Campfire Cast-Iron Irish Soda Farls with Farm Butter, Tomatoes and Rashers

Build your campfire early and let it burn down to an even bed of glowing coals; set a large cast-iron griddle or flat-bottomed skillet over the coals to heat slowly while you mix the dough. A steady medium heat is what you want, not roaring flames.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 cups (375g) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups (300ml) cold buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons farm butter, softened, plus more for serving
• 8 slices thick-cut back bacon (rashers)
• 4 ripe peak-harvest tomatoes, halved through the equator
• 4 farm eggs
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Flaky sea salt and coarse black pepper
• Neutral oil, for the griddle

Instructions

1. Build your campfire early and let it burn down to an even bed of glowing coals; set a large cast-iron griddle or flat-bottomed skillet over the coals to heat slowly while you mix the dough. A steady medium heat is what you want, not roaring flames.
2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Pour in the buttermilk all at once and stir with a fork just until a shaggy, soft dough forms. Do not knead it more than a few turns; overworked soda dough turns tough and heavy.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured board and pat it into a round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut it into four wedges, or farls, with a floured knife. Dust off any excess flour so they do not scorch on the hot iron.
4. Wipe the hot griddle with a lightly oiled cloth and lay the farls on with a little space between them. Cook 7 to 8 minutes per side, moving them toward the cooler edge if the coals flare, until they are freckled deep gold and sound hollow when tapped.
5. Move the farls to the edge of the griddle to stay warm. Lay the rashers on the hot centre and cook until the fat renders and the edges frill and crisp, about 4 minutes per side. Slide them onto a plate and pour off all but a slick of the drippings.
6. Put the tomato halves cut side down in the bacon fat and let them blister and slump for 4 minutes, then flip and season with flaky salt and pepper. Their sugars will caramelize against the iron and their juices will loosen into the pan.
7. Push everything to one side and crack in the eggs, spooning a little hot fat over the whites until they set with runny, brilliant yolks, about 3 minutes.
8. Split the warm farls open with your fingers rather than a knife so the crumb stays craggy, and swipe each cut face generously with butter so it melts into the steam.
9. Pile a farl with rashers, blistered tomato and a fried egg, scatter parsley over the top and finish with flaky salt and a good crack of pepper. Eat straight from the plate while the iron is still ticking.
10. Soda farls are Ireland's great griddle bread, born in kitchens where an open hearth did the work of an oven. Because baking soda and buttermilk react the instant they meet, the bread needs no rising time and no enclosed heat, which is exactly why it belongs at a campsite. The Ulster fry that grows around it is a farmhouse breakfast built on whatever the morning offered, and in late August that means tomatoes at their absolute ripest, still warm from the vine.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 610 kcal
• Protein: 27g
• Fat: 28g
• Carbohydrates: 62g
• Fiber: 4g
• Sugar: 6g
• Sodium: 980mg