Compiled by MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBY
Top food tweets . .
Reza Mahammad @RezaMahammad: Looking ahead to the autumn and opening of my cookery school in the Cognac region of France. Do message me for info!
Dana Cowin @fwscout: Tip @luckypeach/Wylie Dufresne: salt is what really holds your burgers 2gethr. The salt roughs up proteins in meat, allowing them 2 bind.
Sue Perkins @sueperkins: Am eating hot chocolate powder straight from the tin, like I did when I was a kid. Now all I need is the authority figure here to stop me.
Frank Hederman @FrankHederman: @eatlikeagirl suggested we do a supper club together. Where should it be, Blighty or the old sod? Who should we invite, and why?
Thornton's Thai takeaway
Chef Kevin Thornton doesn't look too happy in this photograph – perhaps someone had just asked him to serve chips or something! But that bowl of tasty-looking food he's holding is a lot healthier than chips – it's Mae Chan chicken, a dish he developed for the Camile Thai Kitchen chain. There are four of these takeaway/delivery outlets in Dublin, with the recently opened Rathmines branch joining those already established in Phibsborough, Dún Laoghaire and South Circular Road. Camile is owned by Brody Sweeney, who originally established the O'Briens sandwich shops. Thornton's Mae Chan chicken is made with corn-fed chicken breast strips marinated in a 12-ingredient mixture, along with vegetables and herbs and served with stir-fried noodles. He says it is inspired by the street food he enjoyed in the northern Thai region after which the dish is named. The dominant flavours are lemongrass, ginger, chilli and citrus from the marinade, with a fresh herb topping of citrus zest, chives and dill. It costs €12.95 and will be on the menu for a limited time. See camile.ie
Calorie count . . . sorted
Restaurateurs have been up in arms about Minister for Health James O’Reilly’s support for the Food Safety Authority’s recommendation that restaurants include calorie content information on their menus. However, Cork restaurant El Vino, noting that 96 per cent of consumers whose opinion was sought for the FSAI report wanted the information on menus, immediately got to work on implementing the initiative.
El Vino, which is a wine bar and restaurant with branches at the Elysian Tower on Eglinton Street and in East Village, Douglas, now has calorie counts on it menus.
“It took our chef two days to work out the calorie content of our lunch and dinner menus,” says proprietor Angie O’Brien. “It was an educational and interesting exercise. We have noticed a trend where our customers ask about the calorie content of particular items from the menu.”
In the photograph (below) trainee chef Michelle Rafferty and chef de partie Mateusz Sawicki display the calories in a fillet of sea bream dish at El Vino.
Bravo Birr
The wine to toast the 50th anniversary of the County Arms hotel in Birr, Co Offaly on Friday, August 3rd will be one produced from the hotel's own grapes, grown in a 200-year-old gazebo. The local theme will continue with a seven-course tasting menu designed by chef Jason Daly to celebrate Co Offaly's food producers, and even the floral decorations will come from the hotel's own garden. Tickets for the local food heroes banquet are €40, and a dinner, BB package is from €89 per person. See countyarmshotel.com, tel: 057-912 0791.
