Author: charlottek1

Food and festivals to lure visitors to Leeside

The Irish Examiner

By Eoin English

AN AMBITIOUS tourism strategy will use Cork’s renowned food culture and its 23 annual festivals to tempt an extra one million visitors to Leeside.

Some of the city’s top restaurateurs served up a mouth-watering range of local culinary delights in City Hall last night as the city council launched its dedicated tourism unit which hopes to generate an additional €120 million in tourism revenue a year.

The Tourism, Events, Arts and Marketing (TEAM) unit’s multi-million euro tourism drive will be one of the single biggest direct tourism campaigns ever undertaken by the city — and it is going global.

TEAM, which is now fully responsible for leading the national and international promotion and marketing of the city, is headed by Valerie O’Sullivan, the city council’s director of corporate affairs.

She said the city’s food culture and its diverse range of festivals — more than any other Irish city — are just two elements of what will be a multi-faceted and fully coordinated approach to promoting the city as a city-break and tourist destination.

“We want to shake things up, do things a little bit differently,” she said. “We want to reflect the unique energy and vibrancy of Cork city into an equally energetic and vibrant marketing drive that will get people to sit up and appreciate this magnificent city.

“2011 will be about finding our voice, our message and shouting this from the rooftops.”

TEAM has already identified several short-term projects to enhance the city’s visitor experience, including:

* The establishment of a fully Wi-Fi enabled city centre.

* The roll-out of tourist-friendly directional street signs.

* The installation of on-street information panels with city and area maps including visitor information.

But it also plans to set up expert groups drawn from the city’s hotel, retail, restaurant, media and IT sectors to discuss ways the city can develop and improve its tourism offering.

TEAM will target the domestic market, as well as the British, French and German markets in the short-term.

But Cork’s twin and partner city relationships with Shanghai, Cologne, Rennes, San Francisco, Swansea and Coventry will be tapped in the longer-term to capitalise on the city’s Lonely Planet ‘Top 10 Cities in the World’ designation, and on the opportunities presented by the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Leeside on May 20.

Lord mayor of Cork, Cllr Michael O’Connell, called on every citizen to play their part in realising the “city’s vision for tourism”.

“It’s by no means complete without the critical support and participation of local businesses, tourism partners and the people of Cork who we call on today to help us shape a unique and compelling tourism campaign for Cork city that will put us on the map and promote this city as the number one must-visit city for domestic and international visitors,” he said.

“Collaboration and cross team partnerships will form the bedrock for TEAM’s way of working and success and we need everyone’s help to make it a success.”

City manager Tim Lucey said tourism, which has been identified as a “major economic driver” to help the nation recover from the economic collapse, “needs to be a key focus of our city and people”.

“Tourism plays a huge role in Cork city’s economy and is worth €317m, supporting 2,325 full time equivalent jobs a year,” Mr Lucey said.

“In order to grow this, Cork City Council’s overarching ambition is to galvanise the city’s resources and partners to help shape an ambitious and progressive tourism drive with clear areas of focus over the next five years.”

Guests at last night’s launch, including the British Ambassador to Ireland, Julian King, sampled poached mutton with caper sauce from the Farmgate, smoked salmon fishcake with salsa verde, from Jacques, Kanturk black pudding on Tipperary apple crisp with an edible lavender flower and local rhubarb, from Nash 19, salted rolled mackerel served with potato rosette and a shot of gooseberry cordial from Augustine’s and chilled gazpacho with pickle cucumber, lemon creme fresh and a parmesan stick, from Les Gourmandises.

The treats were washed down with Rebel Red and Blarney Blonde from the Franciscan Well.

Cork tourism value for money

* A study in 2004 by Dr Richard Moloney, of UCC’s Centre for Policy Studies, showed tourism plays a huge role in Cork city’s economy. The report shows tourism is worth €317 million to the city, supporting 2,325 full-time equivalent jobs, and is worth a further €87.3m to the city’s hinterland, supporting 639 full-time equivalent jobs.

* The city’s arts industry is valued at €207.5m, supporting 1,050 full-time equivalent jobs.

* 23 annual festivals generate annual income of €16.2m, supporting 102 full-time equivalent jobs while galleries and studios generate a further €12m to the city.

* Fáilte Ireland research shows 61% of people visiting the region are here on holiday, with 11% on a business trip.

