Cheese   Fish & Seafood   Meat   Drink   Local Country & Farmers' Markets
 

Cheese

Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese from Co. Cork has a firm and flexible texture with round or oval gas holes and is similar to a young Gouda. It has a delicate flavour becoming piquant with age. The milk which is produced from Friesian Cows, is pasteurised at the cheese dairy.  As well as the natural type, the cheese is produced with garlic and dried herbs. Suitable for vegetarians.

Coolea  - The hills of Collea in Co. Cork give their name to the Williams family's acclaimed raw-milk, gouda-style cheese. This is a rich, nutty cheese with a fruity tang on the finish.

Desmond and Gabriel  and Mizen Cheeses - Bill Hogan and Sean Ferry make three different cheeses: Desmond, Mizen and Gabriel on the lovely Mizen Peninsula. The cheeses are made during the summer months using the milk supplied by the small herds which graze the rolling hills between Mount Gabriel and the sea.

Desmond Cheese is a  Deep-cream coloured cheese with a thick, hard rind, the flavour is intense and spicy and is suitable for vegetarians. Recommended with both hearty red and brisk white wine.

Gabriel Cheese is a hard, granular cheese similar to Parmesan, with a deep, fruity flavour and a mellow aftertaste and is suitable for vegetarians. Recommended with Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer

Mizen Cheese is a hard cheese made with raw milk and has a nutty, fruity flavours with a very dry texture

Durrus Farmhouse Cheese is a raw milk cheese, made using traditional methods in the beautiful upland valley of Coomkeen, on the Sheep’s Head peninsula. Durrus is a fully vegetarian-friendly cheese since it's made with vegetable rennet. Recommended wines: Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot with younger cheese, Shiraz with mature cheese.

Gubbeen Cheese  - The name "Gubbeen" is derived from the Gaelic word "gobin" meaning "small mouthful," which refers to a beautiful bay in West Cork where the Gubbeen Farm is located. Gubbeen Cheese is made from milk from Friesian, Simmenthal, Jersey and Kerry cows. The rough textured rind on the outside of this cheese covers a smooth and somewhat crumbly inner cheese, pale white in colour.  Recommended wine: Collioure Rose. There is also a smoked version and the recommended wine is Cotes du Rhone.

Milleens Cheese has the aroma is of a farmyard, wet rocks and heather. The cheese is a firm, supple, sweet cheese, which also has hints of cream and butter. Milleens has the sweet-sour taste associated with genuine Trappist cheeses. Recommended wine; soft red Burgundy.

Orla is a modern, farmhouse, un-pasteurised, organic, vegetarian, semi-hard cheese made from sheep's milk on the Manch estate in Co. Cork. It has a round shape with fine, orange, brine-washed crust.  Orla is supple and decidedly semi-soft when young. After being aged in cellars for up to six months, it resembles Manchego in texture, although it is less oily. The mature cheese is sharp and salty, while retaining the burnt-sugar flavour so typical of sheep's milk.

Fish & Seafood

Fish caught locally include pollock, cod, ling, pouting, mackerel, bass, dogfish, various rays, tope, skate, conger eels and wrasse.

Salmon farming is also well established in two operations in Bantry Bay. Other farmed species included abalone, sea urchins, seaweed and scallops.

Local seafood also includes lobsters, oysters, scallops, crayfish, shrimp and crabs

  • Recipe for Seafood Chowder with Dillisk and Carrageen
    • Ingredients

    • 450g/1 lb pollack, cod or other white fish fillets - skinned and cubed

    • 225g/8ozs shellfish - mussels, prawns, etc

    • 110g/4ozs salmon - cubed

    • 25g/1 oz butter

    • 55g/2ozs streaky bacon - cut into strips

    • 1 kilo/2lbs mixed vegetables - onion, leek, carrot, potatoes - diced

    • 570mls/1 pint water

    • 7g/1/4 oz dillisk*

    • 7g/1/4 oz carrageen*

    • 570mls/1 pint milk

    • Salt and freshly milled pepper

    • Directions
    • Cook bacon streaks in butter until crisp. 
    • Add all vegetables except potatoes. Season and cook without colouring for 5 minutes.

