Around Town

‘The Tightest-Kept Secret In Town’: Benko’s Irish Soda Bread Recipe

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Rick Franco, of the New Canaan Francos, cannot recall the very first time he tasted the Benko family’s Irish soda bread. A classmate and lifelong friend of Steve Benko, now New Canaan’s recreation director—the pair entered St. Aloysius School together as first-graders (under Sister Frances Therese)—Franco spent plenty of childhood hours at his pal’s house on Orchard Drive. (Incidentally, their fathers graduated New Canaan High School together in 1939.)

There, in a Cape-style home that Benko’s father built himself in 1951—it stands today—Franco likely first tasted an unusually soft and savory Irish soda bread baked by Steve’s mom, Madeline Benko (née Murphy). This Saturday, as he and some 15-odd other invited guests have done for nearly 20 years, Franco will journey to Benko’s house on Douglas Road for a full St.