New North West Irish Culinary Team to Compete at Hotelympia London 2014

A group of professional Irish Chefs from the Northwest of Ireland have come together and founded a new Regional Culinary Team which intends to compete as an independent Culinary Team at Hotelympia, London, in April 2014.

Hotelympia is the UK & Ireland's largest hospitality and food service event and the most important event of 2014 for people involved in the hospitality industry and the Salon Culinaire is at the centre of Hotelympia for all chefs. Over 8,000 chefs visit the event and for many, the three different sections of Salon Culinaire are the principle reason for their visit.

The Northwest Culinary Team Captain  is international award winning chef Joe Clinton

The Northwest Culinary Team comprises some of the top chefs from counties Donegal , Leitrim & Sligo who have all taken part, very successfully, in international culinary competitions in the past. Earlier this year the North West Culinary team took 4 Golds, 4 Silvers and 6 Bronze Medals at the Chef Ireland International competition held in the RDS Dublin. From this achievement was born their desire to enter a team into one of the world’s most prestigious culinary competitions, Hotelympia.

Hotelympia is a world-class culinary competition and the largest of its kind in the UK & Ireland consisting of three elements: fine dining restaurant La Parade des Chefs, stunning culinary creations in Salon Display and the live competition thrills of the Live Theatre.

La Parade des Chefs is the fine dining experience at the very heart of Hotelympia, where competing teams of chefs from around the world cook for visitors and their guests. The newly formed Northwest Culinary Team say they are determined to win La Parade des Chefs!

Meet the newly formed Northwest Culinary Team

Joe Clinton, Dee Clinton, Gabriel McSharry, Billy Grimes

John Kelly, Alan Fitzmaurice, Tony Campbell, Sylvester Dolan

"We have about 25 members in the complete team between the main exhibition chefs and the backup team. These are both young & senior men and women who want to promote the local region in terms of tourism and in particular our regional food," said Gabriel McSharry, Team Manager. "We believe that we have the best quality food in the world produced locally and at our fingertips, and we want to expose this great food product to the rest of the world. Our shores contain an abundance of beautiful seafood, sea vegetables and a host of other marine foods. Our fields are filled with wonderful organic fruit and vegetables."

"We intend to compete as an international culinary team at Hotelympia London next year and we look forward to putting our skills and knowledge, as professional Chefs, to the test, without fear, on the world stage!" said Joe Clinton.  "We are requesting people involved in the Hotel, catering and restaurant industry and the general public in this region to support us in our efforts to promote our region and help us to help the local industry promote our food and hopefully create jobs in our region."

The chefs have organised "A Taste of the North West", a fundraising night and the Official Launch of the Northwest Hotelympia Culinary Team, with celebrity Executive Chef  Joe Shannon, in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sligo, on Tuesday, 29th October. The night will include cooking demonstrations, culinary delights & tastings and some special guest appearances. Comedian Frank Ford will also entertain during the evening.

Tickets for the event are only €10 each or 3 for €25 and are available from:
the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sligo on 071 914 0008
or from the chefs:
Alan 087 2472607 (Sligo) - Sylvester 086 8187165 (Leitrim) - Billy 086 8416476 (Donegal)

If you'd like to sponsor the North West Culinary Team in their goal to win at Hotelympia 2014 in any way, please contact any of the chefs above.

Zack

Rough Puff Pastry, Beef Guinness Pie & Monica Lewinsky!

My good friend Chris Cassidy wrote a song in 1999 about Monica Lewinsky at the height of that particular scandal.  The Master Tape was lost until last week when we found it in a box and this week just happens to be Monica's 40th Birthday!


Chris' dad was a butcher so all his family have the 'local family name' of "Pie" eg Chris 'Pie' Cassidy etc. A local family name is a thing that you often find on the Irish west coast to distinguish one family of the same name as another. This being a food website, it was only logical that I give you a recipe for a Pie to go with the music! So here is "Rough Puff Pastry & Beef Pie" to the music of Chris Pie Cassidy!


