The Menu: Road breakfasts, bread school and Irish-reared oysters
Real Bread Ireland baker-members offer free sourdough starters to all throughout September.
Lockdown appears to have further cemented the affection of the Irish public for real sourdough bread, and many home bakers tried their hand at knocking out loaves. However, some struggled with producing a healthy and viable ‘starter’ so news that the Real Bread Ireland’s Sourdough September initiative is returning will be music to many ‘floured-up’ ears, as baker members will be giving away free starters throughout the month (details on realbreadireland.org
). Natural Foods Bakery will be offering their starter and a simple recipe from their Blackrock pier outlet in Cork (facebook.com/thenaturalfoodsbakery). Bread & Roses will be making theirs available from their Coal Quay stall each Saturday on a first-come, first-served basis (
breadandroses.ie[]/url). Bretzel Bakery will be giving away starters as well as offering fine baking flours for sale from their Portobello outlet, in Dublin (bretzel.ie)
Joyce Country Bakery (Bácús Dhúiche Sheoghaich), in Clonbur, Co Galway, a Gaeltacht-based micro-bakery, started in April this year, and will be giving away sample starters from their village pop-up stall. Here, along with sourdoughs, Mary and Anya also specialise in traditional Irish and Russian cakes and breads, including a to-die-for apple pie made with Bramleys, butter and free-range eggs. (facebook.com/joycecountrybakery)
September also sees a return to education for certain RBI baker members as the Riot Rye Bakehouse & Bread School reopens with a series of classes: Joe Fitzmaurice and Julie Lockett’s splendid outpost in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, was the starting point in the career path of more than a few RBI members (riotrye.ie). A more recent arrival, Fanny Leenhardt-Cohalan offers one-day sourdough bread baking and nutrition classes in Ballinhassig, Co Cork (www.facebook.com/wellbreadschooland fanny.leenhardt@gmail.com).
The Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder will host a tasting menu evening (September 14) with four of Ireland's top young chefs: Conor Halpenny (The Square in Dundalk, and current Eurotoques Ireland Young Chef of the Year); (Jason Nolan of Celtic Whiskey Bar & Larder, Killarney), Dan Guerin (Cush, Ballycotton) and Andrew Ryan (formerly Ashford Castle Hotel in Mayo). They are organising and catering a delicious four-course tasting menu with Celtic Whiskey Shop & Wines on the Green donating the accompanying wine pairings. Tickets are €100 and with most funds raised going to the Kerry Palliative Care unit. (Email julie@celticwhiskey.com or see celticwhiskeybar.com)
As The Menu and clan rode through the Wild West for an extended and very splendid sojourn on the Aul’ Sod, they passed a night pitched up by the Flaggy Shore, in Co Clare, breaking their fast the next day with wonderful Flaggy Shore Oysters. They might not be on offer in Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel this summer but fine Irish-reared oysters from Real na Mara (Co Kerry), Harty’s (Dungarvan, Co Waterford), Kelly Oysters (Galway) and Carlingford Oysters, are all available as part of Oysters at The Shelbourne this September, celebrating the start of the official oyster season.
Working in partnership with Laurent Perrier champagne, the Shelbourne offers daily specials combining two epicurean ecstasies in a truly magical masticatory marriage. The humble pint of plain puts up an equally proud showing alongside six oysters for another classic combo. And for the nervous novice, three Oyster Experiences offer a single oyster with an accompanying especially chosen drink to smooth the introduction. (TheShelbourne.com)
One of the deserved hits of the West Cork summer has been the Craft food truck at the Celtic Ross Hotel, in Rosscarbery, imaginatively delivered by chefs Alex Petit and Shane Deane and set to continue for several more weeks. The Menu and clan recently enjoyed a final al fresco ‘road breakfast’ in glorious morning sunshine — although The Menu was a tad groggy having passed the night in pursuit of their ancient and rather dilapidated canine companion. Said hound having essayed a midnight flit that saw The Menu ranging far and wide through the surrounding country throughout the night. And he is very grateful to Timmy, the hotel’s night porter and operations manager, Robin Gifford, for all assistance rendered and especially to local man and wildlife photographer, John Quinlan, who finally located the errant mutt.
Silke Cropp is one of the finest cheesemakers working in the country. Her craggy, gnarled, aged truckles of cheese that render their Corleggy brand name as onomatopoeia, are always matched by profound flavour within, thanks in no small part to her continued commitment to using raw milk (goats, sheep and cows).
Corleggy Kid Goat’s Cheese is, as the name suggests, a rather more youthful offering — a log of soft cheese, edible within three days of making. Certainly, it was creamy and bright but rather than the tart, citric notes of most other similar young goat’s cheeses, the chalkier raw milk Kid was already displaying hints of future potential when left to mature — which is what The Menu pretty much did, albeit more by amnesia than by design, as it lay in the back of the fridge for an extended spell after his initial sampling. This was a hibernation during which the ‘Kid’ shrugged off callow, youthful ways. Brought back to (summer) room temperature, it slumped into a gorgeous, oozing lava with an undeniable farmyard funk that was silky-sharp on the tongue and in which The Menu and a cheese-loving companion dredged crusty sourdough bread until the entire plate was licked clean. corleggycheeses.ie
