Doneraile Wildlife Park
11th October 2020
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Taste of the Week. O'Mahony's Pork Burger with Sobrasada.
Sobrasada
Taste of the Week.
O'Mahony's Pork Burger with Sobrasada.
Thanks to O'Mahony Butchers in the English Market (Grand Parade end) and to Neighbourfood, we've got another delicious Taste of the Week. The secret here is surely the Sobrasada. What is Sobrasada? You might well ask.
Didn't know much about until I was completing my order for Neighbourfood and saw it in the description for this product and found out it is a mildly cured chorizo which works really well with sweet pork. I've often taken Eoin O'Mahony's word for strange terms before and he's never let me down!
So I continued with the order and more or less forgot about it until the Wednesday delivery. And we were amazed with the class and quality of the burgers which also contain fresh parsley, apple and Kalamata olives.
Superb pork too of course. With fries added, also a salad (mostly from the garden) and lashings of the superb Smoked Ketchup from Tipperary's Three Men in a Trailer, we were on a winner. Thank you Mr O'Mahony!
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| Pic from Neighbourfood listing |
Great Taste reveals trophy nominations, as Golden Forks go virtual on October 22nd
Great Taste reveals trophy nominations,
as Golden Forks go virtual
Following a record-breaking 12,777 entries judged over 14 weeks, Great Taste has named this year’s Golden Fork nominees, with the big winners set to be announced during a virtual ceremony on Thursday 22 October. Taking place across the Guild of Fine Food’s social media channels and website from 10am – 6pm, this online event will allow more people than ever to share in the drama and excitement of Great Taste’s grand finale, as the world’s most trusted food and drink awards shines a spotlight on the best of the best.
Coming later in the year than usual, after the lockdown interrupted judging just one week into the schedule, the Golden Fork trophy announcements will provide a vital boost for the industry during the all-important run-up to Christmas. Following many weeks of remote judging, followed by socially distanced judging in London and Dorset, the virtual Golden Fork event will be the final instalment in a Great Taste calendar that has been reinvented at every stage, in order to stimulate much-needed consumer support for independent retail and hospitality over the challenging months ahead.
Beginning at 10am with the first regional trophy, the Golden Fork winners will be shared at 30 minute intervals throughout the day, building to the announcement of the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2020 at 6pm. A host of Great Taste supporters and judges will reveal the winners, with a line-up including food writer and cook, Xanthe Clay, baker and author, Martha Collison, wine writer and presenter, Jane Parkinson, food and drink broadcaster, Nigel Barden, and James Golding, Chef Director of THE PIG hotel group.
Food lovers, producers, retailers, buyers and chefs can keep up with all the Great Taste Golden Fork announcements via the following channels:
Facebook: @greattasteawards
Instagram: guildoffinefood
Twitter: @guildoffinefood
YouTube: Guild of Fine Food
Website: gff.co.uk/greattaste
#GreatTasteAwards
Great Taste 2020 Golden Fork awards and nominations:
10:00 Golden Fork from London & the South East, sponsored by Stoke Park
Bermondsey Street Honey for Royal Albert Dock Honey
Iain Spigs for Cumberland Sausage
Moving Mountains Foods for Moving Mountains® Sausage Burger
10:30 Golden Fork from East Anglia
Alder Tree for Blackcurrant Fruit Cream Ice
Linden Leaf Botanicals for Le Rêve Organic Molecular Absinthe
SO Drinks for Seville Orange Gin
11:00 Golden Fork from the Midlands
47 Degrees Coffee for Colombian Supremo
The Coffee Collaborative for Coffee Collaborative Genius Blend
Redhill Farm Free Range Pork for Free Range Pork Shoulder
11:30 Golden Fork from the North of England, sponsored by Fine Food Show North
Di Meo's Ice Cream for 100% Pure Bronte Pistachio Gelato
The Lost Barn Coffee Roasters for Bloomsbury Blend
Poetic License Distillery for Northern Dry Gin
12:00 Golden Fork from Scotland
Sarah Gray’s for Sarah Gray’s Raspberry Jam
Shortbread House of Edinburgh for Pea Green Boat Cheese Sablés - Fennel and Chilli
Tayport Distillery for 1992 Raspberry Liqueur
12:30 Golden Fork from Northern Ireland, sponsored by Invest NI
Baronscourt Estate for Wild Sika Venison French Rack
Craic Foods for Black Garlic & Porcini Sea Salt
The Little Bakehouse for Abernethy Lemon Curd
13:00 Golden Fork from Ireland, sponsored by Bord Bia
Crossogue Preserves for Gooseberry Spread
James Whelan Butchers for Heritage Cure Ham
Ummera Smoked Products for Smoked Irish Organic Salmon
13:30 Golden Fork from Wales, sponsored by Food and Drink Wales
Conwy Kombucha for Blighty Booch Kombucha Organic Ginger
Mario's Luxury Dairy Ice Cream for Mario’s Red Cherry Sorbet
Wenallt Hive for Honey Vinegar with Raspberries
14:00 Golden Fork from the South West, sponsored by Bishop Fleming
The Artisan Kitchen for Pink Gin Marmalade
Capreolus Fine Foods for Smoked Pancetta
Jess's Ladies Organic Farm Milk for Jess's Ladies Organic Double Cream
14:30 Golden Fork for Best Imported Food, sponsored by Speciality & Fine Food Fair
Anchoas Hazas for Anchoas Hazas | Anchovies (Spain)
Caseificio Il Fiorino Srl for Riserva del Fondatore Fiorini Duilio (Italy)
Embutidos Ferju for Cecina de León IGP (Spain)
15:00 Ambient Product of the Year
15:30 Nigel Barden Heritage Award, sponsored by Dunbia
16:00 Great Taste Startisan of the Year, sponsored by Partridges
16:30 Charcuterie Product of the Year, sponsored by Fine Food Digest
17:00 Small Artisan Producer of the Year
17:30 Contribution to Fine Food, sponsored by the Guild of Fine Food
18:00 Great Taste Supreme Champion 2020
Details of this year’s 1-, 2- and 3-star winners can be found at www.greattasteawards.co.uk and a wide range of award winning products are available to buy in delis, farm shops and independent retail outlets across the country.