Do enjoy both the music & the pie - the words to the song are on the YouTube website :)

Click to play the music and the Rough Puff Pastry, Beef Guinness Pie recipes are here below :)

Rough Puff Pastry
This type of pastry is great for pies and tarts, either sweet or savoury. You can also use it for sausage rolls!


My Ingredients:
250g Plain flour
75g "Cookeen" vegetable fat
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Water
75g butter




My Method:
1. Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the white fat as normal when making pastry. Add the lemon juice and cold water to mix to a stiff dough. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour to relax.
2. Roll out the pastry into a rectangle. Cut the butter into lumps about the size of a walnut and place it over 3/4 of the pastry.
3. Fold in the unbuttered 1/3 to the middle of the pastry and then fold the 1st 1/3 over this, so that the butter is layered inside the pastry.
4. Carefully roll out this pastry to it's original size keeping it lightly floured to stop sticking. Fold it in 3 again and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
5. Repeat this rolling and folding three more times relaxing the pastry in the fridge between each folding.
6. Leave the pastry for one  hour in the fridge before finally rolling it out for your Pie top.

Beef 'n Guinness Casserole

My Ingredients:
1 kg Stewing or Braising Beef
75g Butter
2 tbls olive oil
225g Onions Roughly chopped
225g Chunky-cut Carrots
100g Roughly chopped Celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped small
1 tblsp Flour
1 tspn Wholegrain Mustard
1 tblsp Brown Sugar
1 tspn each of chopped Thyme, Parsley and Marjoram
1 Orange, simply cut in quarters
500ml Guinness
Sea Salt and Ground Black Pepper

My Method:
1. Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks. Melt 1/2 the butter in a large pan, add the meat and brown on all sides over a high heat. Remove with a spoon and set aside.
2. Turn down the heat to medium and add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic to the pan with the remaining butter and cook for 5minutes.
3. Add the flour, mustard, sugar and stir thoroughly. Add the Guinness and mix well. Stirring occasionally, cook until the sauce thickens a little.
4. Return the meat to the pan, squeeze in the orange juice and add the herbs. Season with a twist of pepper and sea salt.
5. Mix well. Then cover and simmer very gently, giving it an odd stir for approximately 2 hours until the meat is tender. You can eat this straight away as a casserole at this stage if you wish.
6. When making the pie it's best to let the meat cool a bit before topping so that it doesn't melt the pastry before it gets to the oven (which would effect the rising of the pastry). Roll out your pastry to suit your Pie Dish with 2cm extra all round.
7. Add your meat to the dish, cover with the pastry and roll in the 2cm around the edge to give a crust. Decorate and brush with beaten egg and milk to glaze.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 35 minutes until risen and golden in colour!

There you go. Simple and delicious! And I hope you enjoyed the music too!
zack

Donegal Food Producers work towards Developing their Food Tourism potential

Food Tourism is a fast growing market segment internationally and many Irish tourist destinations are now developing this important sector as a means of gaining competitive advantage. Food creates a link to interacting with local people, which is of significant importance for visitors and can be a vehicle for experiencing our culture and heritage. Failte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, are the driving force behind the recent increase in the regional development of Food Tourism in Ireland.

It is a natural business progression that food producers also open their production facilities to visiting tourists so that they can experience the story behind the local food. This obviously creates an opportunity for a food brand to become personalised and this in turn can create new customers for the product as people feel a bond with the product through their experience with the producer.

The food producers in southwest of Ireland realised this potential several years ago and with the help of The Allen Family at Ballymaloe and local food writers like John & Sally McKenna, who also live in west Cork, they have established the south and southwest of Ireland as leading the way in the development of Irish Food Tourism.

"We want to show Donegal Food Producers the potential increased revenues that can be achieved by adding tourism experiences to their facilities such as taking a more active part in the development of local food trails, starting new food festivals and showcasing their product, on-site, to visitors." said Eve Anne McCarron, Business Executive for The Food Coast, Donegal’s Good Food Initiative.

And so, Donegal County Enterprise through their Donegal Food Coast initiative have joined up with Irish Food Tours to offer a new concept in understanding food tourism education and are organising a Food & Tourism Insight Tour to the west coast via Sligo, Mayo & Galway. 

