Feast or Famine - A Cultural Food Journey of the North West of Ireland

Derry-born chef and cooking lecturer, Emmett McCourt, has just launched a new cookbook tracing the heritage of the traditional foods from the northwest counties of Ireland. The history and recipes, however, reflect similar regional cooking from all over Ireland.

Feast or Famine - A Cultural Food Journey of the North West of Ireland, published by Guildhall Press, is not just a cookbook. It is a remarkable journey through the varied influences that have shaped the style of cooking that is unique to the neighbouring counties of Donegal and Derry. These two counties may have been separated by borders over the years, but they have evolved together like brothers down through the centuries.

"Not only is Irish food amongst the best in the world but our food heritage connects people and places across the globe" says Emmett. "This book offers a window into the past concerning the history of regional Irish food. It also builds positive community relations, conveying the story of our varied cultures through food heritage while renewing the passion and belief in local produce."

Chef Emmett has spent several years researching the history of food in the region and has uncovered ancient recipes, long lost cooking techniques and rediscovered long lost Irish treasures such as the Lumper Potato, which is now undergoing careful growing research to in Ireland to keep it from extinction. He has traced recipes from the time of the Viking settlers and the ancient Irish Chieftains, when venison, turnips, seaweeds, shellfish, fish and wild boar were everyday staple foods along with honey and rhubarb.

This book is also beautifully photographed

When the Scot-Irish emigrated to America, they took with them their distilling skills, producing whiskeys, bourbons and moonshine across all the United States. Fishermen from Inishowen in northern County Donegal, who settled in New England, helped found some of the finest and most successful fishing ports in the world today!

There are some significant business success stories that started from humble beginnings in the northwest of Ireland. McCains, based in Canada, are the largest French Fry maker in the world and their ancestors hailed from Castlefin in County Donegal. A Scots-Irish farmer, originally from Derry and who became the richest oil family in America was Samuel Getty. He also gave his name to the town of Gettysburg, the site of President Lincoln's famous address. 

The McIlhenneys from Milford invented the now-famous hot sauce known as Tabasco! Also recalled are the heady days when Lough Swilly was the Herring capital of the world, Magilligan was a world leader in farmed Rabbits and Derry City was producing millions of gallons of whiskey for the US. The book is full of similar stories.

Lough Neagh Eel with Roasted Beetroot, Nuts, Celeraic
in a Broighter Gold Rapeseed Oil Dressing

.

Emmett has researched and re-developed almost 50 recipes for Feast or Famine and his journey has brought him to know some of the north west's greatest story-tellers, modern-day artisan food producers and chefs. The book is also beautifully photographed and is quickly becoming a research book of choice for many of Ireland's college departments of both catering and Irish history. The history and recipes reflect similar regional cooking all over Ireland.

Wheaten Bread cooking in a Griddle Pan over an open Turf Fire

Emmett McCourt's Wheaten Bread Recipe
(with Metric & US Cup measurements)

Ingredients (makes 1 medium loaf)
1 Cup/150g Plain Flour
1 Cup/150g Wholemeal Flour
1 Cup/100g Rolled (Porridge) Oats
1 tsp salt
2 tspn Baking Powder
2 tblsp/40g Butter
2 tblsp/40g Caster Sugar
1 Cup/250ml Buttermilk
(if you have no buttermilk, add juice of 1/4 lemon to ordinary milk - zack)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4/ 350°F. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
2. Stir the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Rub the butter into the flour mixture.
3. Pour in the buttermilk and work the mixture to a thick, but not too soft, consistency.
4. Shape the dough and place on your baking tray. Pierce the centre, cut an "X" on top, 1/3 of the way through and sprinkle with a little more wholemeal flour.
5. Bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. The bottom of the bread should sound hollow when tapped in the centre.

