Corinna Dunne

Johnnyd, I'm really enjoying your blog. If you have a chance, I'd be interested to know more about the sea urchins and what you do with them.

Adam. is there a discernible difference in taste between the two species? I've never tasted them side by side.

Thanks johnnyd. I am going to enjoy this!

I'm with Doc on this one. The proof is in the pudding. And I don't think that conforming to accepted pairings and sequence is necessary. I like to have my senses tantalised and I don't think that this makes the food that seeks to do this any more frivolous than classic cuisine, which I also adore. To me, it's not a question of emperor's clothes V traditional crown and gown. I love all good food, and as long as I'm not presented with the culinary equivalent of a blank canvas, I'm happy.

The first Roux Scholar in 1984 was Andrew Fairlie, now head chef of Gleneagles. Callaghan won it in 1991 when he was at Roscoff. Roux Scholarship website. ← I just checked to make sure I hadn't misquoted, but I didn't ("... it is easy to overlook that this was the man who won the first ever Roux brothers scholarship back in the 1990's"). I'm sure it isn't in the later editions. It certainly isn't in their current 'Irish Food Guide" which is by Bridgestone, but not purely on restaurants. Thanks Andy.

You can press the chickpeas through the fine blade of the food mill then make it in the food processor. It's an extra step but I think worth it. I forgot to mention this upthread: You can also take cooked chickpeas and place them in a deep bucket with plenty of water and use your hands to swirl them around until all the peels float to the top. This is the way it is done in the finest Moroccan kitchens. Peeled chickpeas are used in a couscous or a tagine. Moroccans make a type of hummus dip without tahini called serruda. IN this case, they don't peel the chickpeas. ← I have finally got around to making hummus exactly as you suggest, and it is truly the best hummus I have ever had. Leaving the skins of the chickpeas out makes all the difference and the hummus nearly reaches the creamy proportions of babbaganoush. However, I haven't had much luck with my food mill. At first I thought it was broken, but since discovered that I didn't have the handle lodged in properly. So when I used it the next time, I was feeling confident of a good result. But I found that the chickpeas didn't really go through properly and the skins clogged up the blade. (The manufacturer is ACEA Passavedura, made in Italy). So, last night when I made it, I took the skins off by hand, which was a bit labourious as they didin't all float to the top for me. I had soaked the chickpeas overnight, they were well cooked, and they had been bought recently, so would not have been dried out. Any advice on improving my mouli technique would be very welcome.

I just read in an old Bridgestone Restaurant Guide (2003, can't find my current one), that Eugene Callaghan, the chef at La Marine, was the first winner of the Roux Brothers scholarship when it was set up back in the 1990's. This would explain the surprisingly good seafood mousse and the good texture in the celeriac puree. Apparently, the thing to eat here is the duck confit.

I see your stream of consciousness is still at work. Some believe that Guinness is good for lactating mothers. On the toilet deprivation issue, I feel we need some more detail. Do you intend doing this in your own house? And do you intend taking the process through to its logical conclusion and caring for the 'infants' yourself? If you transport the minds of your diners back to infancy by evoking warm memories, do you believe that you have a responsibility to support them while they are in this state? If they are visiting infacts, I suggest that this is the time to return them to their parents. One area you haven't explored is the reflux action of the baby after eating. Is there some way that the reinfantised diners can be winded? Should they be asked to spit out a lactic foam to simulate the enjoyment of that release?

I accept your point Dellis453, and I am more than happy to have my one negative experience balanced by the opinion of one who has been there many times. Personally for me though, life is too short to give some places a second go, and "Thai Me Up" falls into that category for me. But then, I do insist on using chopsticks, so perhaps my comments should be taken with a grain of msg! (Just joking... I don't want to upset anyone!)

Thanks for the interesting link Suman. We have been surviving this side of the Atlantic with just one activating acid... so now I have something more to worry about! And Renee, welcome to the board, and thanks for putting us all straight. Re cake flour in Dublin, I am afraid I have not cracked the flour thing yet (although to be fair, I haven't really put the work in). A friend of mine in the UK gets hers directly from a miller she knows, but I haven't managed to add one to my repertoire of friends yet! I asked two different commercial bread makers I have met about their flour, and they just bulk buy the standard stuff you see on the shelf. It may be worth asking the people in 'La Maison des Gourmets' in Castle Market (near Cookes Cafe), as they make the best cakes in town (and the only proper brioche), so they probably have a good source in flour. I'd be interested to hear how you get on. Good luck with the cake (sorry I confused the issue), and happy birthday to your husband!

Wow! What a wonderful dinner party. Great friends to have indeed! Adam, I don't know if it's too late in the blog to make a request, but you mentioned that you have about 300 cooking related books. If you have a chance, I would be really interested in the names of your favourite ones. And thanks for a great blog, I really enjoyed following it.

