Competition time for student chefs
The Menu is a great supporter of Irish chefs and restaurateurs in the face of often ill-informed criticism for he too once slaved away in a hot kitchen at the culinary coal-face and knows it to be one of the most demanding jobs of all. So demanding, in fact, restaurants nowadays often struggle to find chefs. So, The Menu welcomes news of the 17th annual Knorr Student Chef of the Year competition. What’s more, with 2014 as European Year Against Food Waste, an excellent initiative, this year’s competition theme is ‘Wise up on Waste’, whereby student entrants have to put a modern twist on a traditional dish using sustainably-sourced ingredients all the while watching their waste levels. Top prize yields a culinary tour of Italy, including dinner at three-Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana, No 3 in the World’s Top 50 Restaurants. Closing date: Jan 20. www.unileverfoodsolutions.ie/promotions/knorr-student-chef.
Anybody searching for a last minute gift for caffeinated cognoscenti would do well to look at the offering from Robert Roberts Coffee Connoisseur Club of membership at €49.99, with delivery every six weeks throughout 2014 of an exclusive roast, ground or whole bean, of either blended or superior single estate coffees from Master Roaster Garath Scully. Having sampled recent offerings, an initially sceptical Menu is highly impressed at Scully’s enthusiasm for The Way of the Bean and would be more than happy to find the membership certificate winding up in his own Christmas stocking, happier still to find Scully’s offerings winding up in his cup. www.coffeeclub.robert-roberts.ie
Chef Kevin Aherne of The Menu’s much beloved Sage Restaurant, Midleton, is promising another New Year’s Eve bonanza with his biggest 12-Mile Menu to date, all produce reared, grown or produced within 12 miles of the restaurant and as always there will be splendid live entertainment throughout the evening. www.sagerestaurant.ie
Bizarrely, there is once again no room at the inn for the splendid Douglas Farmer’s Market this Christmas so it will be decamping: 12 stalls will set up on Douglas Plaza (Dec 14 and 21) with the rest heading to join up with their Mahon Market cousins (Dec 14, 19 and 21 from 10am-3pm).
On these cold December morns, The Menu is no different to his fellows in seeking regular top-ups of culinary comfort and finds nothing warms a body or soothes a soul quite like his new discovery, Lángos, a street food most popular in purveyor Mate Nagy’s native Hungary and currently only available at Mate’s Coal Quay Farmer’s Market stall on Saturdays in Cork City. A dough of milk, flour and yeast is deep-fried in oil, savoury fillings bubbling forth like lava with each bite from these ersatz doughnuts. The Menu’s current favourite is Sour Cream and Garlic, though the possibilities for innovation are endless.
Stockists: Bradleys North Main St, Abbot Ale House, McHughs, Hollands Bray, Redmonds Ranelagh.
Seasonal winter beers will feature here over the next few weeks. First up is Widmer Brothers’ Brrr ale brewed in Portland Oregon. Brewed with alchemy, simcoe and cascade hops and pale, caramel and chocolate malts. Golden in colour with citrus and strong fruity hop aromas and flavours of bitter pear, caramel and chocolate and a strong bitter kick of hops on the finish. This is strong stuff but well balanced and full of character. — Leslie Williams
