Articles

The special qualities of the Bramley’s Seedling have made it the most popular cooking apple in Britain and Ireland - and those grown in Northern Ireland’s ‘Orchard County’ are extra special: Armagh Bramley Apples are among a very small number of Irish products to have gained the European Commission for PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status - the other two in Northern Ireland are Lough Neagh Eels and Comber Early Potatoes.
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From food tourism - holidays that are all about the restaurants - to annual pilgrimages to high-end eateries, the way we eat out has been transformed
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This month, Lucy Madden describes some of the increasingly unreasonable behaviour of demanding guests - observing that ‘the accumulation of wealth and power seems to go hand in hand with rudeness and often, inexplicably, meanness’.
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DINNER The Irish Times Selection, by Domini Kemp (Gill & Macmillan hardback, €22.99)
Fans of Domini Kemp’s brilliant weekly column in the Irish Times Weekend Magazine will be delighted to have so many of her best recipes brought together in a book, where they won’t be getting lost any more.
Sláinte, The Complete Guide to Irish Craft Beer and Cider, by Caroline Hennessy and Kristin Jensen (New Island, hardback 232pp, €19.99)
This is a book that couldn’t have been written ten, five or maybe even a couple of years ago. The resurgence of craft beers and ciders in Ireland has been one of the most exciting aspects of the ‘real food revolution’ that is currently taking the country by storm.
The Nation's Favourite Food Fast! by Neven Maguire, with photography by Joanne Murphy (Gill & Macmillan hardback 256pp, €22.99)
A new book from the nation’s favourite chef is always welcome and this one is bound to be snapped up by the many people who feel challenged by the clock when it comes to getting a nutritious meal on the table.
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This month Martin touches on the thorny subject of Cooking for the French…
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Very much with the zeitgeist for wild and foraged foods, Lucy Deegan and Mark Cribbin's enterprising north Cork company grows a unique range of speciality mushrooms - comprising everything from shiitake and oyster mushrooms to velvet pipionni and nameko. Spores are inoculated into local wood including oak, birch and elder; and, harnessing the light and pure air of their location, the mushrooms thrive.
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Everywhere we've travelled in recent weeks the cooks of Ireland have been hard at working preserving this year's heavy crops of fruit and, especially, plums and damsons, or prunus domestica
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August and September are the months when I supply organic fruit, vegetables and duck eggs to The BrookLodge Hotel for its annual harvest menu in The Strawberry Tree restaurant.
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For September, our expert columnist, food blogger - and joint author of Slainte! The complete Guide To Irish Craft Beers and Ciders - KRISTIN JENSEN introduces a delicious stout from one of Ireland’s oldest craft breweries. Try it for yourself with a classic autumn food pairing at the Galway International Oyster Festival (25-28 September).
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Yesterday morning I went down to the polytunnel to get a few fresh tomatoes to go with our breakfast eggs, only to walk in on a group of birds conducting a daring raid. They had managed to pull a few ripe tomatoes off the plant, and were busy gorging themselves on the fleshy fruit.
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