Joe McNamee's annual Food Awards 2013
Here, he showcases the very best of 2013 with his inaugural foodie awards
YULETIDE is when The Menu’s admirable year-round commitment to indulgence is taken up with gusto by the rest of the nation. Naturally, those same Johnny-and-Joan-come-latelies will be not quite up to speed on what constitutes the very finest of fine Irish produce to feed this fashion for epicurean excess, so The Menu is delighted to share some of his own choices (including lovely seasonal craft beers), much of it fare that graces his stately banqueting hall the year round.
And as if that were not enough, a most bountiful Menu also takes this time of year to dole out his annual Food Awards, The Munchies, an acknowledgement of all the wonderful people who contribute to making genuinely local, sustainable Irish produce some of the very best food to be found and celebrated in the world.
While Mrs Menu hands out photos of her spendthrift spouse urging proprietors of various food outlets around the country ‘not to serve this man’, she invariably relents when The Menu returns home laden with exquisite Irish produce. The winner is On The Pig’s Back, English Market & Douglas Woollen Mills, The Menu a witness to its birth 20-odd years ago, at a tiny shared stall where Isabelle Sheridan first sold her own charcuterie, and evolution into a mini-empire retailing the finest Irish produce alongside high quality imports.
The Menu has very much enjoyed the resurgence of Cork city’s Coal Quay Market; is thrilled at the ongoing evolution of Bandon Market where he once traded; loves both Schull and Skibbereen Markets when down West; and still reckons the most beautiful market in the country to be Limerick’s Milk Market. While the Mahon juggernaut continues to thrive, his winner is the Douglas Farmer’s Market, Cork, which under the able stewardship of Rupert Hugh-Jones hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped since.
Noreen and Martin Conroy’s Free Range Rare Breed Pork and Bacon has been The Menu’s number one choice for some years now so word of their dabblings in the dark arts of charcuterie had The Menu trembling with anticipation. Combine curing knowledge and techniques gleaned by son Matthew after a summer in Italy under renowned Michelin-star chef and farmer Massimo Spigaroli with probably the finest pigmeat in the land and you have their salami: sweet, sharp, silky, a sublime porcine perfection that lingers for an eternity on the palate. www.woodsidefarm
The Menu well recalls his first encounter, not two years hence, with Lucy Deegan retailing her own homegrown Shiitake mushrooms and some foraged chanterelles. The Menu wouldn’t dream of engaging in tawdry punning by stating the business has ‘mushroomed’ ever since, but the evolution of Ballyhoura Mushrooms has certainly been one of the Irish food stories of recent years. Along with her husband, forager supreme Mark Cribben, Lucy grows an astonishing range of exotic mushrooms of such freshness and quality that top Irish chefs are falling over themselves to get them, triggering a mini-revolution in Irish cuisine. Ancillary products have revolutionised The Menu’s own cooking and he currently sleeps with a bottle of their cep oil under his pillow, so obsessed is he with this latest offering from these magnificent mycophagists. www.ballyhouramushrooms.ie
The Menu welcomed The Irish Beef Book by butcher Pat Whelan and writer Katy McGuinness, a considered contribution to our ongoing appreciation of superb Irish beef, packed with information and solid recipes; Extreme Greens, Sally McKenna’s splendid tome on seaweed and all its myriad uses, culinary and otherwise, may strike some as a fringe activity but The Menu believes it will come to be seen as a vital early milestone in the evolution of one particular branch of Irish cuisine which is set to explode. On any other year shoe-ins for first prize would have been: Rory O’Connell’s Master It: How to Cook Today, a superb teaching book and an already minted Irish classic, or his sister Darina Allen’s 30 Years at Ballymaloe, a fascinating look at the evolution of the world-renowned cookery school, but, unfortunately, they came up against Ross Lewis’s Chapter One: An Irish Food Story, a production so sumptuous it could pass as a dish in its own right.
In the beginning, there was Myrtle and all else flowed from her. A god-fearing man may carry a well-thumbed Psalter; The Menu’s prefers his copy of Myrtle’s Ballymaloe Cookbook. And just as the former derives comfort from delving beneath the familiar words of the psalms, The Menu, in times of culinary crisis, draws his own deep well of spiritual inspiration from Myrtle’s Irish culinary primer. In a year, when her unsurpassable contribution to Irish food is being universally feted, The Menu is only too happy to row in behind the celebrations.
