The Menu: Celebrating the best of Ireland's raw-milk cheese
"There are now only nine Irish raw milk cheesemakers remaining after many of the original practitioners were forced into using pasteurised milk by over-zealous and under-informed health and agriculture policies."
The Menu is readying his cheeseboard for Irish Raw Milk Cheese Week (June 23-29), seven days dedicated to celebrating some of the very finest of all Irish farmhouse cheeses, those made from Irish raw milk which lends itself quite magnificently to the cheesemaking process.
There are now only nine Irish raw milk cheesemakers remaining after many of the original practitioners were forced into using pasteurised milk by over-zealous and under-informed health and agriculture policies.
However, that remaining group continues to punch above its weight, recently taking six gold medals at the Irish Cheese Awards, including supreme champion Templegall by Hegarty’s Farm, Mount Leinster by Coolattin, Sliabh an Iarainn by Leitrim Hill, Wicklow Pucán by Hollywood, St Tola Original, and Young Buck by Mike’s Fancy Cheese.
Templegall also won supreme champion at the British & Irish Artisan Cheese Awards 2024, where St Tola won Best Raw Milk Farmhouse Cheese.
Tasting events will be held all over the country.
- For details, see irishcheese.ie/rawmilkcheeseweek
Ever-talented chef Kwanghi Chan this week returned to his old stomping grounds in The Ice House to launch a signature dish available on the Mayo hotel’s restaurant menu for the remainder of the summer.
Kwanghi, combining his Hong Kong-Chinese heritage with his Irish upbringing and deep immersion in Irish food culture, furnishes a dish of steamed hake with ginger and onion that is as good a reason as any to stop off in this gorgeous location.
- icehousehotel.ie
If, like The Menu, you are an ardent admirer of Spain and its food culture, then a trip to Tipp to visit Choquera Bakery & Bistro is essential.
Huelva-born owner Cinta Ramblado cooks and bakes like a demon to showcase her wide range of authentic Andalusian dishes. The name is derived from ‘choco’ (cuttlefish), a Huelvan delicacy, and ‘choquera’, a term for describing people from Huelva.
Throughout the summer, Cinta will also host traditional tapas nights outdoors on Fridays and Saturdays, joined by Cádiz-born guitarist Juan José Manzano, with a bit of flamenco dancing on the side.
For reservations, call 087 636 3241/061 378 894.
- @choquerabistro
The splendid Mount Congreve is doing its level best to demonstrate that the incredible west Waterford estate and its magnificent gardens are not just a ‘pretty face’ with news of a new veg box subscription now available from its walled gardens.
The monthly box of vegetables and fruit is available from now until the end of October.
The Menu has, of late, been enjoying Ballyfin Farm Free Range Eggs.
True, they are small pullets’ eggs, most likely, but they are especially fine, firm and have clear albumen (egg white) and a mustard-yellow yolk. Though the all-too skittish Menu is most certainly not a creature of habit, he has had a lovely soft-boiled Ballyfin Farm egg for brunch every day for the past week.
However, what makes Ballyfin Farm eggs so special is that the farm itself is a regenerative farming operation. This type of farming not only conserves but also seeks to rehabilitate the ecosystem within which it is located, primarily soils, restoring them to optimal levels and ensuring the wellbeing and restoration of the local environment within a closed loop system, eliminating the need for destructive herbicides and pesticides. Ed returned to take over the conventional family farm and is now converting it to organic and, along with the hens, has established an Angus suckler herd and he hopes to add free range pigs.
A large network of such farms in the future would not only provide tastier and more nutritious and sustainable produce than the output of industrial agriculture systems but would also begin the process of reversing all the environmental destruction of the latter.
