Halloween & My Barmbrack Recipe

Halloween, celebrated on October 31st, is one of those true Celtic traditions that has become a world-wide celebrated occasion. Historically, it is based on the Celtic festival of Samhain which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".

With the plantation of Ulster in the early 1600's, the Scottish colonists brought with them the festival of All Hallow's Evening (All Hallows Even') celebrated on the same night and the two traditions merged. This was the night that the souls of the dead were thought to walk the earth and many people believed it a setting for supernatural encounters! I remember how Holy Water was sprinkled on the outhouses, sheds and farm animals  to keep them safe during the night and mirrors in our house were covered with sheets so that the poor souls could not enter the living world.

Brack comes from the Irish word "Breac", meaning trout (speckled like a trout) 

The traditional bread served on the night was the Halloween Barmbrack, meaning speckled cake, which is a sweet fruit bread. The word Barm comes from old English "Beorma", meaning yeasty fermented liquor and Brack comes from the Irish word "Breac", meaning Trout (the bread is speckled like a trout because of the dried fruit and candied peel).

The bracks made with yeast are called "barmbracks" and those that use baking powder and fruit soaked in tea are called "tea bracks".

Each member of your family must get a slice and it was always a great treat, to find the penny in the cake as this meant you were going to be rich. Other items buried in the barmbrack are: a ring for the bride-to-be, a thimble for the one who would never marry and a small piece of cloth indicating the one who would be poor. This is the recipe I have used for many years and it makes one loaf.

My Ingredients:

250ml (1 Cup) milk 

450g (3½ Cups) plain flour 

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

1/2 tspn ground nutmeg

7g (1 sachet) (2 teaspoons) dried yeast 

75g butter (4 tablespoons)

75g (1/3 Cup) castor sugar 

1 beaten egg

150g (1 Cup) raisins 

100g (3/4 Cup) currants 

50g (1/4 Cup) chopped Dried Fruit Peel 

A little extra butter for greasing

My Method:

1. Warm the milk, add the butter and let it melt in the warm milk.

2. Mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add half the warmed milk mixture. Add the beaten egg.

3. Sift the cinnamon with the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour the yeast and liquid mixture into it. Sprinkle a little flour over the liquid and leave it in a warm place for 1/2 hour until yeast froths up.

4. Add in the remainder of the liquid and mix the whole lot into a dough. Add the sugar, raisins, currants and chopped peel into the dough and mix well. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead into a smooth round.

5. Put the dough into a butter-greased large bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about half an hour).

6. Knead it back again and then shape into your greased bread tin. Brush the top with melted butter and cover with clingfilm until it is doubled in bulk again.

7. Bake for 40 minutes in a pre-heated hot oven at 200°C until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. To give it a nice glaze stir 1 tablespoon of sugar into 50ml boiling water and brush this over the top of the loaf when it comes out of the oven and is still hot.

Zack

Rockwell Hotel School Reunion, 20th October 2024

 The West Awake by Rockwell Hotel school Reunion.

THE WESTPORT WOODS HOTEL & SPA IN BEAUTIFUL MAYO

THE ROCKWELL HOTEL AND CATERING SCHOOL, which had a major influence on traditional cooking and service in the hospitality sector of Ireland, is holding a reunion for past students on Sunday 20th October at the Westport Woods Hotel & Spa in Westport, Co Mayo.

Stardust 1981 - This year Rockwell has invited members of the Stardust committee as their guests to remember and honour Brian Hobbs, one of the forty-eight who died in the 1981 Stardust fire. Brian was a past Rockwell student and an incredibly talented young waiter from Dublin with the world at his feet. Brian was a Gold medal winner for Ireland in Wine Waiting and had just returned from Zurich where he had gained valuable experience at the James Joyce Pub before his untimely death. Antoinette, a Stardust survivor & Lorraine Keegan who lost two sisters in the Stardust fire will represent Brian at the reunion as guests of honour sponsored by Ciaran Kelly, owner of the Landmark hotel Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim.

Joe Shannon RIP 5TH MARCH 2024

Rockwell will also honour their good friend, supporter, and colleague JOE SHANNON who we lost in March this year. Joe’s family will be with us on the night. Joe was such a great character and fully bought in to the Rockwell reunions sadly missed never forgotten. 

The late Chef Joe Shannon

Chef Paddy Brady Executive chef Westbury hotel from 1984 to 2000 is another supporting chef who would do so much for culinary Ireland, to be honoured for his support and contribution to Rockwell Hotel School.

ROCKWELL HOTEL & CATERING SCHOOL was world renowned for its unique training in hospitality and turned out some of Ireland’s best chefs and waiters, many of whom work in top restaurants around the world today. 

