Side Trek

Traveling is like life.  You make plans and then life or chance changes your path.  Before we left the beautiful Kildare county, we ran into a lovely lady on the grounds of the K Club.  We struck up a conversation and I mentioned I was a chef in Dallas.  She had visited Dallas the year prior to meet her friends.  So our conversation lasted with so much common ground.  She was absolutely lovely and very friendly.  We talked about why we came to Ireland for a food tour and discover my culinary roots.  We talked about our itinerary and that we were going to Killarney the next day to discover the food on the west coast of Ireland.  She said we must first detour and go to Cork and visit the English Market.  It was a must see for someone like myself that thinks 24/7 about food. I didn't know about it, actually never heard about.  She explained it is situated in the heart of Cork City.  It is a roofed market and has been trading since 1788.  It was developed and is still owned by the Cork City Council. It is the oldest municipal market of it's kind in the world. I was sold.  Family we are off to Cork!

 Cork is located on the southwest coast of Ireland.  It is connected to the sea by Cork Harbor and the lovely River Lee flows through its city center.  It is a university town and also a large sea port brimming with activity.  The drive from Kildare was about three hours.  The roads were never busy and the emerald landscape never tired.  It was the easiest car trip I had ever made and quite possibly the most enjoyable.  Finding the English Market was a bit of a struggle.  Finding street parking in Cork is a task in futility.  You have to park in one of the large parking garages nestled throughout the city.  That ensures a good walk because they are always located far away from where you need to go.  For us, it wasn't much of a problem.  Exploring a new city is always exhilarating.  Using google maps my son led the way.  We hovered down windy streets.  The city was bustling. At this point we had not been to downtown Dublin so this was the busiest place we had visited.  We finally found the English Market.  It was huge arcade of vendors, selling everything from olives, to local breads and cheeses to Irish saddles of lamb and Irish made sausages.

The vendors were so friendly and informative.  They were so proud of their products and it showed.  Eager to give samples and explain anything you might have a questions about. Would give any consumer great confidence in buying there.  I loved the smell there.  Earthy smells from freshly baked bread, the fresh smell of delicious cut meat, the perfume of fresh produce.  It tickled the senses.  I had been to food halls when I was younger.  There was a fish market in Liverpool we would visit with my grandmother and I always loved the smell of the sea in there and of the smoked fishes.  It was always a delightful treat to visit there.  The English Market brought back those type of memories. Though I wanted to buy the whole market up, we still had a journey to to Killarnery so we got a few artisan pastries.  There wasn't a restaurant in the Hall so we asked one of the vendors where we could grab lunch that utilized the markets provisions.  They directed to a cute restaurant, The Spitjack, that was only a five minute walk away.

 

 The food was really nice, especially the Traditional Irish Porchetta.  So damn good. I am not just saying this to say it, but the food tastes so much better in Ireland, cleaner and healthier tasting.  It doesn't taste like it just cam off a Sysco Food truck.  It taste like it just came from a farm, which in this case it did.  Again the food was simple, but prepared well with not a lot of fuss.  Let the product speak for itself.  

We had one last stroll back and came across of all things The Butter Museum.  We had just missed the beginning of a butter class they were offering but they allowed us back there and we watched the art of butter making.  Again I will emphasize, potatoes and butter.  Ireland does this better than any place else.  I mean who else devotes an entire museum to butter.  Amazing!!!!  We did get to nosh on some of the creamiest and velvety butter one could imagine.  What a perfect way to end our surprise visit to Cork!

Greatest Chef Ever? Passes Away

Joël Robuchon has more Michelin stars than any other chef in history.  He opened his first restaurant, Jasmin, in 1981.  He was the contemporary to many fine chefs, like Gordon Ramsey which he argued was one of his most talented but frustrating chefs.  They often came to verbal blows, but one time Ramsey was just a little to snarky for Robuchon's liking so he threw a plate at him.  (I would have just clobbered him with my fist!)

