Youghal adopts new signature dish, fish pie
A French chef working in the east Cork town has compiled the winning recipe in a contest to establish the perpetual Gold Label Youghal Bay Fish Pie.
Seventeen restaurant services in the town entered the competition but David Ribeau ensured his employersā the Red Store bar and restaurant on North Main Street ā entered the history and cookery books with a winning effort that he prepared āin about 10 minutesā.
Chef Ribeau, 36, from Burgundy, has lived in Youghal for six years. He receives a weekend for two in Dublinās Westin Hotel as his prize.
The contest formed part of a new project aimed at marketing the town as a family-friendly tourist centre with strong links to the sea, history and food.
Belfast-born Tim Magee, a marketing consultant who settled in east Cork six years ago, first mooted the initiative at a meeting of the recently formed Youghal Concerned Citizens group.
āYoughal has the best tourism structure in the country,ā he said. āWe shouldnāt be focused primarily on industry but on family tourism.ā
The winning recipe will be circulated to all restaurants in Youghal, and beyond if requested, to ensure a consistent, standardised, dish that it is hoped will become synonymous with the townās name chairman Jim Flanagan said.
Adjudicator Aoife Carrigy, food critic and writer, described the winning dish as āa pie for every occasion and all tastesā.
She described it as āa lovely buttery topping that added that little bit of decadence that made you want to tuck in.ā
She depicted ālots of fish mix, including salmon, white fish and smoked fish.ā