Designer food at Highbank Organic Orchard Farm
Organised by the indefatigable Keith Bohanna of the wonderful BiaBeag, it covers the design and branding of food packaging and has a superb range of speakers including Donal Skehan’s mum, Liz who along with hubbie Dermot, owns and operates food company Fresh Cut Foods, makers of the Skoff range of pies. Other speakers include design guru Giles Calver and there will be seven case studies featuring Irish designers and food producers including Gubbeen, Mella’s Fudge, Paddy O’Granola and Trouble Brewing and, on the day, participants can have a 15-minute consultation with any of the designers in situ. http://biabeag.com/outstanding-by-design/
The Menu has his blade to the whetstone and a half eye on his old VHS copy of The Shining for he is off to Chapel Steps restaurant in West Cork to join Chef Kevin O’Regan, Bandon butcher Dan Moloney and, an old favourite of The Menu’s, Eoin O’Mahony of O’Mahony’s Butchers in the English Market for a butchery course (May 13) in the much-lauded Bandon-based restaurant. Over the course of the last few years, The Menu has been delighted to see the growing of a realisation that the best place bar none to procure finest quality Irish beef and lamb is at a local craft butcher and even more gratifying is the return of the Lesser Cuts, the awareness that beef cattle are so much more than fillet steak surrounded by a few hundred pounds of mince. With the morning dedicated to Eoin demonstrating how to make the most of the beef forequarter and the afternoon to the hind, O’Regan will also demo a variety of beef-based recipes so prepare for plenty of nibbling to go with your newly acquired knowledge. www.chapelsteps.ie
A principled sort, The Menu would never in a million years dream of using a substitute for fine eggs, butter and flour and there are even times he’s reluctant to let go of sugar, though honey is a far superior product. Which is why he was initially suspicious of Bean Brownie Co’s range, all prepared without any of the above Fabulous Four, but if taken on their own merits, a healthy range of cakes, nut balls and assorted sweet meats including fabulous ‘brownies’ made with kidney beans, then they are most splendid indeed. The Menu never thought he would live to see the day when he and his clan would come to blows over a ‘Berry Blondie’ made of butterbeans but this sublime creation achieved the lightness and moisture of a financier cake with some blueberries adding sprightly tartness that had him looking anew at the wondrous ever-evolving potential of his already beloved pulses and beans. www.facebook.com/BeanBrownieCo
Matsons, Galvins, Bradleys, Drink Store, Molloys, Next Door Raheen & Sundrive
Sam Black has certainly made an impact since he launched his brewery less than a year ago. His bright fresh Kinsale Pale Ale came first and was influenced by the IPA’s of Oregon and preppy New England, while this cousin wears leather and is probably from the Bronx or South Boston: “dressed in black, charged with hops and ready to rock.”
Rich black colour with aromas of coffee, malt and citrus. The first taste is bitter chocolate and espresso with a spicy undertone, but then the hops kick in giving a refreshing flavour and finish.
— Leslie Williams
