With cheese please
There were four finalists Belvelly Smokehouse, Cobh, Co Cork; O'Doherty's Butchers, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh; McGeoughs Butchers, Oughterard, Co Galway and Corleggy Cheese.
For the past 20 years down in Belvelly Smokehouse in Cobh, Co Cork, Frank Hederman has cured and smoked naturally locally caught wild fish, or organically cultivated fish and shellfish. What he has on offer at any given time depends on local catches and seasonal availability.
His produce includes salmon, mackerel, eels, haddock, halibut, kippers, roll mop herrings, mussels and trout. He makes patés and, occasionally, in season, offers most wonderful smoked sprats which we tasted at the awards.
Frank is passionate about good food and has been in the business long enough to develop a sound base of wholesale and corporate business without neglecting the ordinary consumer who can buy the products from Frank's shop in the English Market in Cork, at other markets or order them on the web .
O'Doherty's have been a respected family butcher in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, for over 40 years. The shop in downtown Enniskillen is always busy and attracts customers who are offered a balanced mix of traditional cuts of meat and innovative products. O'Doherty's have long been well known for their Aberdeen Angus beef and for venison and other game in season and they have won numerous awards for their sausages.
Some years back, Pat set out to recreate, traditional dry-cured bacon, naturally matured.
The result was a range of dry-smoked bacons, one of which, O'Doherty's Black Bacon, won an award in 2000.
Pat has continued to expand his speciality meat products and this year guild members were intrigued by his oak smoked Irish lamb.
After training in Germany James McGeough, of McGeoughs Butcher's, returned with his German wife to the family business in Oughterard one of the few craft butchers who still operate their own abattoir, James0020 set out to create a range of salamis, sausages, air-dried ham and lamb, patés, and corned beef. He has also won awards at the Irish Craft Butchers sausage, pudding and speciality meat products competitions.
He makes a delicious air-dried and smoked ham, an innovative air-dried and smoked lamb made from a nine-month old Connemara lamb (which means it has lots of flavour) and his salamis have an Irish spin, one being flavoured with rum and one with whiskey.
His products are on sale in the shop or can be ordered by email.
The supreme award went to Corleggy Cheeses, Belturbet, Co Cavan, for their range of cheeses.
Silke Cropp left her native Germany in 1982 to settle in a smallholding on the River Erne at Corleggy.
For over 20 years she has been committed to producing high quality cheeses made from the milk of goats, sheep and cows. Silke is also a dedicated member of the Slow Food Movement.
Over the years she has developed a range of cheeses, all made using raw milk, each with a distinct personality and a superb flavour; and all are beautifully presented.
Corleggy is her flagship cheese, a natural rind, hard goat's cheese. Her Drumlin range is made from cow's milk and, as well as producing traditional and smoked versions, there are a number of flavoured cheeses in the Drumlin range.
The latest edition and one that was especially popular at the guild's tasting meeting for the awards is a sheep's milk cheese with a wonderful texture and flavour.
The winner of many specialist cheese awards, Silke's cheeses are available throughout Ireland, wholesale, in specialist shops, and at many markets. They can also be ordered on the web.
Silke Cropp, Corleggy Cheeses, Portruan, Belturbet, Co Cavan. Tel: 049 9522930
Frank Hederman, Belvelly Smoke House, Cobh, Co Cork Tel: 021 4811089
Pat O'Doherty, O'Doherty's Butchers, Belmore Street, Enniskillen. Tel: 048 66322152
James McGeough, McGeough's Butchers, Camp Street, Oughterard, Co Galway. Tel: 091 552351
Sweet Potato and Lemongrass Soup, Scented with Coconut From L'Ecrivain Restaurant
Ingredients:
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 sachet creamed coconut, made up as instructed on the packet
1 pint chicken stock
2 stems of lemongrass, cut into one inch pieces
25g butter
METHOD: Sweat the onion and garlic in butter until soft. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes. Add potatoes and lemongrass which has been bruised with a knife.
Add chicken stock, bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the potato is soft Remove lemongrass from the soup and liquidise until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and return to the heat. Add creamed coconut, stir and serve.