* Britain and mainland Europe are hugely influential markets to tap into with 84% of all visitors coming from there.

* Transatlantic visitors account for 16% of all visitors to the south-west and this is expected to grow as markets recover.

* UCC commissioned to conduct a new study on tourism and its importance to the city.

Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/food-and-festivals-to-lure-visitors-to-leeside-153434.html#ixzz1R92k7xoa

Naughty or Nice?

Foodies Aoife McElwain and Aoife Barry must have heard of Jack’s wonderful chocolate pudding – which is both naughty and nice – because they gave him a mention in today’s paper.

You can read the full article by clicking here

Irish Independent

Foodies to follow:

Carnivore

@mccarthykanturk

Jack McCarthy is the patriarch of McCarthy’s of Kanturk, a north Cork butcher that

has been providing locals with top-quality meat since 1892. Jack communicates with

customers via Twitter and has opened an online shop. Try their delicious north Cork

pancetta or the array of outstanding sausages, as well as the notoriously addictive

black pudding. See www.jackmccarthy.ie.

Di Curtin’s – Eggs Benedict

by Di Curtin – The Weekend Foodie – The Evening Echo

With all the pizazz of a Royal Wedding and the long weekend coming up – I’m in the mood for some romantic celebratory food!

It’s a glamorous bank holiday brunch fit for a prince and his new bride – or anyone who is tying the knot this time of year: Of course you don’t have to be tying any knots to enjoy a touch of elegance in food this weekend. Eggs Benedict is an all time favourite – good, fresh, free-range effs softly poached and perched on muffins, dressed with a classic Hollandaise sauce and some crisp pancetta is a real long weekend treat.

Jack McCarthy of Kanturk makes his own version of the Italian pancetta, which crisps up wonderfully when you fry it in a pan. Hollandaise is not as scary to make as some would have you believe.

When I was training as a chef I made buckets of the stuff every morning for our room service menu.

I made it by hand as the head chef always insisted, but you can make it in the blender for ease – just put the blender on slow speed to add the butter very gently so the sauce emulsifies properly. I like the pancetta on top of the eggs and sauce but you can pop it underneath in traditional style if you like.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

For the sauce:
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 large free range egg yolks
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g butter

To Finish:
8 thin slices of Pancetta
8 large free range eggs
4 muffins halved
Parsley for decoration.

Method:

  • For the hollandaise sauce, place the vinegar in a pan and simmer to reduce to one tablespoon of liquid.
  • Place egg yolks in a blender with seasoning and whizz till blended. Slowly melt butter in a pan.
  • Pour the vinegar into the eggs and blend again. Pour the melted butter into a jug with a spout.
  • With the blender running on slow add the butter in a trickle to begin with, then a thin steady stream, till all is incorporated and the sauce has a creamy fairly thick consistency.
  • Add a squeeze of lemon juice and check the seasoning, then place in a bowl, cover and stand the bowl in a pan of warm, but not boiling water – if the water is too hot the sauce will curdle. This will keep the sauce warm while you poach the eggs and cook the pancetta.
  • Fry pancetta crisp in a dry frying pan. It shouldn’t need extra oil.
  • At the same time, poach the eggs in water with a splash of vinegar added. They should be soft so the yolks are still runny when eaten.
  • Pop the eggs on warm lightly toasted muffin halves and pour over some sauce.
  • Perch the crisp pancetta on top to serve. Decorate with parsley sprigs.

The butcher, the baker and a fascinator-maker

The Sunday Independent.

In the past two years, 23 small businesses have opened in Kanturk, writes Lucinda O’Sullivan

‘TRY Town First’ is the slogan in Kanturk, the north Cork town where two rivers, the Allow and the Dallow, converge in a surge of rushing waters.

“We know it is not realistic to expect everyone to do all their shopping in the town, but we encourage people to buy a bit more locally, and we are promoting the town as a viable place to shop in,” said Kieran Fitzgerald, of Fitzgerald Insurance and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.

Kanturk is a very attractive town, with a Georgian influence, a 17th century castle, a market square, two bridges, three riverside parks, and an imposing church. ‘Kanturk’ is derived from Ceann Tuirc (Boar’s Head) and a stone marks the spot where the last boar in Ireland was reputedly slain. The town has a lot going for it in that it is also less than an hour’s drive from Cork, Tralee, Limerick and Killarney. There is a strong community feel in the town, which has an annual arts festival, but most extraordinary of all, it has seen the opening of 23 new small businesses since February 2009.