This tour will help Donegal food producers in the coastal regions of the county to understand the ethos behind the newly developed Failte Ireland Wild Atlantic Way. It will also benefit food producers who are not on the Wild Atlantic Way route by helping them to understand the business potentials that are possible by developing part of their food business as a tourism experience for visitors.

The Donegal County Enterprise Board are working with Zack Gallagher who is collating the tour & it's itinerary and has been developing a co-ordinated approach to Irish Food Tourism over the last year with his business partner, Wendy White Kavanagh, who co-founded Irish Food Tours.

"We have been building up our connections with food producers all over Ireland with a view to being able to facilitate Food Tours such as this," said Zack. "We work with Tour Operators, HR Departments and Educational facilities that want to offer Food Tours as part of their operations and also with government agencies, like County Enterprise Boards, that wish to develop better food tourism in their region."

The Purpose of this tour is to invite Donegal food producers to visit and meet with established producers that have already developed their business and embraced the potential of food tourism or include guided visits to their premises.

Format of the Tour:             2 Days, 1 Overnight.

Dates:                                  Tuesday 5th & Wednesday 6th, November 2013.

                                            

Departures from:                         Letterkenny & Donegal Town

If you are from County Donegal and have an interest in developing the food tourism potential of your business or becoming a producer with a food tourism offering, please contact Eve-Anne McCarron to register your interest at emccarron@donegalenterprise.ie or call 074-9160735. Tour costs per person are supported by Donegal County Enterprise Board. CLICKHERE for more Details. Limited spaces available. 

A Failte Ireland link with more information on the different ways that a food producer can be involved in food tourism can be found by clicking here.

Zack

Winners of the Irish Whiskey Awards 2013

Irish Whiskey is enjoying the strongest period of growth in popularity since the 1800′s. The number of Irish whiskey distilleries has doubled from three to six in the last few years and with several new Irish Whiskey start-ups in the pipeline, this could at least double again in the next few years.

This event was the first of the new Annual Irish Whiskey Awards

Exports are booming worldwide and there is huge investment being put into the industry. In the USA alone, 2012 saw Irish Whiskey sales grow by a whopping 22.5% making it the fastest growing spirits category in the country. The Irish Whiskey Awards were held on the Friday the 4th October, in the Old Jameson Distillery, in Dublin and I was delighted to see one of my own favourites, Redbreast from Midleton Distillery, winning the single pot still award.

These recently launched Irish Whiskey Awards intend to be a new annual event to celebrate and reward the dedication to quality and flavour that it takes to create world class whiskey. It has been organised by the Celtic Whiskey Shop, which recently won "Best Retailer Worldwide" in the World Whiskey Awards, along with members of the Irish Whiskey Society and the recently formed Celtic Whiskey Club.

First opened in June 2003, the Celtic Whiskey Shop has become a mecca for whiskey lovers.

This was the first year that the diversity and quality of the vibrant Irish Whiskey industry was nationally celebrated in Ireland. With whiskey drinkers broadening their tastes and consumers demanding more diversity and quality, new small craft distillers have embraced the opportunity to fill niche markets with small batch and high value brands.


The Irish Whiskey Awards were presented across eight categories and the winners are:

Best Blended Whiskey Under €50

Writers Tears Pot Still Blend from Writers Tears Whiskey Ltd., Co. Carlow

Runners up: Powers 12 Year Old Special Reserve, Teeling Small Batch

Best Blended Whiskey Over €50

Midleton Very Rare 2013 produced at Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork

Runners up: Jameson Gold Reserve and Jameson 18 Year Old Limited Reserve

Best Single Pot Still Whiskey

Redbreast 15 Year Old produced at Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork

Best Irish Single Cask Whiskey

Tyrconnell 14 Year Old Cask 204/96 produced at Cooley Distillery, Co. Louth

Runners up: Midleton Cask 1044, Bottled for the Loop at Dublin Airport

Best Irish Cask Strength Whiskey

Redbreast 12 Year-Old Cask Strength produced at Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork

Runners up: Writers Tears Cask strength and Connemara Turf Mor

Best Irish Single Malt Whiskey

Bushmills 21 Year Old produced at Bushmills Distillery, Co. Antrim

Runners up: Teeling Whiskey Company 21 Year Old and Bushmills 12 Year Old Distillery Reserve.