press release
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Tindal Helmed Spanish Wine Week Webinar. The evolutionary journey of Spanish Wine.
Tindal Helmed Spanish Wine Week Webinar
The evolutionary journey of Spanish Wine
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| A "cathedral" in Jerez |
Back in 2013, at a dinner in Ballymaloe House, Telmo Rodríguez declared that wine in Spain “had been in the wrong hands, now it is starting to be in the right hands. I am between a boring generation and an exciting generation”.
Now Telmo finds himself handing over the baton to that new generation of Spanish winemakers, as he told this week’s Spanish Wine Week webinar hosted by Tindal’s Harriet Tindal MW.
After 30 years pushing the boundary, he is excited in his new role as mentor. “There is a most exciting new generation, time now to help and support them, to pass on the experience…. especially to help and push on the kids from the countryside. Now I love to teach and leave the others to do the job. I’m very proud of the last 30 years, recuperating grapes, recuperating vineyards. Now’s the time to recuperate the small grower.”
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| Mountain wine |
But it had disappeared and off he went to Malaga and began to search for the high altitude old vineyards and, as is his habit, talked a lot to the old people. He didn’t get too far but, in 1998, settled on an area and with advice from Château Y’Quem, started production. He secured a plot and then planted it with Moscatel. It took three or four years. He finally got it right and the results were exquisite.
Harriet Tindal got the best from a strong line-up for the seminar which was titled "The Progress of Tradition. A discussion on the evolutionary journey of Spanish Wine.” Telmo’s colleagues on the panel were Jonatan García, Suertes del Marques, Tenerife; Jan Petersen, Fernando de Castilla, Jerez; and Sara Pérez, Mas Martinet, Priorat.
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| The dazzling white albariza soil of Jerez |
When Jan Petersen took over Fernando de Castilla in 2000, the small firm was already well-known in Spain for the quality of its sherries and brandies. The firm organised new staff in both production and sales and that, along with the acquisition of a neighbouring high-quality vineyard in 2001, led to their wines being recognised worldwide. In 2000, they were selling 30,000 bottles, now it is 400,000.
In his previous work with Osbournes, Jan had noticed a tendency towards buying better quality sherry. “There was a trend towards quality and we (Fernando de Castilla) helped create that trend, making more interesting sherry. We will always remain in that premium sector, will never supply big supermarket chains. We are also working hard on our brandy (which is raised in sherry casks). We have a very good network of distributors who, like Tindal, share our philosophy.
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| With Telmo (right) in Ballymaloe 2013 |
“History, that’s where we need to start, making tradition into modernity. Jerez is the most traditional wine area in Spain as wine has been made here for over 3,000 years. People call me a sherry romantic but go back in history and see what kinds of wines were appreciated. The cheap sherry market is dying. Indeed, the average age of consumers for one of the best known brands was surveyed at 77 years old.”
Jan is more into the lighter sherries and the firm bottles no less than five wines En Rama. “We were the first to use clear bottles for sherry and now some of the bigger companies have followed us. Lots of smaller companies didn’t exist 20 years ago are finding customers.”
“To make the highest quality, you need the highest quality fruit - you need to start in the vineyard. We harvest by hand and we don’t transport the fragile young wines to the cellar immediately - we wait a year to take them to the cathedrals of wine.” Lots of attention to detail here also, floors are watered regularly, good ventilation is maintained and the cellar faces the Atlantic.
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| Sometimes, the old ways are best. In Priorat. |
Harriet introduced Sara Pérez and told us she was “pushing barriers in Priorat”. And you could see straight away that Sara is determined to get the very best from the granitic and schist soil of the land, a land capable of so much diversity in its wines.
“We must stretch ourselves, need to express our place, our small vineyards, our magic soil, in our wines. It is important to live together with our tradition and future. We don’t use a lot of technology. If we ignore the past (which includes orange and sweet wine), we’ll not have doors and windows to the future.”
Harriet had many slides, photos and videos to illustrate the various points but the one that stood out for me was that of the amazing extended vines of Jonatan García in Tenerife. These are over 100 years old and stretch to between 40 and 50 meters. They take a different kind of pruning!
