How to Eat Like a Hobbit in Seven Steps: Dinner - Kitchen Overlord - Your Home for Geeky Cookbooks and Recipes! (2024)

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Written by Chris-Rachael Oseland in An Unexpected Cookbook: Hobbit Recipes, Books, Recipes and Tasty Goodness

It’s no surprise potatoes are one of the only three new world crops Tolkien couldn’t bear to ban from the Shire. (He also let them keep coffee and tobacco.) Sure, parsnips and turnips were more nutritious English root vegetables, but nothing can replace the cheap versatility of the simple potato.

Boxty was a thick, family sized potato cake cooked in bacon grease and topped with the cooked bacon. Depending on what else you were doing in your kitchen, it could either be fried on a griddle or baked in a pan. The griddled version makes for a lovely, decadent presentation. You can slice it into quarters as a thrifty main dish or cut it into thinner slices to serve a crowd. Either way, it’s one more reason to be grateful Tolkien made an exception to his strict rules about what was eaten in the Shire.

Boxty on the Griddle

1 lb / 450 g bacon
2 c / 500g potatoes, peeled and grated
2 c / 500g mashed potatoes
1 ½ c / 225g flour
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp baking powder
1 ¼ c / 300ml whole milk
¼ c / 55g melted butter
2 tbsp butter (for frying)

Grab your largest skillet and fry up an entire pound of bacon until crispy. This should leave you with a pan full of delicious juices. Set the bacon aside.

While the bacon is frying, peel and grate the raw potatoes until you have 2 cups of of shreds. Soak them in cold water for five minutes to wash away the excess starch. Drain the potatoes then refresh them in more cold water.

Mix your flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder in a large bowl. Once those are well blended, add your mashed potatoes, whole milk, and melted butter. Keep mixing until you have a thick, pancake-like batter. Strain the shredded potatoes and add them to the party, mixing just enough to evenly distribute them in the batter.

The next part requires patience. To make one large, family style boxty, you need slow, low, steady heat. Leave your bacon grease filled skillet at a steady medium, no hotter. Pour the batter in and spread it around the skillet until you have a single, giant pancake, no more than ½ inch / 1.25 cm thick. If you have any leftover batter, get out a second skillet and make some baby boxty’s fried in butter.

Let the bix boxty cook for about ten minutes. You can use a spatula to peek under the edge in order to make sure it isn’t burning, but do your best to just leave it in peace. Once the underside is a nice, golden brown, carefully slide it out onto a plate.

Add the last 2 tbsp of butter to the pan and let it melt. Now carefully, quickly, put the buttered pan on top of your plate and flip it over so the raw batter side goes splat down onto the hot skillet.

Put the boxty back on the medium heat and let it continue cooking for another 10 minutes, or until golden brown on both sides.

Slide your glorious disc of boxty onto a large plate. Remember all that bacon you fried? Tear it into small pieces and pile them on top of the boxty. If you’re making oxtails for people who are averse to seeing bones on a plate, you can also pull all the meat off the oxtails and pile it on top of the boxty then serve it with oxtail gravy on the side.

VEGAN VARIATION

Purists will say you can’t have a proper boxty without bacon. However, in lean times families might cut the bacon in half or even down to a quarter the usual quantity. Think of the vegan variation as being extra thrifty.

Substitute 2 tbsp of your favorite vegan cooking oil for the bacon grease and an equal quantity of oil for the butter. You can also substitute in your favorite non dairy substitute for the whole milk, but try to get one that actually has some fat. To enhance the flavor, add 1 heaping tsp each of onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper into the flour mix. You don’t want to add any herbs because the long cooking time and griddle method could cause any in the crust to burn.

GLUTEN FREE VARIATION

Substitute chickpea flour for the wheat flour. The flavors play nicely together.

Need more Hobbity goodness in your life?

Preview more recipes from An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery, available now!

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How to Eat Like a Hobbit in Seven Steps: Dinner - Kitchen Overlord - Your Home for Geeky Cookbooks and Recipes! (2024)

FAQs

What does a hobbit eat in a day? ›

A Hobbit's Daily Menu
MealTime of DayComponents
Elevenses11:00 AMCoffee, tea, pastries, toast
Lunch1:00 PMEggs, cheese, salad, cold meats
Afternoon Tea3:00 PMTea, scones, jams, clotted cream
Dinner6:00 PMBaked meats, vegetables, soups, fish, game
3 more rows
Mar 12, 2024

What is a hobbit's favorite food? ›

Traditional Hobbit Meals
  • Mini quiche made with cheese, bacon, or vegetables.
  • Honey nut cake and marmalade.
  • Hobbit hash (potatoes, leeks, spinach, and cheese)
  • Ham omelet made with curry spices, onions, and tomatoes.
  • Biscuits topped with black pudding, eggs, and a smothering of gravy.

