Lobster season

Lobsters Are Back in Season 😄

National Chowder Cook Off Kinsale 2013

Myself & Jack O Keeffe represented Limerick recently in the national chowder cook off a great day out & a massive crowd attended with 759 votes  that's a lot of chowder the picture of us with our buddy Martin Shanahan of fishy fishy cafe.

New Duck Dish

Here is a picture of a recent duck dish using our own farmed Aylesbury Duck 2 ways confit leg & seared breast, puy lentils, heritage carrots, beetroot & Kale.

Eurotoques #Youngchef2012 Jack O Keeffe

This i think is worth dusting the cobwebs off my keyboard for with 3 little babies under 5 & 60 hours a week cheffing, I don't get much time for keeping my blog up to date & tend to stick to micro blogging on twitter, but this has also been rightly neglected recently with the birth of my 10 week old son Riain. So here goes 1st blog post In a year & a bit. I will be leaving this afternoon for Dublin with our 19yr old commis chef @springfort Hall Country House Hotel Jack O Keeffe. Jack is a 2nd year culinary arts student in cit & the reason we are going to The Cooks Academy in Dublin is that Jack through hard work, determination & skill has qualified for the top 5 in the Eurotoques Young chef 2012 competition. The Theme of the competition this year is 5 chefs, 5 producers, 50 miles. Jack has choosen our friends & fellow northcork residents McCarthys Butchers Kanturk as his main producer as well as numerous other small independant producers in our locality. Tomorrow is the Media Launch of the Competition Final which will Take Place at a secret location at the end of November. I will be regularly updating all about Jacks progress in the competition with lots of links, photos & behind the scenes extras over the coming weeks via twitter, instagram & on Blogspot. Hope you follow & like all of us @springfort wish Jack every success in the coming weeks. In the picture is Jack with my son Keelan at the national ploughing championships where we warmed up the GoodFoodIreland Demo stage for Catherine Fulvio.

Tastefest Cork

Having just read a blog posting from mutant space on twitter having seen it on a tweet from Ella Mc Sweeney I decided I needed to reply I organised & ran the Springfort Hall restaurant tent @ Tastefest Cork last weekend & agree with some of things the unnamed writer had to say but also feel some of the comments were very unfair even more so considering the writer did not even attend the festival. The prices quoted in the post are correct but what is not mentioned is the online booking discount which was 30-40% off & that thousands of free tickets were distributed in the days leading up to the festival. On the Friday the weather was terrible & the organisers immediately announced that anyone with tickets for Friday could use them Saturday or Sunday. Moving on to the stand fees producers were charged depending on the size & location of there stands I know of a significant number who paid €800 and a few €1500. The percentage break down is also completely wrong the 15 restaurants paid 50% drinks companies 20% & food retailers/small producers 10%. The split between restaurants and the drinks companies was unfair but 10% is not unfair for a producer/retailer considering the invaluable amount of contacts & new distributers that are picked up at events like this. As for the cost of the food at the Springfort Hall Country house hotel stand we charged €3 for a Starter or dessert, €4 for another starter & €6 for a main course all portions were half there normal size for a quarter of the price & prices & value were similar across the board. What I do agree with is the set up yes more cork companies could have been used but I do know the organisers & they are a few young guys doing this for the first time and they did a fine job of it yes they made mistakes and would be the first to admit it but can you blame them for going for an all in one safe company to partner with 1st time out what would we say if they had used local companies and made a mess of it. Here is a few other opinions for your consideration.
http://www.corkbilly.com/2011/06/tastefest-cork-2011.html
http://followthefoodlink.wordpress.com/
The picture shows the dishes Springfort hall did at tastefest

RESTAURANTS AND FOOD IN CORK: TASTEFEST CORK 2011

RESTAURANTS AND FOOD IN CORK: TASTEFEST CORK 2011: "Click to enlarge. TASTEFEST CORK 2011 The sun blazed down as Cork’s inaugural Tastefest finished with a flourish in Fitzgerald’s Park on..."

Dessert at Tastefest Cork Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta i wanted to do carrageen moss pudding but i wasnt 100% with my recipe or how the elderflower would go with the carrageen moss so i stuck with the panna cotta. The Strawberries are from Nick Moseleys Farm in Listarkin, Union Hall in West Cork (the menu says north cork) as i had trouble finding a supplier after my veg mans usual guy packed it in what a pity but i have known Nick since we were kids & his farm is chemical free & produces some of the finest strawberries in ireland hence demand far out weights supply so thanks to Nick for supplying us.

The Elderflower Cordial we made ourselves from flowers collected on the 16 acre farm that surrounds Springfort Hall

Duhallow Feather Blade of Beef, Blackrock Stout Glaze, Saute New Potatoes, Samphire, Gubeen Chorizo, Organic Rapeseed Oil & Poached Free Range Egg. €6 This Dish features Kitty Colchesters Organic Rapeseed Oil which we use in the hotel & stock in our shop in mallows main street, it also features Blackrock stout from the Dungarvan Brewing Company which we stock in the bar at springfort hall along with there other craft beers Copper Coast & Helvic Gold we will also be stocking craft beer from 8degrees brewing in Ballyhoura Michelstown from next week this dish also contains Gubeen Chorizo from Fingal Fergusons renowned Gubeen Smokehouse & the sea vegetable Samphire which i would love to find a local supplier for & Desmond Lysaths Free Range Eggs whose Eggs we use to supplement our own we also buy lamb & Duck Eggs from Desmonds farm a mile from the Hotel.

Black Pudding Starter

Jack McCarthys Black Pudding, Pork Belly from our own pigs Apple Puree & Stonewell Cider Jelly Only €4 @tastefest Cork June 23rd to 26th

TasteFest Cork Ardsallagh Goats Cheese with crispy Toasts

Ardsallagh Goats Cheese on crispy Toasts with a selection of Five Different accompaniments Roast veg Salsa, Tapenade, Pesto, Red Onion Marmalade Roast Tomato Relish & Toasted Walnuts. We will be serving a Half size Portion of this as our first starter at Tastefest Cork June 23rd to 26th €3 ONLY!!!!