    • Add water, dillisk and carrageen and cook for 10 minutes.

    • Add potatoes and milk and simmer until potatoes are soft.

    • Add fish and shellfish and cook for 3-5 minutes.

    • Check seasoning and serve sprinkled with parsley and chives.

    • *Dillisk, also known as Dulse - Purple reddish sea vegetable. Has highest iron content of any edible food source and is very rich in protein.

    • *Carrageen - Bushy reddish-purple sea vegetable. Also known as Irish moss. Abundant around the Irish coast. Rich in calcium and other essential vitamins and minerals.
       

Mussels - In Bantry Bay, the most sizeable aquaculture production is of Blue Mussels (Mytilus edulis). Currently, approximately 4,000 tonnes of mussels are produced annually. The West Cork Mussel Fair is a three day annual festival celebrates the harvesting of mussels in Bantry Bay. The festival includes open-air music, marching bands, street theatre and plenty of eating! Bantry Bay mussels are available free of charge at all bars, restaurants and hotels during the weekend.
 

  • Recipe for Murphy's and Mussels (Hartson Doud)
    • Ingredients:
      6 lbs mussels
      2 oz butter
      2 large onions
      Small glass Murphy's Irish Stout
      2 tablespoons parsley - 1 for cooking and 1 for garnish


      Salt & Pepper to taste
    • Method: Clean the mussels
      Melt the butter in a large pan
      Add the onions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes
      Add the other ingredients, cover with lid and boil; shake the pan from time to time, until the mussels steam open.
    • Serve with more butter and parsley. Offer plenty of bread for mopping up sauce.

Meat

Locally reared beef, lamb and pork (including bacon, ham and sausages)

Black pudding is a meat and blood sausage with oatmeal and spices.  The renowned Clonakilty Black pudding is manufactured to the Original Harrington recipe prepared in 1880
 

White pudding is made with cooked pork meat mixed and seasoned with onions, oatmeal and spices

Drink

Guinness, the world famous "black beer" has been made in Dublin since 1759. The main ingredients are roasted, malted barley, hops, yeast and water.
 

  • Recipe for Guinness Cake
    • Ingredients: 8 ozs butter 8 ozs brown sugar 4 eggs 10 ozs seedless raisins 8 ozs sultanas 4 ozs walnuts, chopped 8 - 12 tablespoons Guinness Cream the butter and sugar.
    • Method: Beat in the eggs and fold in the flour and spice. Add the fruit and nuts and mix well. Add 4 tablespoons of Guinness, or more as necessary for soft dropping consistency. Put the mixture into a 7 inch prepared round cake tin. Bake for one hour at 170*C and for a further 1.5 hours at 150*C. Allow cake to become cold and remove from tin. Prick the base with a skewer and spoon over the remaining Guinness. Allow to soak in overnight. Wrap in foil and keep for 1 week before cutting.

Murphy's Irish Stout has been made in Cork, Ireland since 1856. It's main ingredients are malted barley, roasted material (barley & malt), hops, yeast and water.

Poteen (meaning "little pot") used to be an illegally brewed home made drink made of Irish white potatoes. It was banned in 1661 when excise duty was introduced. Production was made legal again in 1997. Butler’s Irish Book published in 1660 claimed that poteen "enlighteneth ye heart, casts off melancholy, keeps back old age" plus other benefits!

  Cheers!

Local Country & Farmers Markets

Fridays:

Ballydehob 10:30am-noon

Bantry 11am-1pm

Skibbereen, Abbeystrewery Hall, noon-2:30pm

Saturdays:

Skibbereen, Fair Field, 11am-3pm

 

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