1. O’Hara’s Winter Star Spiced Amber Ale www.carlowbrewing.com
2. Dungarvan Brewing Company Coffee & Oatmeal Stout Winter Brew www.dungarvanbrewingcompany.com
3. Badger & Dodo Coffee —fine locally-roasted coffee and delightful porcelain cup-and-saucer sets to boot. www.badgeranddodo.ie
4. Beechwood Farm Handmade Christmas Pudding, the only choice for The Menu’s table this year. www.beechwoodfarm.ie
5. G’s Brandy Butter, the ideal partner in crime for the Beechwood pudding. www.gsgourmetjams.ie
6. Cocoa Bean Chocolate Co always up for a little leftfield flavour. www.cocoabeanchocolates.com
7. White Gypsy German Doppelbock www.whitegypsy.ie
8. Goatsbridge Trout Caviar, to be washed down with nice bubbly on Xmas morn. www.goatsbridgetrout.ie
9. Pandora Bell Traditional Sweets (Bullseyes & Rhubarb Drops) www.pandorabell.ie
10. Hadji Bey Turkish Confectionary, revivalists of a veritable Cork institution www.hadjibey.ie
11. Kinnegar Long Tongue Pumpkin Ginger Rye www.kinnegarbrewing.ie
12. Vegetarians are no longer second-class citizens this Christmas with splendid nut roasts from Nutcase. www.NutcaseCo.ie
13. Exquisite Raspberry Jam sweetened with Honey, one small offering from Bee Sensations’ Honey-enlightened range also including a stunning Fig and Rhubarb Chilli Relish. Email: beesensations@eircom.net
14. Fresh Garlic, Basil & Chive Oil/Local Free Range Chicken Liver Pate/Mixed Berry Jam w/ Black Pepper & Kirsch just a small part of Iain Flynn’s gorgeous range. www.flynnskitchen.ie
15. Cookies of Character, justly named, each magnificent product a uniquely individual offering. www.regale.ie
16. Frank Krawczyk’s stunning Rebel County Duck Rillette www.facebook.com/frank.krawczyk.79
17. Irish Atlantic Sea Salt for those turkey sandwiches www.irishatlanticsalt.ie
18. Christmas without a crisp? Keogh’s are grown and manufactured on their own farm with Roast Turkey and Stuffing flavour a seasonal special. www.keoghs.ie
19. Skellig Handmade Chocolates and Truffles www.skelligschocolate.com
20. Killabraher Range of Gourmet Mustards to liven up the Christmas Sangidge. www.killabraher.net
21. Sublime Duck Liver Pate and Venison Terrine from the very extensive On The Pig’s Back range. www.onthepigsback.com
22. A nearly all-Cork cheeseboard of world-class Irish cheeses, including The Menu’s beloved ‘Holy Trinity’: Durrus, Gubeen and Milleens, alongside Hegarty’s Cheddar and Crozier Blue.
23. Sheridans Cheese Biscuits, superb, naturally, as they are produced for them by Jane and Richard of Cookies with Character. www.sheridanscheesemongers.com
24. Jack McCarthy’s sumptuous Boudin Noel, a seasonal black pudding, is a must for the Yuletide fry-up. www.jackmccarthy.ie
25. The Menu’s beloved Golden Bean coffee, locally roasted in the Ballymaloe Grainstore. Twitter: @thegoldenbean
26. Heaven Preserve Us Cranberry & Orange Relish destined for the ultimate turkey roll. www.facebook.com/heaven.preserve.us.cork
27. Gorgeous Smoked Duck Breast from Skeaghanore, producers of the finest ducks in Ireland. www.skeaghanoreduck.ie
28. Sally Barnes’ utterly sublime Woodcock Smokery Smoked Wild Salmon all set for The Menu’s Christmas morning munch-out. www.woodcocksmokery.com
29. Seymour’s Shortbread, comes with the ultimate imprimatur: ‘just like The Menu’s Granny used to make!’ www.seymours.ie
30. 8 Degrees Brewing Company Aztec Stout & Zeus Black IPA www. www.eightdegrees.ie
31. Veronica Molloy’s Crossogue Preserves are some of the finest in Ireland. www.crossoguepreserves.com
32. A selection from The Menu’s Producer of the Year, Ballyhoura Mushrooms. www.ballyhouramushrooms.ie
33. Tom Durcan’s exquisite Spiced Beef all set for The Menu’s Christmas table. www.tomdurcanmeats.ie
34. On The Pig’s Back – The Menu’s Food Emporium of the Year. www.onthepigsback.com
35. The Chocolate Shop, one of the finest purveyors of cocoa-derived confection in the land, including the very best Irish-produced chocolate, Wilkie’s, which Shana Wilkie produces from raw cocoa beans. www.wilkieschocolate.ie & www.chocolate.ie
36. Chapter One: An Irish Food Story — The Menu’s Cookbook of the Year
