Crowe's Farm organic pork sausages:It's hard not to be charmed by TJ Crowe and his bangers.
There is an infectious enthusiasm about the man and a sizzling sweet deliciousness to his sausages. Crowe’s Farm is as old-style as it gets. Three brothers, Ned, John Paul and TJ, rear and process their pigs on the family farm in Tipperary. The animals are a cross of Duroc and Gloucestershire Old Spot, yielding just enough yummy fat to give flavour and moistness to the meat. They also cure bacon and will do spit roasts for parties. Available from good independent retailers – have a look at crowefarm.ie.
Kelly’s black pudding
How do you reinvent something as basic as a black pudding? Sean Kelly is as straight-forward and upfront as his full-bodied, perfectly balanced black and white puddings. You take the best ingredients, treat them with respect, value them, and get on with the job, he says. He has been asked to lower his prices on more than one occasion, but refuses, point-blank. He says he makes up to a standard and not down to a price. His own and nearby pigs are the raw material and he has no intention of changing that. You might be tempted to taste the wild Atlantic winds in his puddings – home is Newport in Co Mayo – but in truth you taste the passion of a man who knows and is proud of a craft started in his family 75 years ago.
Some black puddings may be more famous, but watch out: Kelly’s is on the rise. See kellysbutchers.com
Killowen yoghurt
The story is familiar – a dairy farm shipping milk out at commodity prices and no future in sight. However in this case, the Dunne family bought the nearby artisan Killowen yoghurt business and transferred production to their farm, where a herd of 170 Friesian cows now provide the milk.
And what milk! Some yoghurts claim low-fat status because they are manipulated into that state, but Killowen milk is naturally only 3 per cent fat. The yoghurt is bio-live, and there is a distinct but gentle creaminess, oozing satisfaction. Taste the natural version, and the flavour drifts on and on. Thoughts of lush, sun-drenched Wexford pasture. (Maybe I’m too heavy on the sunshine.)
There are fruit-flavoured versions that come in charming little pots (just like you get in France), so you can choose to stir into the yoghurt or eat a spoonful at a time. See killowenyogurt.com
Ryan’s Arbutus Breads
It’s easy to think bread is bread – brown, white, a crust and maybe some seeds or nuts. Flour, yeast and water, what’s to vary? Mix it all up, slide it into the oven and you have bread. But bite into one of Declan Ryan’s breads and you go on a long, well-researched journey.
For a man who is responsible for producing the same thing every day, he is something of a perfectionist. Every year he reviews his recipes and keeps up with trends and developments in the bread-making world.
Lucky if you live in Cork, where the bread is baked, but what about the rest of us? Call Odaios Foods on 01-4691455 and they will deliver countrywide. Admittedly it will typically be a box of 20 loaves, so you need a good-sized freezer to store them, but you’ll have pure deliciousness to hand. Flour, yeast and water just got a whole lot better. See arbutusbread.com