Do hobbits have second breakfast? ›

After all, hobbits may be small, but they sure can eat. They take seven meals daily: breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. (Bilbo particularly loves his second breakfast.)

What do hobbits love? ›

Hobbits were fond of an unadventurous bucolic life of farming, eating, and socializing. According to Jackson's trilogy, they enjoyed seven meals a day, when they could get them: breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and, later in the evening, supper.

What bread do hobbits eat? ›

Lembas bread, the magical Elven food, sustains the Fellowship on their arduous journey. Here's what Tolkien tells us about lembas: "the food was mostly in the form of very thin cakes, made of meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the colour of cream."

Is eating like a hobbit healthy? ›

Eating like a Hobbit can have many benefits. It can help you stimulate your metabolism and give you energy, it works great for me. However, it is not for everyone, you know your body more than anyone else and should decide accordingly.

What do hobbits do all day? ›

In his writings, Tolkien depicted hobbits as fond of an unadventurous, bucolic and simple life of farming, eating, and socializing, although capable of defending their homes courageously if the need arises. They would enjoy six meals a day, if they could get them.

How many meals should you eat a day? ›

The Theory: Nutrition experts tend to recommend eating 3 balanced meals (350 to 600 calories each) and 1 to 3 snacks per day (between 150 and 200 calories each). The calories for each meal and snack depend on a variety of factors including, height, weight, age, gender and activity level.

What was Tolkien's favorite food? ›

I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humor (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome).” Years later, the Brooklyn Tolkien Society would plan their menus around fresh mushrooms, in solidarity with both hobbits and their creator.

What do Hobbits drink? ›

We know the beer at the Green Dragon is brown. Hobbits also like to drink a fair quantity of ale, so something sessionable would be preferred. A lower alcohol, homely and simple, brown beer? It's got to be mild; with its malty, sweet flavour and just a hint of earthy hops.

What to eat for elevenses? ›

Elevenses, eaten at 11:00 as the name suggests, typically consists of tea or coffee, often with a few biscuits. Sometimes, cake or other snacks are eaten instead.

Do Hobbits have clocks? ›

Clocks were considered a sign of comfort in Hobbit life, and apparently found in every hobbit hole. Bilbo Baggins kept a clock on the mantelpiece above his fireplace which he and others often placed letters. Despite the ingenious nature of the technology it has apparently not moved beyond the Shire.

What do hobbits fear? ›

Hobbits from Hobbiton fear water, as none of them can swim, and the Old Forest is strange and frightening, its trees seeming almost predatory. To protect against these dangers, the Bucklanders built a hedge and keep their doors locked at night, which is unheard of in Hobbiton.

How to act like a hobbit? ›

Hobbits were content to keep to themselves, eat good food, drink good ale, and live quiet, unassuming lives. However, among those Hobbits lived a few – Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took and others who left the peaceful world of the Shire to have adventures in the world beyond.

How to be more hobbit? ›

Do something inconvenient for the sake of another | This really is at the heart of what it means to be a Hobbit. Throughout all of their tales, Hobbits go out of their way to support and care for one another. If you have an elderly neighbor or know someone who is struggling right now, ask them how you can help.

What is the daily life of a hobbit? ›

In his writings, Tolkien depicted hobbits as fond of an unadventurous, bucolic and simple life of farming, eating, and socializing, although capable of defending their homes courageously if the need arises. They would enjoy six meals a day, if they could get them.

How many calories do hobbits eat a day? ›

Tolkien never mentioned calories. But they do eat at least six meals a day (and seven when they can) on average days. And substantial meals at that. And yet, in hard times, the interesting thing is that they can get by on very little.

Do hobbits have big appetites? ›

While Merry and Pippin's insistence on eating as much as they can is usually seen as a goofy acknowledgment of a Hobbit's inherent lazy nature, it's actually potentially a defining element of the Halfling race that they need to eat multiple versions of breakfast every morning to stay healthy.

What did Bilbo eat? ›

In "The Lord of the Rings," Bilbo is also known for his love of wine and is said to have a well-stocked wine cellar in his home in the Shire. Additionally, he is known to enjoy hearty meals such as roasted meats, potatoes, and vegetables.

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