Rockwell Hotel School was established in 1958 under the auspices of Bord Failte and was run by Jimmy Kelly in Rockwell, Cashel, Co Tipperary under the Holy Ghost Order and Fr Denis O’Brien 

Well-known past pupils include Martin Shanahan, TV chef and proprietor of Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Eugene McSweeney, a well-known industry consultant who resides in Kilkenny, Ed Cooney  Executive Chef at the five-year Merrion Hotel in Dublin, Steven McNally, former Deputy CEO at the Dalata Hotel Group and former President of the Irish Hotels Federation, Noel Cunningham  media personality and General Manager at Harvey’s Point, Co, Donegal and Paul Carty Former MD at Diageo and Chair of Irish Tourism Confederation (ITIC), Sean Davoren  head butler at The Savoy Hotel and lately seen on the ITV programme The Savoy  and Michael Lynch, who has worked at Claridge’s since 1978 and featured in the 2012 BBC series Inside Claridge’s, are also past student of Rockwell.

 

 Pat Cronin, who was one of Rockwell’s first students and the last Manager of the Catering School  said: “Rockwell had a major influence on traditional cooking and service in the hotel and catering industry in Ireland during its 25-year history, and its legacy lives on as past pupils continue to make a major impact on the hospitality business national and globally. It is a sadder place without the Rockwell students.

Former pupils will be travelling from all over Ireland and further afield for the event – one chef Padraig Molloy is even coming in from Antarctica. The evening, which is in aid of a local charity, will commence with Mass at 7pm in the hotel, followed by a drink’s reception, a six-course dinner. 

The organisers, Gerard Allen, former student and Dolores O’Connor, former Administration assistant at the school are also seeking old photos and memorabilia from Rockwell, as one of their past students, Rory Morahan, the Druid Chef, is putting together a collection for all to see on the night. If you have memorabilia, would like more details on the event, or you would just like to reconnect with old Rockwell friends, see the Rockwell Hotel School Facebook page and Instagram or contact rockwellhotelschool@gmail.com.

Westport Woods Hotel & Spa

Looking for the perfect escape whether it is a family vacation, a friends' retreat, a romantic weekend, or a peaceful getaway, the four-star Westport Woods Hotel & Spa is your ideal destination. Nestled in a 300-year-old woodland, just minutes from vibrant Westport, our hotel offers the perfect blend of tranquillity and luxury.

Michael Lennon, manager of the Westport Woods Hotel and a former President of the Irish Hotels Federation, is a past Rockwell pupil, is hosting this year’s event, which is held every two years. 

Picking Blackberries & my Blackberry Madeira Pie Recipe

Everybody loves Blackberries. There are quite a few runs of pretty good wild Blackberry hedges around where I live. As the roads are quiet enough too, they don't get infused with exhaust fumes so much. But this year, while nosing around a few old back roads I hit the jackpot and found a good quarter-mile of the biggest,  juiciest, most bountiful blackberry bushes I've ever seen!

I parked up the car and pulled out the wee bowl my daughter and I had taken with us just in case we found some of these luscious fruits of the forest. It turned out that I needed to use the basin I had in the boot of the car since the last cooking demo I had done! There were blackberries as far as my eyes could see - I was like a wee boy again - smiling to myself as we picked the berries, eating almost as many as we picked! They were so perfectly ripe they almost fell off their husks into our hands. 

I was reminded of when my brother and I used to stay with our aunt, Nora Boyle, a few miles out of Donegal town, for two weeks during the summer months, so that Mum could have another room for the Bed & Breakfast guests. Nora is a great baker and instilled in me a lot of the older Irish recipes that I still love to make. She grew fruit and vegetables at home, baked every day, dried Dillisk on bedsheets in the garden and used to send us out picking blackberries so that she could make her Apple & Blackberry Jam to put on to the yummiest homemade Treacle & Ginger Bread ever.

We'd spend half the day away up fields and back-roads, with our cousins, picking and eating the juicy wild berries until we were sore!

I'm a great believer in 'smell' and how it can trigger memories and transport you to a particular point in your life with the deadliest of accuracy. Well, for me, the smell of blackberries means 10 years old, on holidays, "in the country".

The smell of fresh ripe blackberries is something so heavenly and unique as to enchant even the most distinguished wine connoisseur's scent glands. When it's said that there are "notes of Blackberry" in that Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 or whatever, well they probably haven't had the chance to stick their sniffer into a hand-picked bucket of the real juicy blackberries, just off the 'vine'!

Anyway, so Lily and I picked just under 3KG of these large, shiny, blackish-purple berries in about 40 minutes! On the way home I was wondering what to make first, a Crumble, a Tart, just Jam, some Chutney... but I decided to make a blackberry variation on the classic Irish Apple Cake of pastry bottom, apples and sugar, sponge topping.

