FOOD FILE:If you're a member of Slow Food, you probably wouldn't let your precious child anywhere near a Smartie, let alone a blue one, but there will be a keen audience for psychotherapist Marianne Murphy's talk on the links between food and behaviour at the Limerick branch's "Slow Food for Babies and Toddlers" event on Sunday, February 1st. Nutritionist Julie Dargan will also talk about infant and child nutrition, and the target age group is three months to three years. The venue is the Hunt Museum and the start time is 3pm. For further information, contact Josephine Page on 087-9460490, writes Marie-Claire Digby.
Maldon may be the best known sea salt on the market, but the venerable Essex company has a new rival in Cornish Sea Salt, a naturally harvested product that has been endorsed by TV chef and restaurateur Rick Stein, who says it tastes as if it is “straight from the ocean” – which indeed it is, from the Lizard Peninsula to be precise. Cornish Sea Salt is available from
the Avoca shops in Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, where, if you’re lucky, you can also pick up the very-hard-to-find Maldon smoked sea salt (€2.99 for 125g), which sells out almost as soon as it hits the shelves. It is also stocked in Butler’s Pantry stores; Nolan’s, Clontarf; Donnybrook Fair; and Sheridan’s Cheesemongers. The recommended retail price is €4.17 (225g pouch) or €8.48 (500g tub). MS is also now stocking a smoked sea salt, supplied by Welsh company Halen Môn, which costs €4.29 for a handy 56g jar. Could smoked salt be the new “hot” thing? It certainly tastes good, and the unusual smell is very evocative. “Granny’s attic on a hot day,” was one suggestion . . .
Knives at the ready
The search is on to find the top five young chefs in Ireland, who will be pitted against each other in a bid to be named Baileys Euro-toques "Young Chef of the Year 2009" and win a stage at Michelin two-star restaurant Pied à Terre in London, under Australian chef Shane Osborn.
The first stage of the gruelling judging process involves submitting a written entry, including a menu on a particular theme. This is followed by an interview in front of a panel that will include chef Neven Maguire, who won the title in 1994. After this, five finalists are chosen to go forward to a culinary skills test. The competition culminates in a prize-giving lunch, cooked by the finalists under tutelage from their mentor chefs, who have in the past included Kevin Dundon, Ross Lewis and Derry Clarke (above). The competition is open to chefs under the age of 25, working in a professional kitchen. Entry forms are now available from Ruth Hegarty of Euro-toques (01-6779995).
Silver Hill Foods is also enticing chefs to get into competition mode, with the winner of their 2009 duck cookery competition earning a much-sought-after prize of a week's work experience at Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck restaurant, working under Kyle Connaughton, head development chef. Entry forms can be downloaded from www.silverhillfoods.com.