Taste of the Week
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| Continental |
Nine Cork Farmhouse Cheesemakers Honoured At CÁIS 2024 Hegarty’s ‘Templegall’ Retains Title Of ‘Supreme Champion’
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| Supreme Champion again for Dan Hegarty (left) with cheese makers Jean-Baptiste Enjelvin and Quentin Duboz. Pics by Finbarr O'Rourke |
Nine Farmhouse Cheesemakers from across Co. Cork were honoured this week at the 2024 Irish Cheese Awards during a prestigious ceremony hosted by CÁIS, the Association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers, at Kilshane House in Co. Tipperary on Wednesday April 24th. Between them they took home a total of fourteen awards - the most of any county.
The biennial celebration of Ireland’s farmhouse cheesemakers, now in its tenth year, named winners across
Pandemic or Recession, the Blair Boys never shirk a challenge
The Blairs Boys never shirk a challenge. Their family owned country inn near Cloghroe has, like many restaurants, been ambushed and battered by pandemics and rising costs, yet Duncan and Richie have come up fighting, still cooking and serving the good stuff, seasonal comforting food these bleak December days.
But leave your bleakness at the door, as they do. Lots of smiles and chats in here as regulars know. And of course they have craft beer, a full menu of it. Indeed, they were one of the pioneers (not the kind with the badge) of local beer, matching it with their local produce. On the current list, brewers such as West Kerry, Blacks of Kinsale, West Cork Brewing and 9 White Deer are highlighted.
The Stag Gluten Free Stout by 9 White Deer has been a big hit here over the years and was one of our drinks during the visit. The other was their Kölsch, a summer favourite of ours. Not summer now but the Blairs fire was warm and the beer went down a treat. Also spotted the new 9 White Deer Export Stout 7.4% (Stout Aged in Blackwater whiskey casks in West Waterford) and that came home with us. We were advised to hold on to it for a while!
We had arrived just as they opened at 1.00pm last Thursday and so did quite a few others and Christmas was very much in the air when a large group of customers came together. And there was plenty of warming food to choose from.
Starters included Soup of the Day with Potato Flatbread; Tartlet of Ardsallagh Goats Cheese, creamed leeks and a beetroot chutney; and Garlic Wild Mushrooms with potato flatbreads. Our pick, available in small and large portions, was the West Cork Whiskey Wings with a Cashel Blue dip and potato flatbreads. Superb flavours from a warming dish ideal for the zero degree weather outside in the valley.
Mains on offer included Roast Half Chicken with all the trimmings including roasties; Angus Beef Burger with cheese, gherkins and house sauce and with skin-on wedges; Roast stuffed loin of Timoleague Pork with all the trimmings with roasties of course!; a seasonal Veggie Pie, topped with Cheddar cheese mash; Thai Green Chicken Curry with steamed rice.
My pick was the Cottage Pie of ground beef topped with creamy mash and a side salad, another comforting warm blast against the cold! But I think, on the basis of a spoon or two, that CL was the winner here with a tempting looking Fisherman's Pie of fresh fish topped with smoked Hegarty’s Cheese and dill mash. It looked tempting mostly because, unusually, the chunky fish pieces were floating around an island of the tasty mash. Something different but very satisfying indeed. Just like everything else on the menu, this was comfort food at its best, perfect for the weather this time of year.
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| This one came home! |
Finished off with a chat with the brothers and wished them luck for the months ahead. But those two know you make your own luck where the main ingredient is hard work. Their loyal local customers know that too and, combined, that’s a solid foundation for whatever pestilence or economic woe that may (or may not) lie around the corner.
Taste of the Week
Cully & Sully's Tempting Tomato Risotto
Lots of good things to eat at the weekend's Ballymaloe Grainstore's May Fair. No surprise with that and no surprise either that we found our current Taste of the Week at the Cully & Sully stall.
Of course, they had their famous soups on display but we were directed, in the best possible manner, to try their range of risottos: Tempting Tomato, Charming Chicken and Moreish Mushroom.
To make a long story short, we arrived home with a bagful and, having tasted a couple in Ballymaloe, were keen to try one in earnest and in full.
We had eaten well around the Fair so didn't need a full dinner. So we made the Tempting Tomato the centrepiece of our supper, adding a variety of leaves from the garden, some artichoke globe quarters container bought from Olives West Cork via Neighbourfood, and some superb sourdough from the Grumpy Bakers (also bought at the May Fair). Some EVOO was added as was some of Hegarty's new Ballinvarrig cheese (we had no Parmesan in the house!) was grated (very finely) on top.
As expected, the Risotto was a winner and instantly declared our Taste of the Week. Now looking forward to trying out the Mushroom and Chicken.
Lots more info and recipes from Cully & Sully here.
* One pack of the risotto makes a meal for one, or if shared, a meal for two with the addition of other bits and pieces such as detailed above.