They grow mostly red grapes with Listán Negra the most popular. But there are many varieties on the island, most with unfamiliar names. There are some 50 indigenous grapes and they are still counting.
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| The long vines of Tenerife |
He was asked if manpower is a problem for him. “I’m a bit lucky. There are lots of young people familiar with the vines, always family to help and more manpower available at weekends.”
Spain, with its youth, its innovation, its diversity of terroir, (“a continent more than a country”, one speaker said), its huge selection of styles and grapes, its reserve of experience (as illustrated by Telmo (born into wine), and there are many more)), its respect for the past, its well-made well-priced wines, is very well placed indeed to be a major player at the quality end of the wine market for decades to come. Salud!
While sometimes sailor Telmo may be passing on the baton, that didn’t stop him from getting up early on the morning of the seminar to attend to the harvest. It was pretty cold outside - “I tell people the Rioja harvest is in winter” and he had the fire blazing in the background. Zoom doesn’t miss much.
Cheers #24: Blacks Distillery. Teeling Masterclass. Waterford's Organic Spirit. White Hag Smash. Austria's Sweet Wines.
Cheers #24: Blacks Distillery. Waterford's Organic Spirit.
White Hag Smash. Teeling Masterclass. Austria's Sweet Wines.
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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
At Home With Da Mirco On A Saturday night
At Home With Da Mirco On A Saturday night
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| MACCHERONI ALLA PUTTANESCA |
PARMIGIANA DI MELANZANE (GF)
Alternating layers of Fried Aubergine, Tomato Sauce, Pecorino Cheese served with Bruschettina
POLENTA TARAGNA AL FUNGHI PORCINI VALTELLINESI (GF)
Dark flour Polenta filled with Casera Cheese and Wild Porcini Mushrooms from Valtellina
MACCHERONI ALLA PUTTANESCA (GF on request)
Homemade Maccheroni Pasta served in da Mirco Tomato Sauce, Black Olives and Capers
FOCACCIA E OLIVE
Homemade Focaccia bread with olives.
Ichnusa non Filtrata 330ml
Unfiltered Lager 5% Vol. (Sardegna)
Menabrea Bionda 330ml
Premium Lager 4.8% Vol. (Piemonte)
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| A Hearty Taste of Valtellina |
With the restaurants closed again last weekend it was time to start looking at the various At Home menus being offered. After our successful “raid” into West Cork for Curly Stu’s pizzas the previous evening, we decided to stay on the Italian track and order from Da Mirco on Saturday. We knew we were on a good thing, having already enjoyed a take-home meal from the Bridge Street restaurant earlier in the pandemic.
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| Fried Aubergine, and more! |
And there were some encouraging signs too when we studied the menu. Mirco, like many restaurants, is using the very efficient TablePath software for both reservations and At Home. We spotted a starter from Valtellina, Mirco’s home town in the north east of Italy. In addition, the chef is from Naples and is well up on his Maccheroni alla Puttanesca. The list on top is just our selection from a much bigger menu (Wednesday to Friday 5:30 to 8:30 and Saturday 5 to 9).
We ordered Saturday morning and called to collect at the allotted time of 5.30pm. But you can order up to half an hour before collection and you may also call in and order. Mirco was in great form when we arrived despite his chairs and tables stacked up around the empty room. Soon we had our bags packed and were heading home.
We started with the Parmigiana Di Melanzane, alternating layers of Fried Aubergine, Tomato Sauce, Pecorino Cheese served with Bruschettina. From first bite until last, there was hardly a word said around the table, just a hum of satisfaction, confirmed by words of delighted agreement that we were well on the Italian way, the real thing.
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| Tiramisu |
Next up was the dark dish, the Polenta with cheese (made from semi-skimmed cows milk) and topped with wild porcini mushrooms from Valtellina with some Irish as well. Quite a starter, the cheese melting into the polenta, overall rich and delicious, full of flavour and textures and aromas. Very popular in the area in autumn/winter, according to Mirco.
After a decent pause, to open the beers, we started on the mains, a dish that could hardly be simpler, just the Maccheroni, Mirco’s own sauce, garlic, a few black olives and capers. Simple and simply delicious.
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| Beer of Sardinia |
The story of the sauce though is not so simple. While Mirco, in his introductory video to the dish, did use the Italian version but not the English. “Go check on Google,” he smiled. “Can’t say bad things here!”. Google will tell you it means the sauce of the prostitute! And a lot more besides. It is a bit spicy and if you wish, Mirco will add chilli to your order.
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| From Italy's oldest brewery |
Time for dessert then and that just had to be Tiramisu! I also ordered a couple of beers, both lagers. The Ichnusa is an unfiltered beer and regarded as the favourite in Sardinia where it is brewed. It was also our favourite of the two, had a bit more going for it compared to the Menabrea Bionda, a clear lager by Italy’s oldest brewery which is based in Piemonte.
Sunday saw us back in traditional mode, enjoying the Sunday roast after a lovely long walk in Doneraile Park, lots of people, loads of space and many a Hello and Good Morning!
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