Emmett Mc Court with Rene Redzepi of Noma Restaurant.
Both chefs share the same commitment to preserving the history of a country's food provenance

Feast or Famine - A Cultural Food Journey of the North West of Ireland is an amazing book that simultaneously educates the palate and the mind. It will become a must-have bookshelf addition for all who have a passion for Irish Food. It is available to purchase online from Guildhall Press at www.ghpress.com

The Irish Food Heritage Project are hosting the Official Launch of "Feast or Famine - A Cultural Journey of the North West of Ireland" at 11am on Tuesday 17th June, at the Titanic Quarter Campus of the Belfast Metropolitan College. This is going to be a culinary showcase with guest speakers, followed by a finger buffet lunch and book signing at the Linen Lounge Restaurant.

Get along and hear the story behind this amazing book and get your own signed copy while you're there!

For further info on the Launch contact Gavin Doran at Belfast Metropolitan College on:
 gdoran at belfastmet.ac.uk

Zack.

Entries Open for the Sheridan's National Irish Brown Bread Competition

Entries are now being accepted for the 2nd Annual National Irish Brown Bread Competition which will be held on Sunday 25th May with €150 Cash Prize for the Winner!

This popular bake-off is already one of the most important Baking Competitions in Ireland and is held as part of the annual Sheridans Cheesemongers Irish Food Festival. The festival, organised by Ireland's most famous Cheese family is now in it's fifth year and is hosted at their Virginia Road Station headquarters in Pottlereagh, Co Meath.

RTE’s Ella McSweeney will be hosting the event as well as judging the competition along with Chapter One Chefs Cathal Leonard and Darren Hogarty and the lady who inspired the Sheridan brother’s love of brown bread, their mam Maura Sheridan!

That's My Homemade Brown Bread - Yum!

The Rules of the Brown Bread Competition are:

• The competition is open to anyone who has baked their brown bread entry at home.
• €5 fee per entry -advance payment if entering online, or pay on the day if submitting entry via post/email/in person
• Any shape of bread is permitted, but 1 lb weight loaves are recommended.
• Marks out of 10 will be awarded for the breads and 1 point is available for “Irish Ingredients” 
• Judging will take place at the festival and the breads must be delivered to the Brown Bread tent by 11am.

The overall winner will be announced at 3.30pm and will receive a cash prize of €150 plus a selection of Irish Foods including Irish flour from Macroom Oatmeal Mills and Dunany Organic Farm with which to keep making their brown bread.

The Deadline for receipt of Entries is Friday 23rd May 2014.

For Full details and to Enter the National Irish Brown Bread Competition, Click HERE or go to
http://www.sheridanscheesemongers.com/sheridans-national-irish-brown-bread-competition/

Best of Luck to everyone!

Zack

glutenfree baked oats with blue- and blackberries

way too late we discovered the great "green kitchen stories"-cookbook of luise vindahl and david frenkiel. we already were fans of their cool blog and now we have a crush on their cookbook as well. nearly every recipe sounds so delicious - so we got really excited and decided to start with a baked oats recipe (page 37), which we modified a bit. instead of hazelnuts we took sunflower seeds, instead of almond milk we choose rice milk and we mixed some blueberries under the blackberries. what are actually your experiences with seeds and nuts, if you have a histamine intolerance? you always hear, that nuts are a taboo and seeds are fine. 
now something for the eyes: the white handmade porcellain we used for the shoot (plate, baking dish, vase) is by jars - a french brand. and the small plate with the elegant fine lines is from claudia schoemig porzellan - a berlin based ceramist, which we introduced you already in a "stores we love" - post.




ingredients (for a baking dish 16-14cm - 2pers.)
200-250g berries (we took 2/3 blackberries and 1/3 blueberries)
80g oat flakes glutenfree
1 tl tartar baking powder
1 dash of salt
1 egg
250ml rice milk (or another milk)
40ml maple syrup
1tl coconut oil
45g pumkin seeds
45g sunflower seeds
(some vanilla - (aroma, sugar or bean - who can and want))

preheat the oven to 190degrees and grease the baking dish with coconut oil. wash the berries and cover the bottom of the baking dish with them completely. mix oatflakes, baking powder and a dash of salt in a separate bowl and spread the mix on the berries evenly. then mix the egg with the milk (and vanilla) in a big glass and pour the liquid over the oat flakes. now put the maple syrup and coconut oil in a smaller bowl, add all the seeds and mix everything so all seeds are covered with syrup and oil (best use your hands). spread the seeds over the oat flakes/egg-milk-mix. bake everything for 35-40min at 190degrees until the seeds turn slightly brown. let the dish cool down a few minutes.

