When you have a Welsh cookbook, free time and some of the right ingredients…

Dave Faries here, observing that 2025 will mark my 25th year as a food writer. And, yes, that does mean that I enjoy cooking—with a caveat.

You see, while I can season and sear, braise and (sometimes) bake, I’m not much on reading recipes with much care, or measuring ingredients, for that matter. So it’s always a bit of an adventure with me in the kitchen. And given that the holiday season is a time when many of us experiment from scratch a bit more, it seemed like a good idea to stray from my culinary norms of Asian or Southern. There is nothing like bo zai fan with a side of hushpuppies.

Recently I wrote about a Carmel woman, Olivia Romano Morgan, and her cookbook Green Dragon Pie: The Cuisine and Culture of Wales. Granted, “Come over on Saturday, I’m cooking Welsh food” is an invitation you are unlikely to hear. But we have a copy of the cookbook in the office and my mom’s side of the family is from Wales. Predictably, her father was a miner in Missouri with the last name of Thomas. Although there are other Welsh surnames, one can be forgiven for thinking everyone there is a Thomas or a Jones. (The cookbook author’s father was from Italy—hence Romano—but she is Welsh, born and raised.)

One recipe stood out because, well, bacon, beef, beer. It is a stew with a Guinness broth and bacon-studden dumplings. I did glance at the list of ingredients because I needed to shop for some items. Really, who keeps parsley on hand? Otherwise, I just started chopping and browning and making dough for the dumplings.

Admittedly, mistakes were made. There is a difference between the flour in my pantry and the self-rising flour specified in the recipe.

Like I said, a bit of an adventure. Sure, a quick trip to Andronico’s might have been an option. But realistically, with a day of college football playoffs on television, the only choice was to shrug at the miniature dumplings dotting the big roasting pan full of stew.

Yes, roasting pan. While browning the meat I noticed that my largest pot had rubber on the handles—and on the lid, as well; so the directive “cover with lid” before popping everything into the oven wasn’t going to happen.

Fortunately, I had picked a recipe that is very forgiving. The stew was rich and hearty, with tender chunks of meat in a broth with a bittersweet streak, the dumplings swaying between smoky and floral…also dense, and probably more intense in flavor because they had not been offered the luxury of rising. Oh well, it was still worthwhile.

Next time I’m going to attempt the coal miner’s pasties. Any recipe calling for a stick of butter is bound to be good.

If you have some downtime for the holidays—the Weekly’s office is closed today—maybe invite some friends over for a taste of Wales. It will likely be a first.

P.S. Do you have a favorite seasonal recipe or family recipe to share? For inspiration, the Weekly team shared a few in 2022, and in 2021 ran an entire cover story dedicated to the stories of family recipes. Sometimes, the story is even better than the food.