Pig in the poke
They've got 5½ acres of land on which they live an almost self sufficient existence, producing a variety of produce for their restaurant from the farm and garden. They have two tunnels, a few cattle, some ducks to eat the slugs and hens which recycle the scraps from the restaurant and produce eggs a few days later. Local fishermen land their catch in the little bay below the house and the catch of the day, be it mackerel or turbot or a crate of mussels, goes on the menu.
Otto and Hilde (who is of Dutch origin) arrived in Ireland from Germany in 1980. At first, Otto was a social worker supervising the foster care of German children. But even as a student in Berlin, he loved food and spent countless hours trying to recreate dishes he tasted in restaurants. He longed to make his hobby his profession, so after much soul searching he picked up courage to knock on Gerry Galvin's door.
He spent two years in the kitchen of the Vintage restaurant in Kinsale before Gerry and his wife Marie moved to Galway. Otto and Hilde had fallen in love with west Cork and decided to start a little business, so Dunworley Cottage was born. They served local food and developed a lively trade through word of mouth.
For years they have reared their own pigs, Otto favours a saddleback-tamworth cross, which he feeds on organic grain and waste from the garden.
The Pig Party at Dunworley has now become an annual affair. The first was held in 1985 when Otto built an oven and roasted a whole pig on a spit. For the past couple of years, Otto and Hilde have linked up with Slow Food West Cork to organise this event in which they celebrate the pig and the foods of local producers.
This year Otto and Hilde closed the restaurant for three days prior to the pig party and cooked a phenomenal amount of food almost 150 people turned up.
The pig was butchered into smaller cuts and chops, spare ribs, leg and sausages were cooked on a sizzling barbecue. This was accompanied by sâté with peanut sauce, prawn and vegetarian kebabs, a selection of smoked fish from Ummera, Woodcock and Belvelly Smokehouses, including wild salmon, eel, mussels, mackerel and herrings.
There were smoked and cured meats from Frank Krawczyk and Fingal Ferguson, a huge array of salads, soft herby cheese, hummus, and black Hamburg and Muscat and Alexandria grapes hung from the conservatory ceiling over the buffet table.
People from far and wide helped themselves and wandered out into the garden to find a table and chair to enjoy the feast which also included barbecued wild salmon, fat Dublin Bay prawns in the shell and a gorgeous spinach and St Tola cheese gratin, and a salad of organic leaves.
Mary Pawle supplied some of her terrific organic wine (if you don't know about these wines, contact Mary at 064-41443 to have a look at her list).
The Azul y Garanza was mellow and fragrant, the Can Vendrell chardonnay was equally delicious gone are the days when all organic wines were rubbish. Now the grapes for many of the world's best wines are grown organically and bio-dynamically, and there's the bonus of a clearer head from less chemicals and sulphur dioxide.
The food was predominantly local, with the meat from local butcher Dan Moloney in Bandon. Many of the food producers were there, including local food hero Bill Hogan, local organic farmer Stuart Kingston, vegetable growers Caroline and Eddie Robinson, Fingal Ferguson of Gubbeen and Sally Barnes of Woodcock Smokery in Castletownshend.
Legendary local photographer John Minihan snapped revellers tucking into home made ice-cream, home-grown cherries and local farmhouse cheese.
The adorable local clown, Trace, thrilled the children with her delicate face painting and fantastical balloon sculptures. The weather was glorious so people sat around for hours relaxing and chatting a wonderfully convivial party to celebrate the bounty of the garden and the produce of the local farmers and artisan producers.
OCC (Otto's Creative Catering) is open from Wednesday to Saturday for dinner and for Sunday lunch. OCC Dunworley, Butlerstown, Bandon, Co Cork, tel 023-40461; www.ottoscreativecatering.com; email: ottokunze@eircom.net
Rhubarb fool with Vanilla custard
Trim the ends of 1 kg tender young rhubarb and cut in pieces of about ½ an inch..
Mix with 200 gr sugar and let it stand for an hour to draw out the juices.
Bring very slowly to the boil while stirring and simmer for 2 minutes only. Cool and serve with the real custard.
custard
Bring 750 ml cream with 5 vanilla pods (split open and the seed paste squeezed out with the back of a knife) to the boil whisk 10 egg yolks with 200 gr sugar till thick and creamy.
Pour cream into egg mix whisk and return to the saucepan and gently heat while stirring to 80C or till custard is binding strain the vanilla pods off and cool. Use with rhubarb fool or churn in an ice maker.
