Why Bray the Broth?

 One day, I observed my mother adding a table-spoon of vinegar to the chicken stew simmering on the cooker.

"What!" I exclaimed, "You are adding vinegar to the chicken stew!"

I did not think I would like the flavour of vinegar on the broth.

Mother explained that she was "Braying the broth." The vinegar would not add a vinegar flavour to the broth, but would not be noticeable at all. The purpose of adding vinegar was to draw the nutrients out of the bones.

She did not know where the word "bray" came from, or whether it had anything to do with Bray, the seaside town in County Wicklow.

Included in the broth were the neck and internal organs of the bird: heart, gizzard, liver and kidneys, as well as "the Pope's Nose," a soft and fatty element from the tail end. The whole bird was cooked and all its nutrients extracted, including what was in the bones.

What was in the bones? Well, maybe there was calcium, but it appears that what was present then, and missing from our present diet, which neglects to bray the bones (as well as neglecting to incorporate the nutritious organs), was Chondroitin, or bone sinew, which we now take as a supplement (along with glucosamine) to ward off arthritis.

Perhaps the traditional practice, where every bit of the chicken (except the bones) was eaten, was healthier than our present practice in Ireland, where more breasts are eaten than anything else, and the wings and legs often exported.

The organs distributed according to whose turn it was, with as certain amount of "bagsing." To indicate your preference for a particular rare portion of the bird, or any other shareable resource, you would say, "I bags a leg (or whatever)," and then, if there was no outstanding claim to that part (due, for example to it being someone else's turn), your claim would have priority, also, of course, subject to any different scheme for dividing the bird, (such as breaking the leg-meat into small strips).

Whole chickens at that time were sold in two types: boiling chickens and roasting chickens. The boiling chickens were an older (and usually larger) bird than the roasting chickens. It was this that we generally had, for it was cheaper and could feed the  whole family.

Into the pot with the chicken went onions and carrots, and, sometimes celery, as well as pepper and salt to taste. The broth was clear and tasty, but a lot of the flavour was sucked out of the meat and into the broth. When, occasionally, we had roast chicken, it was a treat to have the more flavoursome meat.

We had stewed chicken about once a week. We also had stewed rabbit, on Thursday. The chickens could be bought at any butcher, but the rabbits were always bought in Lyons of Connaught Street.

Lyons was in a building that was once an out-house adjoining a line of  shops beside the railway bridge that divided Phibsborough from Cabra, and had a clientele from both sides of the bridge. The three shops, purpose built, on the bridge were O'Gorman's (Grocery), O'Brien's (Newsagent and Sweet-shop) and Fahy's (Grocery and Delicatessen). All of these shops were long since converted back to houses, when supermarkets came into vogue and the small shops lost custom.

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