I think that the baking powder here does effectively have the 'double action' described because without the heat, the cake would not rise. It is not like yeast, which unless it is double action, will not rise fully without proving. However, it does seem that the strength of the baking powder over here may be different. I've just had a look at my tin of baking powder and it recommends 4g per 100g of flour. I'm not sure what this translates to in spoons (which are a different size over here to the US), but in general terms, recipes tend to specify 2tsp per lb(450g) for lightish mixtures and 3 tsp for heavier cakes. As a rule of thumb, I use 1 tsp of baking soda to 1lb (450g flour). If you have an acid in your mixture/dough - as scorchedpalate mentioned - you can cut back on, or even leave out the cream of tartar (for instance in the case of Irish soda bread which uses buttermilk to activate the baking soda). But some heavier mixtures (like chocolate cake) require more. And guess what, I've just looked at your recipe again to seek out the acid ingredient, and 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar is the last ingredient on the list! So, apologies for confusing the issue over the missing acid ingredient! So, in conclusion, I think you can take it that the baking powder you have is 'double action', the only issue that remains is the origin of your recipe (is it American?), and whether the baking powder over here is weaker than the US product. Any transatlantic pastry chefs out there?

Judith, I am coming to this post late as I wanted to allow a good stretch of quiet time to read it. Actually absorbing all of the wonderful detail you have provided (both culinary and architectural) is going to take a lot longer! Just one question, and I hope you don't think it is rude: How do you pace yourself for so many overwhelming meals? And thank you so much for this great post.

Great to see lard being restored to its rightful place. Along with butter, its exile has been way too long. I would not make pastry without it (half butter, half lard) and it is wonderful for making roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings. No fridge should be without it.

The style of these columns is to take a subject that I have some strong feelings about and then go at them with all the subtlety and sensitivity of Leatherface swinging a chainsaw. Bcause of the subject matter, they do generally stimulate some debate but if I am honest, I don't set out to write with that intention in mind. I get a feeling in my gut about something and the column flows from that feeling. The only thing I consciously try to do is put some jokes in and make them funny. ← Andy, I just love the angle you have taken and I really enjoyed the pace and flow of your piece. A bit of irreverence is very refreshing and it's great to hear from someone who is so proud of his place in the food chain. My Irish Catholic upbringing has ensured that the 'what if it is all actually true?' suspicion will always lurk, however subliminally. But, on the upside, the bible's not such a bad read if you pick your passages. I mean, manna from Heaven is good, the loaves and fishes was impressive, but my all time favourite has to be the water into wine trick! What a wedding present! On the issue of Lent (mirroring the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent in the desert), this has always been viewed as a time for sacrafice (quite different from the Muslim Ramadam which is more about feasting with the family), but as strict adherance to this tradition dies, it is interesting to note the rise in detox diets and the whole ritual associated with cleansing the inner body. Maybe there was some logic to it after all.

Suman, I just had a look at the recipe, and what strikes me is that it also calls for 1/4 tsp of baking soda. This leads me to think that the double acting baking powder they refer to is actually cream of tarter. The recipe looks for 1/2 tsp, which tallies with the 2 : 1 ratio of cream of tartar to baking soda (which is effectively what baking powder is). The cream of tartar acts as an acid which activates the baking soda, thus giving you a rise. Be sure to get all the lumps out of the baking soda before adding it to the mixture as any lumps will appear as dark flecks when it's baked (although, I don't expect that this would be to noticable in a wonderful, chocolatey cake!). Cream of tartar is widely available and you will find it in the baking section of any of the stores in Dublin.

If I make Moussaka, as there are two of us I mostly make it in the form of Papoutsakia (little shoes/slippers) like this: Papoutsakia for instance, I used oregano, all spice cinnamon and a tiny bit of pine honey. ← This is an absolutely charming way to serve moussaka. Do you scoop out most of the flesh from the aubergine, and if so, do you then fry it and mix it through the mince? It strikes me as being a really great way of serving it for say a dinner party (rather than presenting a lovely, large moussaka and watching it splodge into gloop on the plate as it is served).

Yes. I think it is a book that merits a re-visit. You need to look into those dark eyes of his to appreciate the fragility of genius and life.