german translation

viel zu spät haben wir das tolle buch "green kitchen stories" im deutschen "die grüne küche - köstliche vegetarische ideen für jeden tag" entdeckt. denn schon lange sind wir begeistert von luise vindahl`s und david frenkiel`s tollem blog und nun hat uns auch noch ihr buch den kopf verdreht! fast jedes einzelne rezept klingt wirklich köstlich!! so auch ein baked oats rezept, zu finden auf seite 37 , das wir allerdings leicht abgeändert haben. anstelle von haselnüssen haben wir sonnenblumenkerne verwendet, anstelle von mandelmilch reismilch, und wir haben unsere baked oats nicht nur mit brombeeren sondern auch noch mit blaubeeren verfeinert. wie ist denn eigentlich eure erfahrung mit kernen (sonnenblumenkerne, kürbiskerne...) bei einer histaminintoleranz? vertragt ihr die? denn es heißt immer nur nüsse sind tabu, von kernen ist meist nie die rede. wir haben jedenfalls ein gutes gefühl bei den kernen und würden uns freuen zu hören, wie das bei euch ist!

das weiße porzellan, das ihr in den bildern seht, ist übrigens (bis auf den kleinen teller) mal wieder von jars. der teller ist von schoemig porzellan, von dem wir euch ja schon mehr als begeistert hier berichtet haben. 

zutaten (für eine springform 16x14cm - 2 pers.)

200-250g beeren (wir haben 2/3 brombeeren und 1/3 blaubeeren gemischt)

80g haferflocken

1 tl weinsteinbackpulver

1 prise salz

1 ei

250ml reismilch (oder milch nach wahl)

40ml ahornsirup

1 tl kokosöl

45g kürbiskerne

45g sonnenblumenkerne

(etwas vanille (aroma, zucker o. schote - wer will und kann))

den ofen auf 190grad vorheizen und die aufflaufform mit kokosöl einfetten. die beeren waschen und den boden der auflaufform komplett damit bedecken. die haferflocken mit dem backpulver und einer prise salz vermengen und über die beeren gleichmäßig streuen. dann das ei mit der milch (und etwas vanille) in einem glas oder schüssel gut verquirlen und die haferflocken damit übergießen. nun den ahornsirup, das kokosfett und die kürbis-und sonnenblumenkerne in einer schüssel gut miteinander vermengen (am besten mit den händen) und über den haferflocken/ei-milchmasse verteilen. für 35-40min bei 190grad backen bis die kerne leicht gebräunt sind. noch etwas abkühlen lassen. 

Some handy Cooking Tips for any Kitchen

I was sent this infographic by David Dempsey of Noel Dempsey Kitchen & Bedroom Design, based in Charvey Business Park, Rathnew, County Wicklow and thought you might like to print it out and stick it up in your Kitchen!

Right-Click on the infographic above and click "Open image in a new Tab" to get the full-size image and then you can print it out from there.

You can check out Noel's Kitchen Design company at http://noeldempsey.com

Zack

glutenfree rhubarb cake

finally! the rhubarb-time is back! do you also like rhubarb as much as we do? 

if not - we do have the perfect cake-recipe to make you a rhubarb-fan!

in most cases rhubarb is well tolerated if you have a histamine-intolerance, unlike it is with egg white, but about that we already talked a few times. apparently there are many people with HIT who can eat egg white, so we classify this rhubarb cake low-histamine. please tell us, if you have other experiences with egg white!

our new design letters cups you could have seen already on our instagram-account, but on the blog it is their first "appearance". we bought them in the cute pomeranza shop, about which we will tell you surely more soon. so far so good - here finally the recipe! 

ingredients (for a 18-20cm ø springform pan) 

120g salted butter

100g + 115g sugar

180g rice flour (or similar)

4 eggs

1tl (gehäuft) tartan baking powder (e.g. from biovita)

