Northern Irish Butcher is Supreme Champion in UK Great Taste Awards 2011

A humble corned beef from a Northern Ireland family butcher has beaten over 7,000 entrants to be named Supreme Champion in this year’s Great Taste Awards and in doing so, has redefined our perception of a hitherto ordinary mainstream food.

McCartney’s of Moira  http://www.mccartneysofmoira.co.uk/ has been in business in County Down for around 140 years but only started producing corned beef four years ago. It makes the product by hand using dry-aged local beef and a traditional meat press. The Supreme Champion title, presented last night at the Great Taste Awards finals at London’s Royal Garden Hotel, instantly places McCartney’s corned beef among the elite of UK speciality foods.

George McCartney, of McCartney’s of Moira said
“I’m stunned. I have such a fantastic team with my longest members having been with me for 27 years. I want to pay tribute to the Guild of Fine Food for the amount of effort they put into each producer. As we all know, there is a recession still on and this will really give Northern Ireland the boost it needs and deserves”



George McCartney in his Butcher Shop in Moira, C. Down.

Now in its 18th year, the Great Taste Awards scheme recognises the best-tasting food and drink

available in UK delis, farm shops, upmarket food halls and, increasingly, supermarkets.

They whittled an initial 7,482 entries down to around 2,400 Great Taste Awards winners who

can now add the familiar black-and-gold one-star, two-star or three-star labels to their jars and

packs. Just 114 of these were awarded the top three-star gold awards.

Awards organiser Bob Farrand, national director of the Guild of Fine Foods, said: “Often the

best food is all about doing the simple things really well, and you can’t find a better example

than McCartney’s corned beef. Our judges were blown away by it." A world away from cheap ‘bully beef’ sold in cans, McCartney’s version is made for slicing on deli counters and is now on sale in Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason.

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zack

Hedgerow Blackberry & Apple Jam

 "You ate the first one and it's flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue
And a lust for picking..."
-from "Blackberry-Picking" by Seamus Heaney


Blackberries! Blackberries!

September comes and the Blackberries ripen just in time for the back-to-school children. One of my favourite memories as a child is picking blackberries down country roads with my cousins, so that my Aunty Nora could make some of her famous and delicious Blackberry & Apple Jam.

We would never pick them just after it had rained, always checked them for worms and always ate as many as we picked!

There are many recipes and methods for making jams with blackberries and this is my favourite. The fruit is cooked without sugar at the start and then sieved to remove the seeds as they can be quite hard and get stuck in your teeth!

The sugar is added later in the cooking as the amount of sugar in any jam recipe is determined by the weight of the fruit. Removing the seeds will reduced the weight of the fruit by 40% therefore less sugar is required.

The apple helps to increase the pectin content giving this jam a better 'setting' quality, as well as adding more flavour & bulk.

Always sterilise your jam jars before use. You can do this easily by putting them in the microwave on full power for 5 minutes.

My Ingredients:
2kg Blackberries
500g large cooking Apples
2 whole cloves
250ml water
Juice & zest of 1 Lemon
1.5 kg granulated sugar

My Method:
1. Peel, core and roughly chop the apples. Pull the stalks out of the blackberries.
2. Put the apple, blackberries, lemon juice, cloves & water into a large heavy-based pot and bring to the boil.
3. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes stirring ocassionally with a wooden spoon. The fruit should be smooth and soft.
4. Pour the cooked fruit into a sieve and rub it through with the back of the spoon into a clean pot. Discard the seeds & cloves.
5. Add the sugar, stir it in well and simmer the jam for another 20 minutes.
6. To test the setting properties of the jam put 1/2 teaspoon of it on a cold saucer and push the end of the spoon through it. If it sets and leaves a gap then it is now ready. If it falls back on itself, give it another 5 minutes cooking and test it again.
7. Pour your jam into the warm sterilised jars, cover with a greaseproof paper disk and close the lid while it is still hot. Leave the jams in a cool place until cold and enjoy!

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zack

A Handy Wee Measurement Converter

Cooking Conversion Chart
for Length, Weight, Area, Volume & Temperature!

There are still a lot of folks out there who still think in inches, ounces, yards, pints & even fahrenheit! So I found this converter that you can use to convert all sorts of measurements!
Pick your Unit of Conversion first:

Extra note: for U.S. cooking measurements:
16 level tablespoons = 1 cup
12 level tablespoons = 3/4 cup

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this Post!
zack

This week’s Guest Chef is Deirdre "Dee" Clinton

Deirdre ‘Dee’ Clinton is the Head chef at Smugglers Creek, sitting high on the cliffs at Rossnowlagh, in County Donegal. She is a regional, national & international award-winning chef and is currently a member of the Irish Culinary Team.