Yes, he did take a position on the 'cuisine tendance' (is this term in common usage?), but I can forgive him this because it was his angle. But I was surprised that the publisher let the repitition run (practically verbatim in some cases) and did think it could do with a little bit of tightening. However, this is a subtle balance and I really loved the way Chelminski (in his slow, detailed style) brought the reader in and made it feel quite intimate. I was actually at a loss when I finished the book. Over the days that I was reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about Loisseau and his dark torment. It seemed like he had become part of my life for a while, and I knew him. I really felt like I could feel his needy spirit feeding off the interest this book is generating, and it felt strange at the end when I was left with nothing more to read. His bi-polar condition sounded pretty overwhelming, but it seems that it also contributed to his genius. I particlularly liked the part where Chelminski talks about how the Cote d'Or staff found it nearly intolerable to work with Loisseau when he was on Prozac, behaving like a 'normal chef'! In ways, I can understand why he took his life. Apart from the intense pressure of maintaining 3*, he felt he had painted himself into a culinary cul de sac, and the insecurity about his provenance and not being able to 'make a good bernaise' ate into him more and more. Shakespearean really. I think the Michelin Guide was wise to leave the restaurant with 3* the year after he died (they had, after all, dropped Chapel's restaurant to 2* following his death), so at least they had the decency to afford his wife the status of La Veuve Point. Mind you, it would have been folly to do otherwise.

I'm impressed! Are the changes mainly intuitive tweaks or do you try out something completely new regularly?

I agree. Merrilees was actually at her most relaxed to date when she was doing the kids party piece, probably because she was on more familiar ground. Keith Floyd on the other hand (mentioned upthread), is an absolute natural in front of the camera. I saw him recently at the making of 'The Restaurant' an Irish celeb/cookery programme where he was guest critic (along with the regulars, Tom Doorley and Paolo Thullio). He jumped out of his seat in surprise when he realised that the 'secret chef' was in fact a woman, saying that he thought a woman would cook better. However, his fresh, impetuous leap did not fit the format of the show, and the host asked him for his comments when he was seated like a good, well behaved critic. This particular episode is to go out on 23 August. I just hope they left the flying Floyd in. That said, I'm not sure that there was much gold dust left on the editing floor of Full on Food. But despite its shortfalls, I really enjoyed it. It needs tightening, and yes, the audience is beginning to look more and more superfluous. But it definitely should not be axed.

Ernie Whalley in Food & Wine magazine is worth reading too. He really knows his food. Edited to add: Paulo Thullio has mentioned some interesting places too, but I haven't tried them yet: 1. A small Italian restaurant in Dun Laoghaire that only opens for lunch 2. A Chinese restaurant located 'upstairs' on Moore St. Both apparently offer great food, great value.

My grandmother used to make this, and I still do. There is a recipe in Joy of Cooking, actually. One of my very favorite desserts. If you're careful you can unmold the thing so that the cake is on the bottom and the custard on top. ← I thought there may be an American connection, as it doesn't seem to exist in the UK. I wonder what it's ultimate history is. ← Delia Smith, the doyenne of British home cooking, has a similar recipe in her 'Complete Illustrated Cookery Course', which interestingly was voted one of the top cookbooks (I think No 2), by a number of experts recently, primarily because she is a very safe pair of hands and excellent as a reference for the basics. (The same panel of experts did also say that Larousse is a big load of rubbish, which I don't agree with). But Adam, your recipe looks better. She only uses 2 eggs and 2 lemons. She calls her version 'Lemon Surprise Pudding', but doesn't give any background on its origin.

