overnight.

I gasp and I can’t stop the grin slowly splitting my face, “The currents are soaking!” I claim.

Fionn frowns, visibly confused.

“I was right! Stout!”

A smile tugs at the corner of his lips now. My heart trips over itself.

I clear my throat but only a whisper comes out. “They soaked the currants in stout overnight. That gave the buns the distinct taste Margaret remembers so well. We’re soaking the currants, right now. I mean...” I nod towards the door, “at Margaret’s.”

He smiles. His eyes drop to my lips and he says quietly. “Oh, so you didn’t need my help after all.”

I shrug. “I’m really glad I did though.”

Fionn reaches for my hand and I squeeze. I step closer until I feel his breath on my cheek. Closing the distance between us, I meet his lips. The world around us dissolves.

“What are we gonna do?” Fionn whispers, wrapping his arms around me.

I have no idea. I smile softly and bury my face in his neck.

“We’ll figure it out,” I say.

******

I have just placed the buns in the oven when the bells rings. I rush down the hall to open the front door and smile at Fionn. He smiles back, holding a dense file in his hands.

In the kitchen, Fionn greets Margaret. She’s eyeing the folder with curiosity.

“Mrs Kelly,” Fionn continues, “here is everything I found about the bakery, I thought you might like to have it. There are some pictures that I don’t think you have.”

Margaret slowly sits at the table, putting her weight on her cane. Fionn joins her, placing the folder between them. She hesitates at first, peering at the folder like it’s a bomb threatening to go off. But then she draws it towards herself and opens it. Fionn looks up at me and smiles.

As I set the breakfast down, Fionn explains what he found to Margaret. I can’t help but stare at Margaret’s face to see her reactions when he tells her about the second bakery, the one the Gallaghers opened. She never knew about it, since the two families never rekindled after The Burning. Well, at least in the official version of the story.

What Margaret didn’t know was that her aunt Rosa and Mairéad, Catherine’s great grandmother, kept in touch after The Burning. Those proofs had disappeared on the Kellys side, but Mairéad had kept notes, letters even, from Rosa. Most importantly, she had kept the recipe Rosa had jotted down for her. The recipe!

Catherine’s cousin in Kerry had kept the archives with loads of pictures when his grandfather passed away.

Margaret is listening eagerly, her eyes scouring the pictures. So much for not bringing up the past.

“How did you find all these?” She asks. “I spent a long time searching for pieces of the puzzle in my youth.”

“It’s his job, Margaret.” I chime in, setting plates down.

“Speaking of which, Fionn,” Margaret says, “I’m going to need a skilled researcher to put some order into my family’s archives.”

My eyebrows shoot upwards, and a bright smile radiates Fionn’s face.

“It would be my pleasure,” he beams, “we can get started when I get back from France, in September.”

******

The three of us sit at the wide kitchen table with a pile of perfectly baked currant buns in front of us.

“So, how does it feel, eating a 100-year-old recipe?” I tease, proud of the way they turned out.

“Like living history,” Fionn says.

I chortle and we exchange playful smiles. Margaret has been silent ever since she picked up a bun, slowly spreading butter on the second half of the pastry.

“You did it, Claire,” she closes her eyes for a moment, “I cannot believe that escaped me.”

“You were only a little girl the last time you tried them,” I argue, “how could you have known there was stout in in?”

She examines the bun in her hand. “Well, it looks terribly obvious now.” She sighs. “That’s what I get for pushing away my roots for so long.”

“Well,” Fionn says, “it’s never too late to find them again.”

Kelly’s Famous Currant Buns: The recipe

The night before

150g dried currants

100ml Beamish (or another stout, but don’t tell Margaret)

Soak the currants overnight (or at least 5 hours) in Beamish

Ingredients (for 10-12 buns)

500g strong white flour

7g fast action dried yeast

50g castor sugar

1tbsp salt

75g soft butter

1 egg

250ml lukewarm milk

2 tbsp of Beamish (optional)

1 tbsp treacle

The drained stout-soaked currants

Drain well, lightly pat them with a paper towel.

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, sugar, salt). Claire and Margaret’s tip: Keep the salt away from the yeast initially.

2. Add the wet ingredients (milk, egg, butter, treacle, stout). You should obtain a messy, rough texture.

3. Knead for 8 to 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic. Claire and Margaret’s tip: Beat the dough if too sticky! Or add flour (very little amount at a time).

4. Flatten the dough, scatter the currants over it and fold them into the dough.

5. First rise: Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and rise 1h to 1h30 in a warm place; the dough should double in size. Claire and Margaret’s tip: You can place the dough inside the oven, with only the oven light on, which produces just enough warmth for the dough to rise.

6. Gently divide the dough into 10-12 equal pieces and shape the buns.

7. Place on a tray, greased or over parchment paper. Cover loosely and let rise once more for 30 to 45 minutes in a warm place.

8. Bake at 180C for 15-18 minutes, until golden.

9. Optional: brush the buns with warm milk to give them a shiny finish.