MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBYtalks about food
So you think you've got a good idea
More than 140 food entrepreneurs attended a Bord Bia small business seminar in Enfield, Co Meath recently. Small food businesses make up a significant growth sector, according to recent research undertaken by Bord Bia, which works with more than 400 such enterprises, with a combined annual turnover of €400 million.
If you think you have a great product to sell and want to start your own business, check out Bord Bia's Vantage website - bordbiavantage.ie - for constructive advice on getting started, marketing opportunities and business development support. You'll also find a template for a business feasibility study, which will help you discover whether your idea will indeed make your fortune.
WEB WATCH
gourmetguy.wordpress.com
So you're pretty handy in the kitchen and everyone tells you that you should become a chef or open a restaurant? Stop right there. Before you ditch the day job, read the excellent blog written by Corkman Dave Ahern who, at the age of 35, has abandoned his career in event management and is working as a commis at The Ship, a gastropub in Wandsworth, south London, that's gaining a great reputation for its food.
Ahern is a self-taught cook whose interest in food, he admits, borders on obsessive. "I'd buy 5kg bags of carrots from Dunnes and chop them all up to work on my knife skills," he says, and it was those very skills that got him the job in The Ship after a four-hour trial shift. Even so, Ahern admits he struggles to keep up with the kitchen pros.
Then there's the money - or lack thereof - for those long hours of back-breaking work in a highly pressurised environment. So why is he doing it? Read his January 6th blog entry, Why we do that voodoo that we do, for his searingly honest appraisal of life in the kitchen, and why he's trying to prove Anthony Bourdain wrong in he assertion that 35 is just too old to kick-start a career as a chef.
"I am more confident now that I can do this, but at the start I was petrified," Ahern says. For the moment, he's intent on working his was up from commis to chef de partie at The Ship, where serving 500 people during the course of a Sunday is normal. "I've been offered a couple of stages, but I want to make sure I can benefit from them and not be a tourist in the kitchen."
The blog also features some interesting recipes - Ahern is two-thirds of the way through writing a cookbook - and there's enough humour in the writing to balance the gritty reality.
Definitely recommended reading.
How hot can you handle?
When Michael (Mic) Wejchert from south Co Dublin was made redundant from his job as a structural engineer last year, he turned adversity to advantage by seizing the opportunity to start commercial production of the chilli sauces he made as a hobby. On a trip to Belize in 1994 he had discovered just how good sauces made with these fiery fruits can be and once back in Ireland he developed his own recipe.
To turn a hobby into a commercial business, he developed four sauces with varying degrees of heat, from mild to "approach with caution", and began producing them in a purpose-built unit in Kilcoole, Co Wicklow last October. Award-winning illustrator Steve Simpson designed eye-catching and incredibly detailed labels based on the Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations, and the sauces are available in more than 30 outlets across Dublin and Wicklow, with nationwide distribution to follow.
The mildest sauce is Inferno Junior, with steadily increasing heat levels in Inferno Lite, Inferno Original and Inferno Extreme - the last of which has 12 habaneros in each bottle. They sell for between €2.95 and €3.35, and there is a list of stockists on the website, micschilli.ie.
Style and substance
The G hotel in Galway, with its Philip Treacy designed interiors, isn't just a stylish place to stay, it is also a earning a reputation as gourmet destination. Regis Herviaux, head chef, and Stefan Matz (below), who is executive chef here and at sister hotel Ashford Castle, aim to source much of the restaurant's produce from within an hour's drive. Luckily for them Galway and Connemara produce a rich variety of fish, shellfish, meat, cheese and vegetables. A recent gala dinner they staged featured shellfish from Stephane Griesbach's Gannet Fishmongers which has a stall at the Galway food market, smoked tuna from the Roberts family's Connemara Smokehouse in Ballyconneely, abalone farmed by Cindy O'Brien in Rossaveel, Connemara hill lamb and wonderful air-dried meats from artisan butcher James McGeough, and Bluebell Falls goats' cheese made by Paul Keane in Co Clare.
The line-caught tuna, which was then smoked, was served three ways: as a chilled gateau with pears , in a tuna and leek crumble, and as a crisp tuile on a creamy cabbage soup. Frank Kinneen of The Vineyard wine shop in Quay Street supplied wine pairings, and a smokey Staete Landt New Zealand Pinot Noir 2006 made an outstanding partner to the tuna. The abalone came deep-fried as a crispy tempura with basil and poached with creamy barley, risotto-style. The Connemara lamb was served four ways - braised, chargrilled, roasted and as an olive-crusted rack. The kitchen team also took a multi-faceted approach to show the versatility of Paul Keane's Bluebell Falls goats' cheese, serving it as a cheesecake and a soufflé as well as in a crème brûlée and a chocolate mousse.
You can meet some of these dedicated artisan suppliers and pick up some cooking tips in the kitchens at the G hotel at a two-night "g is for gourmet" event on Thursday and Friday, March 3rd and 4th. It costs from from €225 per person sharing, to include a five-course dinner with wine pairings, two nights' B&B, a cooking class and a guided tour of some the region's food producers. See theghotel.ie.
Irresistible for chocolate lovers
Life-sized chocolate artworks, including this lovingly sculpted armchair made by executive pastry chef Paul Kelly with hundreds of individual leaves made from tempered and painted chocolate, will greet visitors to the Merrion hotel during its forthcoming 10-day chocolate festival on February 11th-20th. The event will launch the hotel's signature chocolate, a 68.7 per cent cocoa creation developed in collaboration with international chocolate company Barry Callebaut. The Cellar Restaurant will offer a four-course dinner menu (€40) that will feature scallops with white chocolate risotto, brill with a cocoa nib and hazelnut crust, loin of venison with chilli chocolate sauce, and a chocolate dessert plate. See merrionhotel.com.