300g (peeled) rhubarb

(good to know: eggs and butter should have room-temperatur while using - that helps the dough and especially the beaten egg whites to succeed. to get the eggs faster to room-temperatur you can put them some minutes before using in a glas with warm water. and who doesn't has salted butter just adds a dash of salt to the dough.)

preheat oven to 170degrees top/bottom-heat. beat butter and 100g sugar for 1-2min until fluffy. separate 2 eggs and stir the eggyolks plus the 2 left eggs step by step to the butter-mix (save the egg whites for later). sift rice flour and baking powder and stir in by portions to the butter-egg-mix. cover the bottom of the springform pan with baking paper and spread butter on the sides. peel the rhubarb, cut off the ends and chop about a third in small cubes to fold in the dough. fill the dough into the springform pan, cut the remaining rhubarb to 4cm long pieces and arrange them circular on the top (press the rhubarb lightly in the dough). bake the cake at 170 degrees for 25min in the middle of the oven. prepare the beaten egg white (just before the baking time ends): whisk the egg whites with a dash of salt until semi-stiff, then add 115g sugar portion by portion and whisk the egg whites till stiff. spread the egg white on the cake and bake again for 20-25min (try to not to spread the egg white to close to the springform rim, because the egg white will expand while baking). after baking leave the cake cool down on an oven grid for 15min, then take off the springform pan and the baking paper carefully and let cool down completely on the grid again.

german translation

juchuu! endlich ist wieder rhabarber-zeit! mögt ihr rhabarber auch so gern wie wir? falls nicht, haben wir das ultimative kuchenrezept um euch zum rhabarber-fan zu machen!

in den meisten fällen ist rhabarber auch bei einer histaminintoleranz  gut verträglich, anders ist das natürlich mit dem eiweiß, aber darüber haben wir ja jetzt schon öfter geschrieben. da es anscheinend genügend leute gibt, die bei HIT auch das eiweiß vertragen, stufen wir unseren kuchen als histaminarm ein. falls ihr mit dem eiweiß andere erfahrungen habt, sagt uns bescheid!

unsere neuen tassen von design letters konntet ihr auf unserem instagram-account schon sehen, aber hier auf dem blog haben sie heute ihren ersten auftritt. gekauft haben wir sie in dem schönen laden pomeranza, über den wir euch an anderer stelle sicher noch mehr berichten werden. aber jetzt auf zum rezept!

zutaten (für eine eine 18-20cm ø springform) 

120g gesalzene butter

100g + 115g zucker

180g reismehl (o.ä.)

4 eier

1tl (gehäuft) weinsteinbackpulver

300g (geschälten) rhabarber

(gut zu wissen: eier und butter sollten zimmertemperatur haben, damit der teig und besonders der eischnees gut gelingt. die eier kann man auch kurz vor dem gebrauch in einem glas mit warmem wasser auf zimmertemperatur bringen. wer keine salzige butter hat, gibt einfach eine prise salz zum teig hinzu.)

ofen auf 170g ober/unterhitze vorheizen. butter und 100g zucker 1-2min schaumig rühren. 2 eier trennen und die eigelbe plus 2 ganze eier nach und nach unter die buttermasse rühren (eiweiße beiseite stellen für den eischnee). das mehl und backpulver sieben und schrittweise unter die butter-ei-masse rühren. springformboden mit backpapier auslegen und ränder mit butter ausstreichen. rhabarber schälen, enden abschneiden und etwa ein drittel in kleine würfel schneiden und unter die teigmasse heben. teigmasse in die form füllen und restlichen rhabarber in etwa 4cm lange stücken schneiden und den teig kreisförmig damit komplett bedecken (rhabarberstücken leicht in teig hineindrücken). den kuchen bei 170grad 25min auf der mittleren schiene backen. kurz vor ende der backzeit den eischnee vorbereiten. dafür die eiweiße mit einer prise salz halbsteif schlagen, dann 115g zucker portionsweise zugeben und schlagen, bis der eischnee fest ist. eischnee mit einem großen löffen auf dem kuchen verteilen und für weitere 20-25min backen (eischnee wenn möglich nicht bis ganz zum rand verteilen, da er sich noch ausdehnt). kuchen auf einem gitter für eine viertelstunde abkühlen lassen, dann die springform und das backpapier vorsichtig enfernen und weiter auf dem gitter abkühlen lassen.