He is best known in the states for his namesake restaurant in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  I never made it to his restaurants but it was always a dream of mine.  His food was meticulously prepared and he didn't accept anything but excellence.  The food world lost another titan of the industry.  Au revoir mon frere! We will still enjoy the recipes and the legacies you left behind. 

https://www.eater.com/2018/8/6/17655280/reaction-chefs-joel-robuchon-death-gordon-ramsay

Menu for Irish Pop Up Restaurant

Coming Soon:

Irish Pop Up Restaurant "Slainte!"

Stay Tuned for the Date.  We will be hosting our first Pop Up Restaurant at our new home at Pilot Works Dallas.  Learn about Ireland its food and the flavors of the Emerald Isle.  It will be BYOB and seating will be limited.  

Keep Visiting the Blog for Updates on the Event or call us at 469.450.1814 or check on us out at Gogourmetcatering.com!

Irish Pop Up Tasting Menu

Amuse Bouche

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Smoked Duck Cornetto with Lavender Rhubarb Jam

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Starter

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Guinness Cured Irish Salmon atop of Soda Bread Crostini with Kerry Gold Horseradish Spread

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Soup

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Irish Potato Vichyssoise with Fried Leak, Chive Oil and Salmon Roe

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Palate Cleanser

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Gunpowder Irish Gin Granita with Edible Flowers

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Entrée

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Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Mint Salsa Verde

Pea Puree with Roasted Shallots, Roasted Gem Lettuce, and Irish Cheddar Potato Scallion Croquette

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Dessert

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Warm Irish Rice Pudding with Raspberry Coulis and Chocolate Nibs

Howth You Lived?

Howth Summit is a gorgeous peak on the East Coast of Ireland on the outskirts of Dublin.  Directly across the Irish Sea is my family home of Liverpool.  They say Liverpool is Ireland's second capital.  My mum's side of the family all came from Ireland.  My grandmother was born in Ireland.  Don't know why it took me so long to get here, but this island has just cast a spell on me.  I am enchanted with its people, its landscape and of course its food.

It's always a challenge when you have to form a plan for the day with three other distinct voices.  My daughter had a friend that visited Howth and according to my daughter it was a must visit.  I asked why?  She said it would be a great Instagram picture! Social media strikes again! I quickly did some research and found it to be a beautiful place with something to interest me as well, great seafood!

Finding the summit was no easy task. I think we circled the peninsula twice before we found a Pub named the Howth Summit Pub.  We figured it was nearby and soon found it.  There were miles of walking trails from the top of the summit to the base where with cold Irish sea lapped along the jagged rocks. 18 months ago I would have died trying to walk this, but with new lease on life, a new mechanical mitral valve, pacemaker and by the grace of God I was able to meander the hills, keeping up with the rest of the family.  The air was crisp, but the sun kept it from being uncomfortable.  It was a magnificent day.  We built up quite an appetite after the climb back up.  We scurried down the narrow roads, always remembering to stay left, back to the town center and the port.  Something had caught my eye on the way up to the Howth summit and I knew I had to take the family there.

Beschoff Bros. is a local legend in Dublin.  It has several locations now on the eastern seaboard of Ireland.  It's history goes back a hundred years when Ivan Beschoff, a maritime sailor for the Tsar of Russia after serving as a deckhand on the Battleship Potemkin emigrated to Ireland.  More here http://www.beshoffbros.com/history/. It's a great family story that keeps growing year by year as the next generation Beschoff's carry on Ivan's legacy.  They have their own fleet of fishing boats that catch their fresh fish for their stores right the port of Howth.  They had several types of white fish to choose from, haddock, cod, plaice, hake.  I chose the haddock, which is a bit oilier and probably the stronger flavored of the others.  My wife and kids stuck with mild moist cod.  Let me tell you something it was everything and more than what you could have hoped for, no let down.  It was crispy and light. The fish was sweet and tasted as fresh as the sea.  The chips were also great especially with some Malt vinegar, a condiment that is required for this Irish delight.  Because of today's stiffer health regulations, you can't serve fish and chips in newspaper, but nevertheless we enjoyed the experience with no silverware and ate at a quaint park bench overlooking the port.