Dee (3rd from right at the back) with members of the Irish Culinary team

Dee is the only female chef to hold the title ‘Irish Chef of the Year’. She loves to use fresh local produce in her cooking especially seafood and this is very evident in her menus. Living near the sea, as she does in Donegal, she is very aware of the bountiful wonders that are available to her kitchen.

"We are very lucky here on the west coast of Ireland in that we have such a variety of fish & seafoods on our doorstep! It makes putting a menu together a pleasure," says Dee. "I think its great that Ireland is finally recognising that we have the most wonderful home-grown products in this country and has stopped being afraid to shout about how great our own Irish foods are!"

Deirdre ' Dee' Clinton - Head Chef at Smugglers Creek, Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal

One of Dee's kitchen loves is baking and today she is cooking for us one of her favourite desserts. "This is a very simple recipe but it's one of my favourites when I'm cooking at home for the family. Like any pudding the secret is to keep it light, layer the mix and keep the pudding from getting wet while cooking".



mmmmmmmm!



Raspberry & White Chocolate Steamed Pudding

Ingredients:

8oz Margarine

8oz Caster Sugar

8oz Self Raising Flour

4 Fresh Eggs

Fresh Raspberries

White Chocolate Buttons

Method:1. Cream the margarine & sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Lightly beat the eggs together.

3. Add the flour and eggs alternatively and gradually, mixing steadily.

4. Line 12 individual ramekins (or a 2lb pudding bowl) with cling film and half fill the moulds with the pudding mix, keeping some aside to top the moulds.

5. Chop the white chocolate buttons into chips and sprinkle over the mix.

6. Sprinkle some fresh raspberries over each mix.

7. Top each mould with a final layer of pudding mix. Each one should be only ¾ full so as to let the pudding rise.

8. Wrap each bowl tightly with cling-film to keep the pudding from getting wet when steaming.

9. Place a plate upside down in a large heavy based saucepan and put the ramekins in on top of this. Gently pour some water in to the pot coming 1/3 of the way up each mould.

10. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down by half. Steam the puddings for 1 hour (or 2½ hours for one big pudding). Serve slightly warm with fresh cream & more raspberries!

See http://www.smugglerscreekinn.com/ for more details on The Smuggler Creek.

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this post!

zack

Guest review of FXB by Lady Aga

By this week's guest reviewer - LADY AGA

FXB Crow Street, Temple Bar

"Of all the FXB’s Steak and Seafood restaurants in Dublin, we choose Crow Street in the heart of bustling Temple bar.   As you would expect for a Saturday evening in the City the restaurant was buzzing with the chatter of customers and the hard working staff. 

On arrival at the restaurant for our 9.15 booking we were promptly seated and given menus.  As recommended by the maitre d’ we selected the House red Doppio Passo Primitivo IGT Salento 2007 (Italian) – which had a warm fruity flavour all served by a very friendly Wine Waiter. 

We choose to eat off the “Dine in Dublin Restaurant Week” set Menu which was running for the week.  To start I went for the Duck Liver Pate which was superbly accompanied by sweet brioche and fruit chutney while my dining partner went for the Devilled Lambs Kidneys with the strong flavours of the Dijon mustard and the bacon and kidney’s  it would be hard not to be impressed. 

We both went for the restaurants famed steaks, while I had the 10oz Sirloin rare with Béarnaise sauce, he had it Blue with Peppercorn sauce both were cooked to perfection.  Not to forget the sauces and the home cooked fries which were quite simply very hard to stop eating. 

As there was chocolate on the menu there was very little decision to be made by me I went for the “Dessert of the Evening” Chocolate tart with hazelnut ice-cream ... yum, or so I thought until I tasted the other dessert, Baileys Crème Brulee which was light and creamy with the slight hint of Baileys and the crunchy caramelised topping and now I’m torn. 

All this for €40 a head ..... Now that is impressive.

http://www.fxbrestaurants.com/temple/home.html

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zack

Can you read my first QR barcode?

I love technology and the way that the simplest of ideas can be amazing. I think the potential of QR codes is amazing. This is the first one I've made - I don't even have the scanning software on my phone to read it...yet! So....

Will you test it on your phone scanner and reply to me what it says so I know I'm doing it right!

Don't forget to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this Post!

zack

Donegal Town Online Food Guide

Donegal Town Food Guide at EveryTrail

In time for next weekend's "A Taste of Donegal Food Festival" (26th - 28th August) a new Online Food Guide has been launched that shows you the array of places to eat in Donegal Town. The "Donegal Town Food Guide" is a detailed analysis of the local eateries in this south county town. It can be viewed on-line or downloaded directly to your mobile phone for ease of access.

Here's a quick peek...hover the mouse over each number to see the name of the premises.
 

Go to http://www.everytrail.com/guide/donegal-town-food-guide for the full-detailed version

Don't for get to Feed the Fish at the bottom of this post!

zack