Cape Breton's Magazine

How to Make Ceann Groppi Norman John MacAskill provided us with enormous codheads and livers, and Sadie Mac? Donald of Skir Dhu showed us how to make Ceann Groppi. Sadie's husband, Neil R., told us: "It would be hard to tell you how old I was when I first ate Ceann Groppi. They used to start making them in July. Well, the liver is no good until August. From then on up to Christmas. Stronger. I would eat it two and three times a day. The same day. I did that not so very long ago. This summer. You get up in the morn? ing, make a cup of tea and bread and Ceann Groppi boy • you talk about your feed," Neil R, said he never heard of any songs or stories or even jokes about Ceann Grop? pi. "All they did was cook them and eat them, and they were only too glad to have them to eat," To make Ceann Groppi, you'll need 4 or 5 cod livers and a good-sized head (one about the size of a tea kettle, though any head will do) • heads and livers, that's all you will need from the sea, Sadie said: "You want the livers as fresh as you can possi? bly get them. Get them right away and put them in the fridge in water, a little salt with the water. ITiat'll keep them overnight. I wouldn't hold them longer than that. Tliey'd get soft. They'll fall apart in your hands. You can't do anything with them." Put a large pot of fresh water on to boil. Take the head to the sink and wash it. You want to get all the blood out. Clean around the mouth and inside the mouth. Just open the mouth under the faucet and let cold water run through. Carefully wash the gills. Then take the livers separately and wash them in cold water. Drain the water off them and leave them in a large bowl or pan. You'll find them slippery. Rinse them again in cold water and inspect them. Sadie normally cuts away anything that doesn't look just right to her • especially any little greenish patch you sometimes find. Anything hard or discolored. Occasionally uou find a little brown spot just under the skin of the liver. "Perhaps there's no harm in them but I always pick them out." Then Sadie began to squeeze the livers in the palm of her hand, to get the veins out of them. You do this one liver at a time, squeezing it in your fist, the liver coming out between your fingers leaving the stringy matter behind in the palm of your hand. VJhen you've finished that, mash them further so they won't be lumpy. The livers will look like a kind of porridge. JOj/nwood BADDECK, NOVA SCOTIA ART ANTIQUES HANDCRAFTS WOOLENS Moore's Electric Co. Ltd. The Famous Zenith Chromacolor TV is Sold and Serviced Here 67 Stanley St & Phone 794-4707 Commercial St Phone 794-3711 NORTH SYDNEY Cape Breton* 8 Magazine/12 *''''"""* '"""'" '"'' ''' ' a

Cape Breton's Magazine