I had only been in Kanturk once before at a funeral where we had ended up in the Alley Bar — a fantastic old-style pub and shop with nooks and snugs, and history hanging off its walls.

The Alley Bar is owned by Eilis O’Connor and her husband John D O’Connor. The premises was always a pub and shop, which Eilis’s father, Ned Jones, had traced back to the 1890s. There was a famous ball alley at the back, hence its name, and from the Thirties to the Fifties, there were “famous All Ireland games there”. It was owned back then by a husband and wife team of two Doctors O’Toole. In 1959, Dr O’Toole retired and the pub remained closed for a couple of years. Eilis’s father, Ned, working in the creamery company across the road, would look over and bemoan the closure of the pub where he used drink as a young man. One day he said to his wife Mary, “We’ll buy the pub!” They bought it in 1961 and now it is run by Eilis.

One of the longest standing businesses in the town is McCarthy’s Butchers. Jack McCarthy is a very pro-active artisan food producer, and a great public relations man for Kanturk. He is the fifth generation of his family business which was founded in 1892 by Callaghan McCarthy, a baker who put down his dough hook and took up a butcher’s cleaver because he couldn’t buy decent meat for his table. Looking at the old ledgers you could see where the business suddenly changed from selling bread to the next day selling meat. All of the old Kanturk names are in the book, and all are still in the area, Sullivan, Conway, Clancy, Mahony, Dillon, O’Connor, Barrons. You could also see too that the British Army was in occupation. There is also a great picture taken of a group of men “the day Parnell visited town” and Jack’s son, Tim McCarthy, the sixth generation in the business, proudly showed me his two great grandfathers.

The McCarthys, father and son, produce the most wonderful charcuterie. Last year they were crowned members of the Brotherhood of the Knights of the Black Pudding, won in the face of intense competition from 4,000 entrants in the ‘Black Pudding Capital’, the Normandy town of Mortagne au Perche, by La Confrerie des Chevaliers du Goute Boudin — who visited here in force last year.

The future for Ireland is tourism and food — we have to push our wonderful artisan produce. Specialities at McCarthy’s include Putog Ceann Toirc, Boar’s Head Pudding, Irish Whiskey Haggis, traditional dry cured bacons, honey cured roast pork, French style boudins with cream and apple, honey, garlic, an Ardrahan cheese sausage, the regular Cork-style white pudding, a new seafood sausage, and many many more inventive delicious puddings. “Pudding has gone through the roof,” says Jack, “they want it everywhere.”

Around the corner is Mark Reidy of Duhallow Seafoods, who opened his compact fish shop about six months ago and is “delighted with it”. He has been in the fish business a while, working at one point in a fish shop in Skibbereen. He was then selling fish from vans, door to door, but “it was too hit and miss” so he decided to give himself a base and open his own fish shop.

“I keep my prices reasonable and I round it down, say if it was €10.60 I’d give it for €10, I’m not stuck in my prices. The more someone buys, the better the discount.” Business is good, he says, and he is a firm believer in giving back to the community with everyone supporting one another in local business. Mark has also developed his product further by working with a local restaurant, Bob’s, which produces lasagnes, fish cakes and seafood pies which Mark sells in his shop. “These dishes offer great value; if you were to buy the ingredients yourself you couldn’t do it cheaper.”

A few doors down is Tina Sheehan, who opened her children’s clothing shop, Jemma Jim, in October 2009. “It’s great,” Tina says, “we have a lot of fun. We haven’t been here in times past when people were having massive profits whereas, you know, we think it’s going great.”

Tina worked with Mallow Urban Council for four years but then her contract was up. “I have an eight-year-old daughter, I always loved clothes and fashion and previously worked with children, but I just didn’t want to go back into a formal setting.”

Tina’s motto is to be “more affordable — that’s what we are looking for. If people want to spend €10 or €25 on a couple of things, great. We supply gift wrapping it keeps customers’ costs down.” They have outfits for children of all ages, equipment and toys, First Communion plus debs dresses. “Some little girls don’t want to spend a lot so I have lovely dresses from €65 up to the very top at €300, likewise Communion dresses run from €50 to €200.” Tina encourages girls to buy classics that they can wear again, and also to loan dresses to one another. “All I wanted to do was to bring affordable fashion, and also to do big sizes for children, I am very sensitive about that, I want shopping to be fun for kids, not a nightmare!”