Irish Whiskey Bar Of The Year

L. Mulligan Grocers, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7

Runners up: The Palace Bar, WJ Kavanaghs and Against the Grain 

Irish Poitin Of The Year

Teeling Whiskey Company Poitin produced at Cooley Distillery, Co. Louth

Runners up: Glendalough Sherry Cask Poitin and Cooley Single Pot Still Poitin.

Overall Irish Whiskey of the Year

Redbreast 12 Year-Old Cask Strength produced at Midleton Distillery, Co. Cork

It will be interesting to see how many Irish Whiskies from the new breed of distillers will be in the running for the awards next year. For more information on Irish Whiskey and to buy all these Whiskies Online go to The Celtic Whiskey Shop Website

Zack

What's Your favourite Irish Whiskey? Leave your comments below.

International Wild Mushroom Festival in Co Leitrim on October 12th

Mushroom experts and wild mushroom lovers from all over the world will gather to the beautiful, centuries-old, Killegar Estate in County Leitrim to exchange scientific knowledge and celebrate our natural environment over the weekend of the 12th October, 2013.

The International Mushroom Festival runs over Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th October 2013

For the third successive year, this festival involves experts from Ireland, UK, Germany, Italy, Poland and the US, who aim to advance the understanding of Ireland's ecology and biodiversity with a special emphasis on the “Kingdom of Fungi“. This year the festival welcomes "Mushroom Garden", a commercial mushroom production company based in Bangladesh who are keen to visit Ireland to study cultivation methods employed here and learn more about our wild mushrooms.

The Irish Mycologist's Society and the Northern Ireland Fungus Group, having to date identified more than 300 species, will introduce mushroom enthusiasts to an exceptionally large variety of Ireland's fungi this year as Autumn 2013 promises to produce a bumper crop.

Get to know all about wild mushrooms and foraging

Amongst other things, festival goers will learn about the most common species, both edible and poisonous. As well as guided forays the programme offers a comprehensive range of talks, natural history-related displays and exhibitions.

For younger festival goers, the OWLS - Outdoor Wildlife Learning and Survival Nature Club will provide an educational programme about the natural world.

Chef Joe Shannon will be demonstrating how to cook with wild mushrooms

Joe Shannon, Executive Head Chef of the Radisson Blu Sligo, will present cookery demonstrations showing foragers how to transform freshly gathered wild mushrooms into inspired dishes. Further delicious samplings will be available at the festival Food Fair of locally sourced produce. The fair will also showcase a variety of wood-turning, hand crafted jewellery, quilt-making and more.

All proceeds go to the 'Save Killegar Campaign', set up to preserve Killegar as one of Ireland's and Europe's last remaining heritage houses, its native woodlands and sanctuary for wildlife.

For more details see www.internationalmushroomfestival.com and check out their Facebook Page HERE

Zack

Donegal's Food Strategy starting to show real Results

"Donegal is steeped in talent in the food sector and some of the best produce the country has to offer and it’s only a matter of time before people begin to realise it!"

That’s according to the Donegal county’s official Food Ambassador Gary O’Hanlon. Gary, originally from Ramelton, is the head chef at Viewmount Country House in Co. Longford who won the ‘Best Chef in Leinster" award at the 2013 RAI Irish Restaurant Awards.

Gary O’Hanlon, Donegal’s Food Ambassador for The Food Coast, in full flow
during an exhibition at the 2013 Taste of Donegal food festival 

Gary was in Donegal recently for the weekend of the ‘A Taste of Donegal Food Festival’ where an estimated 35,000 visitors came from all over Ireland to get a glimpse of the on-going development of the food-sector in the county. Over 100 exhibitors from county Donegal and also from around Ireland, made use of the opportunity to showcase their products to the huge audience and according to the county’s Food Ambassador having a food festival of such magnitude in Donegal is an indication of the growing importance of the food sector in the county.