Blackberry Madeira Pie

A 10" Pie Tin
Preheat your oven to 170°C


My Ingredients:

Sweet Pastry
200g Plain Flour
100g Butter
75g Caster Sugar
1 medium egg
a little Cold Water

Madeira Sponge Mix
100g Butter
100g Caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g Self Raising Flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
a little milk

Filling:
500g Blackberries
4 tablespoons caster sugar

Glaze:
2 tbls. Honey
2 tbls. Orange Juice

(or Marmalade Jam)

My Method:

1. Wash the blackberries gently, with cold water, in a sieve and let them drain while you make the rest of the pie.
2. For the pastry rub the butter into the flour until it's like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix in. Break in the egg and pull the pastry together using a little cold water if needed. Refrigerate.
3. For the Madeira, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add one egg with a tablespoon of flour and beat well until smooth. Add the 2nd egg with a little flour and beat well until smooth. The little bit of flour helps to stop the mix from curdling as you mix in the egg.
4. Add all the flour and mix in well. Add the vanilla essence and mix in. Add a little bit of milk to bring the Madeira mix to a dropping consistency.
5. Grease the pie tin with a little butter and dust with flour. Roll out the pastry and line the tin. Press it in gently and trim off the extra bit.
6. Fill the lined tin with the blackberries and dust with the caster sugar.
7. Spoon the Madeira mix over the top and using the back of a spoon dipped in cold water gently smooth out the mix to fill all the gaps.
8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for approx. 40 minutes or until the sponge is firm to the touch and golden brown.
9. Heat the honey and orange juice together, for 20 seconds, in a cup in the microwave and brush this glaze (or some marmalade jam) over the warm pie.

10. Stand back and see how long you can wait before you start eating it!

Enjoy.

My post on Making Hedgerow Blackberry & Apple Jam is Here and my Blackberry Ice Cream is Here!

Zack

Buy as much Food, Drink & Crafts as you can, from Local Producers this Christmas!

 Buy as much Food, Drink & Crafts as you can, from Local Producers this Christmas!

Winterage Festival on October 29th set to celebrate Food of The Burren

The Burren Beo Trust's ' Winterage festival' marks the ancient farming tradition of ‘winterage’ - herding cattle onto the higher limestone uplands for the winter months to feed on the rich vegetation.  

This year, the event will be held at Michael Cusack’s GAA Pitch near Bellharbour in County Clare on October 29th and includes both the Cattle drive walk, and the Burren Food Fayre which is being organised by the Burren Ecotourism Network. 

The Burren region is widely known as the ‘Fertile Rock’ and includes a wide variety of food producers including fish smokers, beef, dairy, sheep and oyster farmers, as well as distillers, foragers, herbalists, cheesemakers, bakers and chefs. This group have been working together for many years and have made the Burren an award winning food destination, with the Burren Food Trail winning the Burren Food Town award in 2015. 

Jarlath O’Dwyer, CEO of the Burren Ecotourism Network said: “This is an excellent opportunity for people to not only hear about the ancient farming practices of the Burren, but also for them to experience walking the cattle upland to the winterage, and then to be able to taste and purchase the foods of the land and sea at the Burren Food Fayre.”  

“We are delighted to work with the team at Burren Beo, who have run the Cattle Drive for several years, bringing it from strength to strength, and attracting people from all over Ireland to attend on the day.” He added. 

The locally sourced food and drink on display on the day will include beef, salmon, pork, oysters, cheese, breads, jams, chutneys along with Burren whiskey and gin. Many of the producers taking part adhere to the GEOfood concept, an international UNESCO initiative, which promotes sustainable agriculture and conservation and supports farmers and communities in the area. 

Carol Gleeson, Manager of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark said: “With a long-standing traditions of  food grown in the Burren, and a wide array of producers of both big and small-scale, GEOfood is a natural fit  for the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. “We are delighted that the food fayre is once again being staged on the rich agricultural lands of the Burren – there is no better way to connect people to the produce than to see where it came from. Amongst our GEOfood group, we have a few farming families who have worked this land for generations.” 

The winterage walk starts at 11am, however attendees are encouraged to arrive at 10am to avail of tea, coffee and scones in the marquee. There will also be entertainment provided by local musicians. Pranjali Bhave of Burren Beo Trust said “We encourage all walkers to bring their own mug and hazel sticks and to bear in mind that this is a challenging walk of 6kms in total with a steep incline in the initial section of the walk. The walk is also on an uneven path and so unsuitable for buggies. No dogs are allowed. 

All attendees must purchase tickets and pre register at this link: - https://www.tickettailor.com/events/burrenbeotrust/1024872   

The Burren Food Fayre is supported by the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark, the Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine and Calor Ireland. 

Could you be the Ulster Fry World Champion 2023?

The first ever Ulster Fry World Championships will be held on Saturday 19th August at the Donaghadee Summer Festival!