Continental Cheese Selection
From Simply Better By Dunnes Stores
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| Gorgonzola Piccanta |
A Christmas present of cheese put me thinking of a Swiss holiday and an excursion to the town of Gruyères, and aliens! There were fabulous views, a church, a chateau, and the famous cheese!
There was also a strange museum – based on the film Alien. The HG Giger Museum is based on the work of the graphic artist of the same name, who did the special effects for the film and others (such as Poltergeist 11).
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| This way for cheese! |
A similarly themed bar is adjacent and it was here that we had coffee and minuscule meringues made with Gruyère. Then a short drive downhill to an “industrial” cheese manufacturer where a robot is usefully employed turning, watering and replacing big wheels of cheese in the racks.
Gruyère was included in Continental Cheese Selection by Simply Better Dunnes Stores at Christmas and it was quite a pleasant and tasty surprise, not least because some were “new” to me, as the vast majority of the cheese eaten here in this house over the past few years has been Irish.
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| Babies in the bar. G'us a drink, now! |
So it was nice to see and taste what is going on the continent. And there was a good bit of variety in the selection. There were two fairly familiar cheeses, the Gruyère and the Gorgonzola. The other two were completely new to me, the soft rind Langres from Champagne and the L’Edel de Cleron from Franche-Comte. Also included was a little jar of Fig and Macadamia Nut Chutney from Girona in Spain; the nuts from Australia the all-spice from Jamaica.
What now for lunch? I thought of this selection and we opened the L’Edel de Cleron produced by Jean Perrin. I was reading about it and saw that Perrin makes it with milk from Jura Mountain Montbéliarde cows, the same milk used for Mont D’Or (both are wrapped in spruce bark).
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| In the belly of the beast! Inside the pub in Gruyeres |
So we heated up the cheese in its little round box and, when warm and soft, scooped it out with fingers of toast. Very delicious indeed, lusciously creamy and it vanished very quickly. Just the job though for lunch and I drizzled some of local honey (Leamlara) onto the last few scoops and that added to the pleasure.
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| Langres Cathedral |
Langres is named after a little town in Champagne and is distinguished by a wee hollow on top of its small drum shape designed to hold a tiny pool of brine while maturing. Our producer, Fromagier Schertonleib, went a spirited step beyond and this is matured with Marc de Champagne! A touch of class.
It is a cows milk cheese with an edible orange coloured rind. It is creamy and smooth and melts on the palate. There is a delicate pungent aroma while the flavour is light, though the intensity of aroma and flavour can change as it matures. It is excellent on its own or when used in cooking.
By the way, we did use the multi-national chutney with all the cheeses (plus some Hegarty’s Cheddar that we had in the fridge) and it was excellent. The versatile Spiced Plum and Port Jam (by The Big Red Kitchen) also saw plenty of use and really starred with the Gorgonzola, as did the lovely Toro Albalá Marqués de Poley Oloroso (from O'Briens Wine).
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| Gorgonzola (via Pixabay) |
Speaking of Gorgonzola, this Piccante Gorgonzola (AOP) was produced by the Arrigoni family in Lombardy, a region where nowadays the famous blue is made mostly in commercial plants. It traditionally has a white moist paste with green/blue veining and a sharp lactic smell.
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| The chateau at Gruyeres |
Our Piccante has a beautiful smooth texture and a rich spicy flavour - so little bits are best! The rind is inedible. There are two types of this cheese, Piccante (savoury) and Dolce (sweet), with the latter (less blue-veined with a more delicate taste) representing some 90% of the production (ref: The Oxford Companion to Cheese).
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| French Onion soup with Gruyère (at Market Lane) |
And the Gruyère? Characteristics of this famous Swiss cheese are its dry, firm and chewy texture and a moderately tangy flavour and with a nutty sweet finish - no need for any chutney here. A good one for the cheeseboard and a superb cooking cheese. The rind by the way is inedible.
Ours, a 15-month cave aged cheese, is made in traditional copper vats by the Margot family in the heart of the Jura Mountains and it is slowly matured in caves. The texture is firm and smooth and the flavour is rich and intense.
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| Hegarty's copper vat |
Gruyère is made mainly from Holstein milk and its long-time cross-mountain rival Comté (or Gruyère de Comté) from Montbeliarde. Just a few miles north of my house in Cork lies Whitechurch where Hegarty’s make a superb Templegall that can rival the Swiss and French; they use milk from their Freisians and, yes, they make it in a beautiful copper vat (over 60 years old).
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| Crozier. Also had the original Cashel Blue. Cashel is cows milk while Crozier is sheeps. |
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| Gubbeen |
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| Coolea came via the Roughty Fruity selection in the English Market. |
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| Supreme Champions - Marion Roeleveld (left) and Sinead Egan of Killeen Farmhouse Cheese |
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| Congrats all round for Supreme Champion (centre front) |