Meet the Culinary Team from Ireland going to Hotelympia this Week

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, next week.

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 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 Northwest Culinary Team going to Hotelympia

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 8 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, the 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 are looking forward to competing as an international culinary team at Hotelympia London next week 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 will take this opportunity to promote Ireland and our North West region which will hopefully create more tourism and hospitality jobs in our region."

The Northwest Culinary Team Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/NorthWestCulinaryTeamFundraiser

You can Follow the team at @NWCulinaryTeam on Twitter as they will be Tweeting as they go, Live from London. Best of Success guys!


Zack

behind the scenes & die leckersten veganen pancakes

die talentierte fotografin ezgi polat, eine meiner liebsten freundinnen, hat uns neulich bei der arbeit zugesehen und das ganze fotografisch festgehalten. wenn ihr also schon immer mal wissen wolltet wie  es bei uns hinter den kulissen aussieht wenn wir einen neuen post vorbereiten: here you go!

und außerdem haben wir natürlich noch ein rezept für euch im gepäck...nämlich die besten veganen pancakes die wir je gegessen haben. und auch ezgi war bei der anschließenden verkostung begeistert!

ich muss zugeben, als ich das erste mal von bananen pancakes gelesen habe, war ich etwas skeptisch. aber das instagram bild von Jonas sah so gut aus, das wir unbedingt einen versuch wagen wollten. histaminarm ist das ganze jetzt nicht unbedingt, es sei denn ihr vertragt trotz HIT bananen. aber dafür ist das rezept natürlich wie immer glutenfrei. verwendet haben wir dafür eine mischung aus buchweizen und reismehl. wer buchweizenmehl (bei HIT ja nicht immer gut bekömmlich)nicht vertägt, kann das ganze natürlich auch nur mit reismehl machen, funktioniert auch wunderbar! und an alle veganer: die pancakes sind vegan, beim topping haben wir joghurt verwendet, was natürlich nicht vegan ist. diesen dann einfach durch apfelmus ersetzen.

zutaten (für 2pers.)

2 bananen

150 ml milch (reismilch, mandelmilch, kuhmilch…)

50g reismehl

50g buchweizenmehl

20g haferflocken (z.b. glutenfrei bauck)

1 tl weinsteinbackpulver 

1/2 tl zimt

1 prise salz

kokosöl (z.b. von bio planete)

topping

blaubeerjoghurt

ahornsirup

blaubeeren

die Bananen in einem tiefen Teller mit einer Gabel zerdrücken und die milch unterrühren. in einer separaten schüssel mehl, haferflocken, backpulver, zimt und salz miteinander vermischen und anschliessend den bananenstampf untermischen und gut verrühren. in einer pfanne etwas kokosöl zum schmelzen bringen und bei mittlerer hitze mit einem esslöffel den teig zu kleinen pancakes portionieren,  2-3min von jeder seite knusprig anbraten lassen. lecker dazu ist blaubeerjoghurt mit ahornsirup und frischen blaubeeren, oder auch einfach apfelmuss mit etwas zucker. 

ENGLISH VERSION
vegan banana pancakes

ingredients (for 2pers.)

2 bananas

150ml milk (rice milk, almond milk, cow milk…)

50g rice flour

50g buckwheat flour

20g oat flakes (e.g. glutenfree from bauck)

1 tsp tartar baking powder (e.g. from bio vita )

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 dash of salt

coconut oil (e.g. from bio planate)

topping:

blueberry-yoghurt

maple syrup

blueberries

mash the bananas with a fork in a soup plate and stir in the milk. mix flours, oat flakes, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl and stir in the banana-milk-mix. melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan and use a tablespoon to portion the dough to small pancakes. fry pancakes 2-3min on every side at middle heat until brown and a bit crispy. you can serve the pancakes with blueberry-yoghurt, maple syrup and a few fresh blueberries on top, but they are also quite delicious with apple puree and cane sugar.