Across the street from Duhallow Seafoods is Kanturk Photo Framing, where Bertie Harman originally had a “chipper” in 1994. He then bought the building and started a video business, moving into the photographic business and framing.

“After Christmas was quiet,” Bertie says, “but it has really picked up particularly with the recent arts festival.”

Madison Avenue is a shoe shop owned by Geraldine O’Callaghan from west Limerick, which opened in Kanturk in December 2010 after two years in Mallow. “The first year in Mallow was going okay but my location wasn’t good. If you are not constantly being seen by the customer on the main thoroughfare, you are forgotten very rapidly.”

Geraldine stocks children’s shoes such as Startrite, Ricosta and Pablosky. She also stocks ladies’ shoes, including Rockport, an American label. “Obviously price points have had to come down hugely in the recession. The first year I opened you could easily sell shoes for €150 to €200 but now it is hard to sell anything past €80. There is a massive change so you have to have different price points, stocking ranges that are good for this economy.”

Kate’s Kitchen is a deli that also opened in December 2010. “It’s up and down but it’s good, I always have people coming back for repeat orders,” says owner Catriona O’Keeffe.

Catriona, who has twin girls aged seven, bakes scones, brown breads, carrot cakes and lemon drizzle cakes every day — you would hang around just for the aromas! Catriona also makes daily potato salad, pesto pasta and Waldorf salad. She boils her own hams, glazes them with honey and brown sugar and she gets steak mince for her shepherd’s pies from McCarthy’s, of course. She also stocks jams and preserves, Ardrahan cheeses and Ardrahan Lullaby milk, which has a naturally higher level of melatonin so helps you sleep. “I am busy until 2 o’clock every day cooking and baking. I have total control over quality when I do it myself but I now also have three girls working part-time to help.”

Denise Hickey took over the Perfect Fit from previous owners in November 2010. Denise also has a DVD, games and consoles shop but was always looking for the right underwear and shapewear for herself and the right shop came up! “It was a big jump from DVDs to lingerie,” she says. “In general, you do have your quiet days but occasions have a lot to do with the business. People want the right bra for a wedding, Communion, Confirmation, or under a dress for a Saturday night!

Martina Drew of the Crowning Glory opened her shop in 2009. “I was unemployed for six months and I decided this was either the time to do it or not. I am delighted with the business.” She started out with accessories, handbags, jewellery and fascinators. “I now make my own fascinators in all colours to match people’s outfits for weddings and special occasions and in the last month I have gone into ladies’ fashions, going up to size 26.”

“We work off one another here — I send people over to The Perfect Fit for underwear and Denise would send people to me. The wedding season is big and I have lots of orders now for fascinators — cerise pink is big this summer — but I have to make sure people aren’t going to the same wedding.” Wise woman!

Finally I met Teddy Ambrose of Ambrose Ironworks. Teddy comes from a long line of blacksmiths who have been in business in Kanturk since the family came to Ireland from Heidelberg in Germany in the 18th century.

So from putogs to bras, seafood to shoes, cupcakes to iron craft, there is plenty on offer in Kanturk. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and it is imperative that we remember this when we spend our euro. It’s all about Meitheal!

Aoife’s Sausage Casserole

Try this sausage casserole for a real “comfort food” experience.  Recipe courtesy of Aoife McElwain, Journalist for the Irish Independent and Totally Dublin. Her wonderful blog, I can has cook, is well worth a read. Read the full article by clicking here.

 

What you need for a sausage casserole for 4 to 5 people

sausage casseroleOlive oil
10 – 12 Jack McCarthy’s of Kanturk sausages of your choice (or the absolutely most delicious alternative you can find)
1 large onion, sliced into half moon shapes
2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 – 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
2 tins of good quality chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper
A handful of fresh parsley (flat leaf or curly) finely chopped


Preheat your oven to 200 deg C

Heat some oil in an oven-proof casserole dish on a medium to high heat on the hob.

If you don’t have an oven-proof casserole dish suitable for hob use, you can do this first part in a very deep frying pan and transfer mix to an oven-proof dish once it’s ready for the oven.

Start by browning your sausages.  You want them to get a good bit of colour so cook them for at least ten minutes, turning to ensure even colour.  Once browned, remove from pot and set aside.