Howth is a great spot and well worth a day trip if you visit Ireland.  We took the scenic way back to the K Club in Kildare and stopped at the Cliff at Lyons.  It was only a quick stop, but as was told by a local a must stop. It was a beautiful place in Kildare on the canal.  Small bungalows and cottages, beautiful manicured gardens and ponds with flowering lillies lined the property. Let me tell you it was stunning.  It was the private residence of Ryannair Founder, who turned it into a lovely boutique hotel.  https://cliffatlyons.ie/.  I would like to stay a night there on our next trip to Ireland and recommend you do as well.

The fresh sea air and jet leg had wiped us out.  We retired back to the hotel and a nap.  We had decided we didn't want to go back out and wanted to just stay in, but didn't want to have a real fancy dinner again.  We decided to eat at the club house which is for members of the K Club gold course.  It was a nice casual restaurant with a great view of the golf course.  It was also perfect timing to watch the world cup as well!

Below is a picture of the small menu.

I really don't know what is more exciting eating a meal that you think will be excellent and is or eating a dish that you think will be okay and you find out is utterly fantastic and unexpected.  I think the latter for me.  Let me first off state, I am stealing this dish for my catering menu.  Pan Fried Hake with Grilled Leaks, Curried Raisins & Cauliflower with Noisette Butter.  Not only is it a real looker the flavor combinations that on the surface seemed unconvincing was mind blowing.  This was unexpected.  As you can tell from the menu, this was a menu designed not for the foodaphile, but for the everyday man.  But I think the boss allowed for the chef to show his true worth with one dish.  Thank God he did because it was one of my all time favorites!  Well done Chef!

Irish Guiness Soda Bread

This Irish Guinness Brown Bread 

INGREDIENTS

·         1 cup quick cooking oats (not instant), plus more for sprinkling

·         2 and 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

·         1/4 cup all-purpose flour

·         1/2 cup brown sugar

·         2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         2 teaspoons kosher salt

·         11-12 ounces Guinness beer (1 bottle),  room temperature

·         1 cup buttermilk

·         5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan

·         1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

·         Preheat oven to 425°F and butter a 9 x 5 bread pan, set aside.

·         In one bowl, add the oats, whole wheat and all-purpose flours, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.

·         In another bowl, add the beer, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla.  Whisk to combine.

·         Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stir until fully mixed.  Batter will be wet.

·         Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan, sprinkle more oats on top.  Place in oven and then turn oven temperature down to 400°F. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

·         Remove bread from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack completely before slicing. 

Day Two - Celbridge, Maynooth and Straffan

This is Castletown House. It was built in the 1720s by
William Conolly, the wealthiest commoner in Ireland. Castletown is still the largest Georgian Style House in Ireland. We visited this stately home which is located in Celbridge, a quaint town in Kildare County, on our way to our major stop, A Gastro Pub recommended by our doorman at the K Club! Yes the mission is food, always food, but we try to get a little culture along the way.





Only a few minutes down the road in Celbridge was the Village in GastroPub. I was told it had good food and drink and this is where our insider ate every Monday. This was going to be our main meal of the day. We had a stout full Irish breakfast in the morning: Sauteed Mushrooms, Roast Tomatoes, Black and White Pudding (not the sweet kind, think blood and oats), Scrambled Eggs and Irish Rashers. (Think Canadian Bacon) The K Club also had a smorgasbord of pastries, breads, fruits and homemade Irish Smoked Salmon. But before gush about our Sunday Roast, the scrambled eggs were the best I had ever had. They were done low and slow with tons of Irish gold (butter). I could write a novel about them!

You don't generally look at pub food and have drool pool at the side of your lips, but I admit it happened looking down on these beauties.  

I don't know why but the meat in Ireland just tastes better.  It tastes the way God meant it to taste.  The same can be said for the ham and the pork roast.

Juicy lushes slab of meat caressed with golden Irish potatoes was better than finding gold at the end of the rainbow.  They love their potatoes.  I mean 

it is a love affair.  They had two types of potato side dishes with each entree, both mashed, one with a croquette and the other oven roasted.  I wasn't complaining they were amazing.  I loved how they served the oven roasted vegetables in a side dish.  Just so simple, delicious.  It was a great Sunday supper.

