Roast Fillet of Beef with Béarnaise Sauce

I GOT a wonderful letter today beautifully hand-written by a woman who described herself as an octogenarian.

It was a poignant letter and a plea from a woman who wrote in despair about how difficult it now is to source good meat, chicken, pork, even beef. “Like you, I remember what food used to taste like and nowadays I don’t know where to turn,” she writes.

I believe she articulated the challenge that many people face in this era of relentless cost cutting and below-cost selling. “Where, oh where can I find nourishing tasty food, I have visitors coming from America and I want to give them a real taste of our Irish produce?”