“To have a festival of this magnitude in Donegal is great, I go to food festivals all over the country, but this is fantastic for Donegal" said Gary. "In conjunction with the whole Food Coast and Food Strategy it’s giving all these producers that we are trying to get out there into market, a big platform in their own county to see exactly how successful they can be.” 

Carl Diver of Irish Natural Honey is one such producer. They launched their product ‘Active Irish Honey’ at A Taste of Donegal food festival and with huge interest from the public he was full of praise for the County Enterprise Board and The Food Coast for the help they had received in getting off the ground.

Members of the Active Irish Honey team are joined at their exhibit by the Lord Mayor of Donegal
and Mayor of Donegal Town. L to R: Carl Diver; Patricia Callaghan Mayor of Donegal Town; Mayor of Donegal, Councillor Ian McGarvey; Austin Duignan and Conor Daly of Active Irish Honey

Joe Doherty of Inishowen Country Kitchen described the support from The Food Coast as core to their success. “They have worked with us and invested in us and put in support systems to help us get our product into places like Tesco.”

Joe Doherty of Inishowen County Kitchen keeps the visitors happy with his salads and desserts

Declan McConnellogue of The Haven Smokehouse in Carrigart is another new Donegal food business which only began operations commercially in the last year. He described the artisan food start-up course, organised by Donegal County Enterprise Board, as having been invaluable and similar sentiments were echoed time and again by local food businesses exhibiting over the festival weekend. Declan smokes his salmon with hand-cut Donegal Turf which gives it a totally new and unique flavour.

Declan McConnelogue of The Haven Smokehouse, in Carrigart,
offers a sample to a customer at the Taste of Donegal Food Festival last weekend.

As the county’s Food Ambassador, Gary O’Hanlon said he is delighted that there is such investment now, in food, in Donegal. “We are going into our second year now with the whole Food Coast and Food Strategy and Eve Anne McCarron has come on board as a driving force for the plan, and she really is starting to drive it! There's now a whole department within the County Enterprise Board concentrating on growing Donegal's food reputation and I tip my hat to them for investing and focusing upon the food sector within the county."

County Donegal is starting to see more and more new food products being developed as a result of the food strategy, commissioned in July 2012 by Donegal County Enterprise Board to built up a better infrastructure assist new Donegal food businesses to get established. The O’Rourke brothers, Enda and Gavin, have many years of experience between the two of them. Enda owns the Village Tavern in Mountcharles and Gavin is the Executive Chef at Harvey's Point Hotel near Donegal Town. 

"But even chefs of that level of skill and calibre still need help when developing new food products for a commercial market" said Gary. "The Donegal County Enterprise Board and their strategy group are all behind them helping to drive these new food entrepreneurs on.”

Eve Anne McCarron and Jack Stein from The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, Cornwall,
join Enda O’Rourke of The Village Tavern in Mountcharles to sample his new chowder recipe.

Brian McDermott who runs The No Salt Chef, said he felt there is something happening and changing now in the county in terms of the food industry. “There is a real unity now in Donegal and I have to pay tribute to the agencies and to the Good Food Initiative from the Donegal County Enterprise Board. Everyone has got behind this now collectively, the chefs, the producers and we are showcasing now on platforms like the Taste of Donegal Food Festival. More importantly we needed the opportunity to do that" said Brian. "Maybe there’s a modesty around in Donegal in general but we are coming together and starting to shout, and rightly so, because we have some of the best produce this country has to offer.”

Brian McDermott (The No Salt Chef) pictured with Gary O’Hanlon
as he judged the Donegal Chowder Cook off at the Taste of Donegal food festival 

That assertion is one shared by Gary O’Hanlon who says the Good Food Initiative and The Food Coast will lead to fantastic food opportunities for businesses in the county. “Donegal is steeped in talent, we have some of the best up and coming talents, we have some of the best chefs in Ireland - if not the best chefs in Ireland! We also have some of the best food in the country but no one has been shouting about it enough. We have given them, with the Food Coast Strategy, is a medium for developing their product and that can only be positive for the whole county of Donegal.”

