Saturday with Dervilla O'Flynn: I might have a Saturday off once every five or six weeks

Dervilla O'Flynn is Executive Head Chef at Ballymaloe House

We’d typically have five to six chefs in the kitchen on weekend shifts

07.00

I wake up around 7am. My husband Sacha will make coffee and bring it up.

I will get the first orders in for the day — the fish has to be ordered early — and I’ll check the report from the night before to make sure everything went smoothly. We get our seafood from Ballycotton Seafood and our shellfish from Jody McNamara and his daughter Niamh.

08.00

I’ve a lovely window between about 8am and 12 noon. We’ll have a substantial breakfast like black pudding or tomatoes on toast or a frittata with Italian-style coffee. The tomatoes will come from the Ballymaloe Cookery School gardens. Our main vegetable supplier is The Village Greengrocer in Castlemartyr, but I get my organic veg from the Cookery School garden or Kilbrack Farm in north Cork.

09.00

I might swim at Ballinamona or Garryvoe — it’s great craic and I love it. When I say ‘swimming’, it’s usually a potter in, a swim for five minutes, and back onto the beach for a coffee and chat, thanking our lucky stars we live so close to the beach. Myself and my husband might go for a walk with our dogs — he’s a furniture maker, so he loves to go to the woods.

12.45

We’d typically have five to six chefs in the kitchen on weekend shifts. The sweet section, run by JR Ryall, will come in at 6am and make the breads, desserts, and the items for the breakfast menu. The breakfast chef will be on at that time too, and the evening chefs then start work at 1pm.

I will look at my draft menu, check the bookings, and see what needs to be ordered. Our last deliveries take place on Saturday, but we’ll still have Sunday lunch and dinner to go, so it takes a bit of planning. Ours is a really calm kitchen and we all get on very well. 

When I came to Ballymaloe around 30 years ago, everyone would have trained under Mrs Allen directly. Now there are only a couple of us who have trained directly under her, but we’re teaching her ideas to a new generation of chefs. Our chefs can also go over to the Cookery School in the afternoons, and we take the school’s students three or four evenings a week. 

Because I trained under Mrs Allen, the ethos and philosophy remains the same. We all strive to use local ingredients and to support local farmers. We get free-range duck and guinea fowl from Whitegate and our chickens from Ballycotton. Our pork, beef, and lamb is also local. You hear the term “farm to fork” a lot, but we really do try to adopt that ethos.

16.30

We chefs don’t always get a break before service, but if we do, we’ll sit outside and have a bit of a laugh together. We might just have a toasted sandwich, and then it’s up into fifth gear to get the last of the prep done.

17.00

We might have a children’s tea order at 5pm. Children can have a small version of anything on the menu — that could be a little steak or a small portion of fish — they’ll often still go for pasta or chips, but at least they’re homemade chips.

18.15

We’ll go over the menu with the serving staff. I’ll quiz them on things and tell them to come back if they have any questions throughout the night.

18.30

The first orders start coming in. We work in our sections, but if someone needs help, we’ll jump in and give them a dig out. Then it’s head down until service ends, trying to concentrate on the chefs and what they need.

In Ballymaloe, guests get offered “seconds” — sometimes a person might have had beef, but they’ll ask for “seconds of duck” with a wink, which is great fun. Because we cook large pieces of venison, beef or lamb, we all get very well fed. After service, we’ll have our dinner, and then clean down and get organised for the next day.

23.00

I’ll get home and might have a glass of wine with my husband or just go to bed. I might have a Saturday off once every five or six weeks — if so, we’ll have people over or go to someone’s house for food, wine and chats. If we are going out in Cork city, we’ll go to Goldie, The Glass Curtain, Elbow Lane. Mid-week, we love to go to Miyazaki and get a takeaway — we’ll take the food to O’Sho and then go to the Triskel for a movie.

24.00

I try to be in bed by midnight. Then it’s back to work for Sunday lunch at 7am.

Ballymaloe’s Dreamy Sunday stay includes overnight accommodation in one of the guestrooms, tea/coffee and cake on arrival, a four-course dinner, and breakfast the following morning. Stays start from €575 based on two people sharing. See ballymaloehouse.com.