Entries will be accepted from all nine counties in Ulster, as well as an additional entry from Belfast, and are welcome from chefs in cafes, restaurants, hotels, and B&Bs across the province of Ulster!

Your entry must only consist of bacon, potato bread, egg, soda bread, and sausage.

Entries will be judged by our expert panel, and finalists invited to cook their Ulster Fry live in front of an audience.. The winner will receive their trophy to proudly display in their establishment, and boast to those far and wide that you are the Ulster Fry World Champion!

To make things fair, we have decided that only five ingredients will be included in the fry (no fancy avocados or French toast here!). Your entry must only consist of sausage, bacon, egg, soda bread, and potato bread. 

If successful, during the final in Donaghadee your fry will be judged on three elements: taste, appearance, and use of local produce. This also provides the perfect opportunity to help support and promote your favourite local producers!

For an entry form, please contact Alana at alana@nigoodfood.com. 

Entries close Friday 28th July.  Good Luck!

Old Fashioned Black Forest Gateau Recipe

When I was about 12 years old, I started working weekends and summer in a bakery here in Donegal Town that was called the Oven Door. It was a great learning place for a young fella who liked to cook and bake, and under the tough but fair tutelage of master baker Patsy Margey, I eventually decided to become a chef!

Every Saturday morning in the bakery, one of my jobs was to make 24 Black Forest Gateaux (along with 24 square chocolate cakes, 24 round chocolate cakes, 24 square coffee cakes and 24 round coffee cakes!) The Black Forest was a great seller in the Oven Door cake shop and Patsy's version also had a biscuit layer, like a cheese cake base, on the bottom!

I thought about this stage of my life one day last week and as I hadn't seen a Black Forest Gateau for years, I suddenly decided to make one! The classic Black Forest was flavoured with Kirsch, which is a clear brandy traditionally made from double distillation of black Morello cherries.

You can use any Cherry Brandy or a non-alcoholic Cherry flavoured drink if you wish. I didn't make a biscuit base for this one. Maybe next time. You can make the chocolate cake the day before if you wish and keep it covered with a cloth until ready to assemble.

It is quite easy, so, here's the recipe and method for a Black Forest Gateaux:

The Cake:
6oz/150g Butter
6oz/150g Caster Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
8oz/200g Plain Flour
3oz/75g Drinking Chocolate
4 Large Eggs
2 level tsp Baking Powder
A papered and greased 10"/25cm Cake Tin

The Filling:
50 ml Kirsch, Cherry Brandy, or Cherry Cordial
1x 425g tin of pitted Black Cherries
3 tablespoons Cornflour mixed in a little water

The Cream:
500ml Whipping Cream
50g Caster Sugar
Dash of Vanilla Extract

The Sides:
200g Grated Chocolate of your choice

Method:
1. Cream the Butter, Sugar and Vanilla essence together, until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add the eggs to mixture while still beating (add a little flour with each egg if it looks like it is starting to curdle).  Mix together the rest of the flour with the drinking chocolate and baking powder and gently add this to the cake mixture.
3. Pour into the cake tin and Bake at 175*C Fan Oven for 35 minutes. Test the centre with a skewer.
4. Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely. Turn it out for preparation.

The Black Forest Gateaux:

1. Take 12 cherries out of the tin and leave aside for decoration.

2. Empty the rest of the tin of black cherries into a small pot. Add a dash of your Kirsch/Cherry Brandy and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Mix the cornflour into the water and add half of this to the hot cherry mix. This will thicken up the juice. Add a little more if you need, to get it to the consistence of a hot Jam mixture. Take it off the heat, pour into a cold bowl and leave in the fridge to cool down completely.

3. Whip 500ml cream together with 50g caster sugar and a dash of Vanilla Extract, until quite stiff.

4. Cut the cake into 3 even layers. Divide the remaining Kirsch/Cherry Brandy over the three layers of cake by sprinkling it equally over each. Then spread some Cream onto each cake layer.

5. Spoon half of the cooled Black Cherry mix onto the first layer of cake. Spread it evenly and place a second layer of cake on top of the first. Repeat with a spread of whipped cream and the other half of the black cherry mix. Top off with the third layer of chocolate cake.

6. Cover the complete cake with whipped cream (keeping some back for decorating the top) and use a scraper or spatula to smooth it off around the sides and the top.

7. Gently cover the sides of the cake with the grated chocolate. Work this quickly so that it doesn't start to melt and stick to your fingers. Tidy up your service plate around the edges of the cake.

8. Pipe or spoon 12 rosettes of cream around the edge of the gateau to portion it and pop the extra black cherries on top of each. Sprinkle some more grated chocolate into the centre of the cake to finish.

Now, see how long it will last!! Enjoy your Black Forest Gateau!

Zack.