In the same pot, fry your onion, carrots, parsnips and fennel seeds for five to ten minutes, stirring constantly.  Add a little more oil if you need to.  You want the onion to start to soften and the other vegetables to get started off cooking.

Once your onions have turned golden and begin to soften, you can now return the sausages to the pot.  Then add your two tins of chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

Mix everything evenly.  Top up with boiling hot water (you can also use a bit of vegetable stock here) so that all of the sausages and vegetables are covered with the tomato sauce.

Now put the oven-proof casserole in the oven, uncovered.  Checking and stirring from time to time, cook the lot for between 45 minutes and one hour, until the parsnips and carrots are cooked through and deliciously soft.

You can either eat it immediately, or let it cool and rest for a few hours so the flavours get to know each other.  Then you can reheat it in the oven for 15 minutes.

Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley, some crusty white bread and a glass of good red wine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack McCarthy is Bridgestone Man of the Year

At the end of December, Bridgestone’s John and Sally McKenna announced the results of the Megabytes awards for 2010.  Jack McCarthy was honoured to be awarded the title of Man of the Year.

Other categories included Artisan of the Year awarded to Anna Leveque, Triskel Farmhouse Cheeses, Portlaw, County Waterford and Restaurant of the Year: Harry’s Bar & Restaurant, Bridgend, Inishowen, County Donegal.

Find out more by clicking here.

Kanturk welcomes the Knights of the Black Pudding

pudding2The Brotherhood of the Knights of the Blackpudding, a colourful French food fraternity visited Kanturk in celebration of the Gold Medal Winning Black Pudding by McCarthy’s of Kanturk.

The brotherhood paraded up Strand Street, with their banners and ceremonial dress, accompanied by local ilen pipe players to arrive at the Gourmet food festival outside McCarthy’s premises on Main Street.

Representing Good Food Ireland, Peter Ward of Country Choice is no stranger to the finest Irish food. Indeed, he was declared Good Food Ireland Person of the Year in 2009. He said, “I say to people, don’t make anything exotic at all, just make something really really good that will bring people to your door. Here Jack McCarthy has, with a bucket of blood in either hand, made something really really really good.” He went on to say that, “It is great that our authorities are coming round to realise that the expertise of the producer is the greatest safe guard we can have in the production of food in Ireland.”

Jean Claude, chair of the fraternity spoke, “The Black pudding fraternity has been in existence for nearly fifty years and in that time we have seen over 30,000 different sorts of black pudding. We very happy to know, and to see, how much the Irish people enjoy black pudding and how the Irish pork butcher made a really good black pudding.”

pudding3The food festival included stalls from local businesses such as IRD Duhallow Community Food Services, Cork City’s On the Pigs Back” and new local enterprise www.easyentertaining.ie, and also drew gourmet emporiums from further afield, Sheridan’s Cheese Mongers, Mannings Emporium, Soul Bakery and Gubbeen Farmhouse to name just some of the stall holders.

Brotherhood of Black Plackpudding visit Cork

The 25 strong group of representatives from this French Fraternity will be parading in their regalia in honour of Black Pudding in Kanturk on Tuesday 21st September at 5:30pm.
There will be a spit roast and traditional music in celebration of this event on Main Street Kanturk to which all are welcome.

The brotherhood of the knights of the Black Pudding is one of the worlds greatest authorities on Black pudding. At the annual international awards three Irish Butchers were awarded medals. So impressed were the French by the quality of the puddings presented by the Irish that they decided to make Ireland the location of their annual pudding pilgrimage.

The Black Pudding Fraternity was established in 1963 at Mortagne-au-Perche in the heart of the Perche region of France by a group of foodies to promote traditional black pudding. Black pudding has a history dating back over 2000 years and there are variations in many countries, so that the annual pudding festival hosted by the fraternity has become a major international event with over 600 entries in 2010.

The Fraternity has welcomed some 2,250 people into membership since 1963. These are food connoisseurs from all walks of life; included are personalities from the worlds of politics and the arts both French and from abroad. Thus thousands of members worldwide support the efforts of the Fraternity with its core leadership of about thirty dignitaries entitled to wear its regalia, which is a tradition amongst French gastronomic societies. Dignitaries of the Fraternity are ambassadors for the Perche’s most noble product, its black gold!