Here's the food highlights so you can plan your 2015 culinary campaign
Though the next Kerrygold Ballymaloe Literary Festival of Food & Wine may be five months away, the box office opened this week and with yet another staggering lineup at what in three short years has established itself as one of the world’s major food events. www.litfest.ie
North Cork father-and-son butchery team, Jack and Tim McCarthy, are staging a re-run of their enormously popular Practical Pig in a Day Course (January 25). And even if you’re not rearing the full-blown pig in the back room alongside the granny and a scattering of childers, and are unlikely to be breaking down the full beast at any time in the future, there is plenty of invaluable instruction on the art of sausage making and home curing and using the lesser cuts for a full nose-to-tail eating experience. Course includes lunch and a gift pack. www.jackmccarthy.ie
Bord Bia and the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School are once more seeking ambitious and motivated professionals to work for the Irish food industry overseas as part of the latest round of the 12-month scholarship programmes, the Bord Bia Marketing Fellowship Programme (MSc. International Marketing Practice) and the Origin Green Business Sustainability Programme (MSc. in Business Sustainability), which sees successful applicants working abroad for Irish food companies while earning a Masters degree. Application closing date, March 5 ( www.smurfitschool.ie/bordbia ).
With a prize including dinner at the ‘world’s number one restaurant’, Noma, in Copenhagen, the 18th Annual Knorr Student Chef Competition remains one of the more prestigious cooking competitions open to young chefs in the various culinary institutes around the country.
This year’s theme is sustainability and effective waste management which the young competitors will be required to reflect in their vegetarian starter and Irish beef main course, with the judging panel to be headed up by the renowned Michelin-starred British Chef/Restaurateur Mark Sargeant, formerly head chef of Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s.
Closing date for applications is January 23. Speaking of sustainability, fair play to Coolea-based Folláin Traditional Irish Preserves whose new range of smaller-sized jams (180gm) is part of a new Folláinfoodproject.ie educating consumers on avoiding food waste. And the jams ain’t half bad either! www.follain.ie
The Menu’s quest for exquisite and utterly essential local Irish honey continues apace and his latest discovery, Galtee Honey, from the apiaries of Irish beekeepers supreme, Micheál and Aoife Mac Giolla Coda, of Galtee Honey Farm, have his little cotton socks knocked clean off.
Produced using native Irish ‘Black Bees’ gathering nectar from a huge variety of flora spread over three counties, the result is a honey of a complexity with a deep golden amber with a taste profile to match, robust toffees and caramels that dissolve on the tongue eventually fading into grace notes of clover and blackberry. www.galteehoney.com
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Belgian-Style Black IPA, 7.7% ABV, 350ml - €3.70
Bradleys, Matsons, Redmonds, Martins, Next Door Raheen
Sierra Nevada was founded in 1979 and now brews around a million hectolitres every year. Beer camp is their hands-on beer education weekend which attracts enthusiasts and home brewers to their HQ in Chico, California. This is quite a mix of styles in one beer and while not fully successful does slip down easily.
Brewed with Belgian yeast, Sorachi Ace and Nelson Sauvin hops. Dark black colour, initial aromas of coffee, burnt toffee and lemon. On the palate the chocolate and caramel flavours are followed by a hoppy tropical fruit and citrus finish.