There were many many more local Donegal food & drink producers exhibiting at the A Taste of Donegal Food Festival over the August 23rd weekend and you can read more about it here.

Zack

with thanks to Liam Porter

Ireland’s First No Salt Cookery School Opens in Donegal

Ireland’s first ‘No Salt’ Cookery School has opened in Moville, Inishowen, Co. Donegal. A completely new concept to Ireland, the ‘Brian McDermott Cookery School’ has been opened by Donegal Chef Brian McDermott, aka ‘The No Salt Chef’.

Following his diagnosis with a heart condition five years ago, Brian completely changed his life and cooking style, establishing a reputation for himself as “The No Salt Chef” and cooking great tasting, accessible and affordable food, without adding salt.

Salt is a high priority issue for Ireland, with the average daily intake for adults at 10 grams, well over the Recommended Daily Allowance of four grams. Salt intake plays a critical role in regulating blood pressure, particularly important as Ireland has high mortality and morbidity rates from heart disease and stroke relative to other developed countries.

Having experienced increasing demand from people who have met and attended his cookery demonstrations across Ireland, including ‘Bloom in the Park’, Brian has fulfilled a long-held dream opening Ireland’s first ‘No Salt’ Cookery School.  . The new state-of-the-art cookery school offers fun, informative hand-on demonstrations accommodating up to 15 people.

 “I am very excited to launch Ireland’s first ‘no salt’ cookery school in my hometown of Moville, Inishowen. I cook clean and honest food with no hidden ingredients or added salt. I let the ingredients speak for themselves and instead of adding salt, I use herbs and spices that complement, but don’t overshadow the main dish. It’s important that my food is healthy, doesn’t contain any added salt, but above all tastes fantastic and this is something I am passionate to teach” said Brian McDermott, ‘The No Salt Chef’ and founder of the Brian McDermott Cookery School.

Upcoming classes, all teaching the ‘No Salt’ philosophy include:

‘Appreciating Seafood’, teaching participants to master delicious seafood dishes using the freshest fish straight off the boats from the nearby Greencastle Fishing Harbour.

‘Mastering Sunday Lunch’ – making the most of Sundays, a fantastic and fun course helping participants to perfect a tasty, relaxing Sunday lunch

‘Learn to Bake’ – Mastering the essentials of affordable and delicious bakery –without using salt!

‘Going to College’ – perfect for young people leaving home for the first time, this course teaches how to cook simple, delicious and healthy meals on a budget. With one fifth of Irish teens now overweight or obese, this course teaches young people to cook and eat healthily, a particular passion of Brian’s.

‘Cooking on a Budget’ – where Brian will show how eat to better for less using local, seasonal ingredients. 

The Brian McDermott Cookery School is also providing a unique Chef’s Table, providing groups of up to 14 people with a very personal culinary journey of a seven course tasting menu, where guests will dine while Brian cooks explaining the dish and using the best of local produce. Guests are greeted with a complimentary drink and canapé’s and the ‘Chef’s Table’ experience is already becoming very popular for family gatherings, girly nights out and celebrating special occasions. 

Aiming to attract participants from across Ireland, North and South, Brian has partnered with the nearby four star Redcastle Oceanfront, Golf and Spa Hotel for accommodation for the school.

Chef Brian McDermott also has a Culinary Arts Degree, graduating top of his class.  A successful career working in the kitchens of some of his native Donegal’s most lauded establishments and a senior global product development role in Kerry Group ended when Brian was diagnosed with a heart condition. As a result, Brian completely changed his life and his cooking style and quickly established a reputation for himself as “The No Salt Chef”, cooking great tasting, accessible and affordable food without adding salt. 

Brian is author of his first and very successful cookery book, ‘Reunite with Food’, regularly works with award-winning chef, Neven Maguire and hosts cookery demonstrations across the country. He presents his own weekly cookery slot on BBC radio and is a regular contributor to many Irish press titles. 

For more on The Brian McDermott Cookery School, which is situated at Carrownaffe, Moville, Co Donegal and to Book Classes, visit www.thenosaltchef.com or Tel: +353 (0)74 93 85921.

Zack.