Sally's blog

Cockagee Keeved. Carson's Crisp. Highbank Medieval. Dan Kelly's Small Batch. Tempted Dry. Ballyhook Flyer. Long Meadow Medium. Dovehill Reserve. Kilmegan Infused. Dalliance. Con's Medium.
Let's be clear about what is going on here. Whatever else the small collective of Ireland's craft cider makers achieve in their work – riches beyond imagining; the adoration of the nation; improved cross-border relations; etc; etc – they have already achieved a shift in the language we use to describe drinks.

Recently a Chinese waitress in County Cork remarked on how odd it was to see our family using chopsticks: she herself had never felt the need to learn. Chinese food in the country in Ireland is always fairly tragic and it's scary to think that there are a generation of Chinese young people growing up with even less of an idea of their national cuisine than even we have.

Sham Hanifa's Chef Sham Basil Pesto didn't even last an hour in our house. The sweet chilli sauce lasted longer, but we think that was because Number 3 child hid it from the others in order to have it for his noodles. Number 1 child tore into the sundried tomato paste and the tomato chilli chutney. They weren't quite sure what to do with the balsamic jelly, so it's survived a bit longer. Otherwise, however, Chef Sham's sauces are not for long of this earth.

On June 4th, in Kinsale, West Cork, John and Sally McKenna launch Where to Eat and Stay on the Wild Atlantic Way, the first-ever book on the culinary treasures to be discovered on the WAW, all the way from the Foyle Bridge in Derry to Kinsale in West Cork.
Where to Eat and Stay on the Wild Atlantic Way features 350 entries, starting with the brilliant Pyke'n’Pommes food cart, in the shadow of the Foyle Bridge, and ending up with the piscine brilliance of Martin Shanahan’s cooking in Fishy Fishy in Kinsale.

Okay, let's start by maxing out: Matthew Strefford of Moy House, just outside Lahinch in County Clare, cooks a dish of St. Tola goat's cheese tortellini, served with pine nuts, raisins and brown butter. After I had finished it, I wrote in my notebook: “Tortellini may be the best pasta dish I have had in Ireland.”
Yeah, that good. And not only good, but unusual, because the pasta is actually made with flour and potato, a riff on a Neil Perry signature dish, which Mr Strefford has borrowed from his time cooking with Mr Perry in Rockpool, in Australia.

The Celtic Cook-Off – the annual clash of the culinary titans from the Celtic regions of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Brittany, Cornwall and Isle of Man – took place this year for the first time outside West Cork. Instead, the six challengers voyaged to the picturesque home of Loch Fyne Oysters in Argyll, Scotland, to cook-off against one another, against the clock and under the influence of copious quantities of Guinness and whisky.

Taken from Rene Redzepi's interview with John McKenna, and foraging walk with Alys Fowler at the Kerrygold Ballymaloe Lit Fest, 2014.

On Ireland...
The Irish are their own people in a kitchen. They really stand out.

On sweet cicely…
Blend with broth or candy the seed heads.

On being a cook…
I was never meant to be a cook. I came from a Muslim household where women cook.

On burdock…
Eat the roots and shoots – battered.

Sunday, June 22nd, sees the Taste of the Loop at The Bandstand on Kilkee Beach, when the dynamic Loop Head Food Circle invites visitors to celebrate the refurbishment of Kilkee bandstand.

Loop Head is one hell of a place to enjoy a holiday, with great places to stay and great cooking. Here is an excerpt from Where To Eat and Stay on the Wild Atlantic Way, describing the various places on the Loop:

When did it happen that the fine old words of catering – monger, patissier, confectioner – got replaced with words like ambient, part-baked or food service? Thank goodness some sense prevails in institutions like Mortell’s of Limerick, but I’m finding it difficult to think of another café anywhere that, if you order a ham sandwich, they give you their own baked ham, their own coleslaw – made with their own mayonnaise, on their own home baked soft white yeast loaf. Can you imagine how delicious that tastes?

The secret of organic milk lies in the grass, its quality, its diversity, its deliciousness. Conventional farming uses chemical aids to grow grass, but the organic system concentrates more on feeding the soil, thereby creating pastures that are diverse, and deep-rooted. Organics allows for more biodiversity in what grows in the field - organic farmers actually prefer their grassland to be full of clover and other plants, because they know it makes the milk from the cows grazing on the pastures taste better.