 

Day One

This is my son at the K Club in Kildare Ireland, 30 mins east of Dublin in the quaint village of Straffan. https://www.kclub.ie/ . This is where we stayed for 3 nights. For those that have read my blog from the very beginning you will know why I had to visit Ireland.  I wanted to see Ireland in its full glory, not just Dublin so I created the trip to explore three distinct areas of Ireland so I can see how the food and country varied.  

Here is my wife and daughter from the back side of the K Club.  This manor hotel is stunning.  The grounds are like a mini Versailles, the staff are so warm and welcoming and rooms are large and elegant. The food as you will see did not disappoint.

We were absolutely shattered when we arrived mid morning.  We were hungry but they were still serving breakfast, and we had already eaten breakfast on the plane over.  So we found a quiet sitting room/drawing room off the main foyer and parked ourselves there.  Within minutes the four of us faded off.  I awoke as a couple came into the room to have a meeting with the catering director for their wedding.  My wife's mouth was agape with drool pouring from it and my daughter was snoring a storm up.  My son was dead to the world.  I nudged them all to wake up.  We looked a sight.  I was embarrassed but oh well.  They were very nice and didn't seem flummoxed by us.  But we decided it best to leave them to their business. So by this time lunch service had begun and we sat down in an other quaint Victorian room where they served a light lunch. I had an open face Irish Smoked Salmon Sandwich with Capers and Red Onion on Irish Soda Bread and a Horseradish and Irish Butter Spread.  My wife nibbled on a local Chicken and Watercress Sandwich.  The kids noshed on this below:  Clotted Cream, Strawberry Preserves and the best damn scones I have ever had in my life!!!!

Let me tell you how simply prepared it was, but yet the ingredients were of such high quality they burst with flavor.  The presentation was spot on, not pretentious but graceful.  I wish I could get something so simple and tasty here in Dallas. Unfortunately we are surrounded by fast food restaurants and we are in too big of a hurry to relax and enjoy some simple but refined food.

As we finished lunch we were given our room key.  What a relief as we could barely keep our eyes open.  We decided to take a nap and relax for a few hours.  After awaking from our midday slumber we walked around the beautiful K Club grounds.  They have a great golf course where the Ryder Cup was played years back.  The weather was brilliant, 75 degrees and sunny. They were calling it a heat wave.  Six weeks had passed without rain, unheard of for Ireland.  After a good brisk walk across the fairy and leprechaun looking grounds we got back to our rooms and got dressed for dinner. Rule of thumb for Europe: They dress up far more for a nice dinner than we do in the states.                                       



I am going to let you on a little bit of a spoiler, but heck you'll get over it.  Though this restaurant is without a Michelin star, it was the best of the trip. The Byerley Turk restaurant in the K Club, named after a famous racing horse was amazing.  We were seated on their patio on a stunning evening sunset over looking the nicest grounds one could imagine.  Above are some of the food we ate at the restaurant. Irish Sea Prawns in garlic butter melted in the mouth.  The Irish Fillet of Beef with Bordelaise was grass fed.  It was much different the grass fed we have here in the states.  It was less gamey and more subtle of flavor.  I preferred much more than the beef here in the states.  The pork done three ways was a stunner.  It came with basically a caramelized chicharon bark.  Umm so good.  The pork belly was sweet and luscious with a great flavor from the fat.  The loin of pork was juicy.  I was told it was sous vide and the pan seared. (FYI sous vide is the way to go with meat.) Invest in the Joule. https://www.chefsteps.com/joule  The desserts were straight out of heaven.  My wife had a Kerry Cream Rice Pudding with Vanilla and raspberry coulis. I shared a warm chocolate tart with a quenelle of chocolate hazelnut mousse.  First rate!  My daughter said it was the best dessert she had eaten.  Despite all the food just described the star of the show was the potatoes, Irish potatoes.  They just taste different.  They had a real pleasant minerally taste.  Then you add the amazing Irish butter and you could just dine on that all night! Rest assured this will be a recurring theme.
Overall the food was flawlessly executed, flavorful, provocative while the service was warm and sublime and not pretentious.  French technique, modern gastronomy, old world charm, and Irish ingredients made the perfect recipe for the evening.  It was a magical first day.