I ate my words, and thoroughly enjoyed them
Knocknamuck, I think, has something to do with the Hill Of The Pig. That is appropriate.
Going back a bit, I wrote a piece here about a month ago lamenting that Irish ham producers do not create anything like the range of speciality ham slices such as the cunningly packed German and Spanish packs you buy in supermarkets. These cost a fair amount, look good and taste fine, but you only get about six wafer-thin slices for your money; not enough to take away the edge of a wren’s appetite.
There was no reaction whatsoever from the trade, until young Leonard arrived at my door with the box from Knocknamuck.
Inside were two large hams, and a card which said: “Cormac, you might like to eat your own words! — Michael Horgan.”
And dammit, I love a man with a bit of witty enterprise about him, and that’s why I’m writing this.
Now it so happened that that very night the RTÉ Countrywide radio programme was recording three of the four cracked MacConnell Brothers in my local pub, The Honk, on the edge of Shannon Airport.
The big Horgan’s honey-glazed ham on the bone was cooked already, so I brought it down with me for a communal tasting in The Honk, and Mary Quinlivan, the woman of the house, dispensed it wholesale on brown bread, as the RTÉ people recorded the show in the corner. The major thrust of the event was due to brother Sean’s retirement as The Irish Times’s agriculture correspondent, but there was a lot more than that: music and song from other brother Mickie, Pat Costello and local musicians, a lot of banter and good, old-fashioned craic.
And the entire evening was fortified by the luscious slices from Knocknamuck. They were mighty altogether. And the RTÉ crew was mad for them as well.
For what it is worth, that programme is due to be broadcast on RTÉ 1’s Countrywide on New Year’s Eve morning. The early birds among you can check for yourselves then if it is as much fun to listen to as it was to make.
And if you listen very closely, you might just hear the sound of jaws biting down on those noble slices of ham from Knocknamuck.
I’ve discovered since that the Horgan family of Mitchelstown have been in the butchering business for three generations around Knocknamuck, and they certainly know their stuff. Their website, horgans.com lists all their deli products, and I’m sure the rest are all up to the standard of the honey-glazed ham on the bone.
You may think I was extra generous in donating mine to the communal occasion in The Honk but I did mention, did I not, that there were two hams in the big box? The one I’ve retained is a boneless honey-glazed product which I’m looking forward digging into with relish one of these days. It might even have happened by the time you read this!
Yes, Michael Horgan, I ate my words, and thoroughly enjoyed them!
The peace of the season to all of you as we head into that surreal limbo-land hallmarked by the dying of one year and the birthing of another.
Let’s not be afraid of the newcomer either. We’ve survived worse in our time.
