Boxty, in a contemporary presentation served wrapped around beef with squash and sauce

Boxty (bacstaí or arán bocht tí in Irish meaning "poor house bread") is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Mayo, Sligo, Donegal (where it is known locally as poundy or poundies; also known as potato bread in Ulster), Fermanagh, Longford, Leitrim and Cavan. There are many different recipes but all contain finely grated, raw potatoes and all are served fried.

The most popular version of the dish consists of finely grated, raw potato and mashed potato with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and sometimes egg.^[1] The grated potato may be strained to remove most of the starch and water but this is not necessary. The mixture is fried on a griddle pan for a few minutes on each side, similar to a normal pancake. Traditional alternatives include using only raw potatoes, boiling it as a dumpling or baking it as a loaf. The most noticeable difference between boxty and other fried potato dishes is its smooth, fine grained consistency.

Boxty is seen as so much a part of the local culture in the areas in which it is made, that it has inspired folk rhymes, such as:

As the interest in Irish cuisine has increased, so the popularity of boxty has risen. It is not unusual to see boxty on the menus of restaurants outside the areas with which it is traditionally associated. Boxty may be bought in shops and supermarkets either in the dumpling form or ready cooked as pancakes. Some modern recipes use garlic and other spices to flavour the mixture. It is occasionally served as wrap, similar to kebabs for fajitas. For hygiene and convenience, the raw potato may be blended in a food processor instead of grating it by hand.

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