“We really cook very simply. Remember that the methods and ingredients have been used for generations and in the past there were hardly any cooking facilities and definitely no microwave ovens, so things had to be easy. The key to the whole thing is that in the ‘old days’ food had much better flavour and ...
I’ve been anxious to get my hands on this book for some time now and the minute I slipped ‘Turkey – Recipes and Tales from the Road’ out of its padded envelope I knew it had been worth the wait. Fair dues to Murdoch Books; considering the author, Leanne Kitchen (a trained chef turned food ...
Ah, fish, the great Irish paradox. We live on an island surrounded by fish but, by and large, we shun them unless they come battered or breadcrumbed. This is because (or so the theory goes) we were forced to eat it on Fridays we don’t really like fish and don’t eat it now we don’t ...
Joseph Joseph market a range of kitchen gadgets – from manual lemon squeezers to spud peelers, from the bright and colourful to the downright bizarre-looking. This week forncork availed of the opportunity to test two of them. The first, and the simpler of the two, falls into the ‘Quite A Good Idea’ category. A round ...
Game seems , thank God, to be making a comeback. My local Dublin butcher has, in season, venison, pheasant, partridge and mallard. Rabbit, which disappeared from the high street for years is now back in the shops with a vengeance. Yet cookery books dealing exclusively with game are few and far between. Angela Humphreys’ ...
How good is the Actifry? Ernie Whalley tests the kitchen gizmo that claims to cook a kilo of chips using less than a tablespoon of oil. The Tefal Actifry, with well over a million in use around the world, has been a huge success for the French kitchen electronics giant. The gadget had its birthpangs ...
Rapeseed oil comes from oilseed rape, a root vegetable and cousin of mustard cabbage. The name is derived from the Old English term for turnip –‘rapum’. It comes, as you’d imagine, from those bilious yellow fields that, to my mind at least, disfigure so much of the countryside in Britain and Ireland. However, aesthetics aren’t ...
I really like this book, a collaboration between chef Marco Roccasalvo of the restaurant Capo de’Fiori in Bray and Anne Kennedy of greatfood.ie. who, in her introduction, says “If you think some of his recipes are too simple to be excellent, then his (Marco’s) work is done.” There’s a long and informative section on the ...
After three solid days of writing against the clock it was good to flop into the big leather recliner, feet up and read a book. Nick Munier probably needs no introduction to Dublin Foodies but, in case you are from out of town or don’t watch Food TV, he is the co-proprietor of Pichet, one ...
Books & EquipmentNot often I’m impressed by a piece of cooking equipment. I’m a believer in buying the best, telling anyone who listens that “good kit doesn’t let you down”. Hence I own sturdy, functional pots and pans, with handles that don’t wobble or fall off. Keen knives for all purposes, from filleting plaice to dissecting a ...
Books & Equipment, Food