I'm just back from a week in Roslare, Co Wexford with the family and had a chance to visit La Dolce Vita in Wexford Town. Well... Doorley considers this to be possibly the best Italian restaraunt in Ireland and I couldn't agree more. Even before we went in the door, I was predisposed to like it. It has the advantage of a particularly good location, on a wide lane with mature trees and a church ruin at the end. The traditional green, white and red awning ensures that its an easy find, and the room itself is one of those spaces that always seems to work: a balanced rectangle with windows all down the long side. The tables are packed pretty tightly and the place is buzzing. There is nothing formal about this restaurant. Indeed, its so informal, they don't even take reservations. Lunch is from 12 - 4pm. We arrived at 2 minutes past 12, and were lucky to get a table (after that, the queue starts). As we live on borrowed time with our 2 girls (aged 5 and 3), we didn't have a starter and tucked right into the main course. We ordered risotto of the day (wild mushroom), basil, ricotta and parmesan gnocchi in sage butter, Italian sausage with lentils and my mother (more conservatively) ordered pasta with sirloin strips. Now, never in a million years would I have ordered this dish, as I felt it was their concessionary nod to meat and 2 veg palates. But I was wrong. It was really, really good. and confidently so. The pasta was cooked perfectly and very lightly tossed in a piquant tomato sauce. The seared strips of beef were charred on the outside, medium on the inside and had that great steak-frites flavour that you only seem to get in France. The Italian sausage with the lentils was meaty and wholesome and the gnocchi - served with a fairly good salad - showed a surprising lightness of hand and avoided the starchy, gluey pit they so frequently fall into in Dublin restaurants. The wild mushroom rissotto was made mostly with porcinni. It was quite wet and the stock was thicker than you'd expect and seemed to be thickend more from the rice grains than just butter and parmesan added at the end, but the redeeming qualities of the porcini carried the dish, and our 3 year old ploughed into it with a fervour. For dessert we had icecream (cherry and vanilla), chocolate semi freddo, tiramissu and orange and lemon tart. So yes, the straight forward, classic Italian line-up, but all were obviously made on the premises and were the authentic tasting, real deal. We finished with great espressos, sporting the all important crema which seems to have gone missing in action in many nobler establishments. Now, I haven't mentioned the price. This place is unbelievably good value (which is why I can forgive the rissotto so easily). The mains (which are extremely generous) are all around the 8 - 10 euro mark and a nicely chosen and reasonably priced wine list offers plenty of wines by the glass at 4 and 5 euro. This restaurant has to be the best value for money in Ireland and whilst it may not be 'worth a special journey' it is certainly worth a very affodrable detour if you are anywhere near Wexford town. Be warned though, the 'Michelin' effect of Tom Doorley's reviews and its listing in the Bridgestone Guide has ensured that this restaurant is no secret. It is packed to the gills with wide-eyed, open-mouthed Dublin holiday makers who can't believe that such a place exists which contrasts so sharply with Dublin 'fleecings'. It's open Monday - Saturday for lunch only (6/7 Trimmers Lane), and as I mentioned, doesn't take bookings. If you don't get there at noon, the tables start to turn around 1.15pm, so take your chances then. And if you like, you can stock up from their great selection of Italian comestibles and wine when you are leaving. We also went to La Marine Bistro at Kelly's Resort Hotel in Roslare. To give a bit of background, Kelly's Hotel is somewhat of an Irish institution and is popular as an upmarket, family getaway, the emphasis being on quality, comfort and genuinely warm hospitality. The room is relaxing (nearly casual) with bistro style banquettes and you get the sense that everyone is on holiday, but in a convivial rather than plastic way. As it happens, it looks out onto the road, rather than the sea, which is a bit of a missed opportunity (but I'm sure there are logical reasons for this). The menu is disappointing. I expected to have a really good choice of seafood, but instead it seems to champion the meat led family pleasers. I am sure that this is what works for the hotel, but it makes 'La Marine' something of a misnomer in my book. Anyway, the menu was not without its seafood choices, so we decided to take what they had on offer. The seafood chowder for starters was exceptionally good, in fact the high point of the meal. It was light, flavoursome and had plenty of interesting chunks of fish (with not a bit of salmon to be seen, which I always consider to be a good thing, as it acts as cheap bulk in most cases). Our other starter was seared scallops with rocket on celeriac puree. A pretty straightforward dish, with perfectly cooked scallops but perhaps too much celeriac puree which - although its texture was very pleasing - would have benefitted from less potato, and of course, provided little contrast in the way of colour for the scallops. So, on to the mains. There were only 3 fish choices: crab, scallop and salmon mousse in puff pastry (I kid you not); roast hake with potato cakes with crab and bacon; and cod with Thai butter. As I generally give fusion a wide berth, we steered away from the latter and ordered the mousse and the hake. To our surprise, the mousse was pretty good (it was sliced on, rather than in the puffed pastry), but I would have preferred more options. The hake presented me with quite a surprise. It was served with a soy and wasabi sauce (nope, no mention of this on the menu). Whilst the sauce was very good with the fish, it entered a severe battle of continents when it traversed the plate to greet the 'down home' potato cakes enriched with corn and bacon. Luckily, this provided a barier to the leeks in cream on the opposite side of the plate which managed to avoid the invasion. It was the most unsuccessful combination I have ever tasted. Terrified, I decided to follow with cheese alone and skip dessert. The cheese plate, padded out with salad leaves provided a morbid end to the meal with 3 uninspired and badly kept cheeses. Now, this was the first time I have eaten at La Marine, and by all accounts, it was punching way below its weight the night we were there. Clearly, the chef can cook, but there is something of a disconnect here. The menu needs more tightening and focus and I think in some cases, simpler would be better. But the people here are really nice, the Maitre D' was so warm and charming, and the overall ambiance was so friendly, that we left feeling OK about the experience. But we did find good fish on our holiday. Kilmore Quay is a fishing port not far from Roslare which has a number of restaurants, none of which we tried. Instead, we had wonderful deep fried hake and chips for 3.95 euro at a great fish and chip shop: The Quarter Deck. Sitting outside at the picnic tables, it tasted great as we breathed in the fresh sea air. And further down the road (just opposite the carpark) is Viewpoint Fish Shop which is truly wonderful. Good and traditional, it only opens from Tues - Fri (I'm not sure about Sat) and has an impressive selection of eye-wateringly, fresh fish at very reasonable prices. So, delighted with our find (which, surprisingly doesn't get a mention in the Bridgestone Irish Food Guide), we bagged a large turbot at 15 euro per kilo which sustained us handsomely for yet another day on our holidays.

Adam. really enjoying your blog. If you want a solution to a slightly lumpy hummus, Paula Wolfert has some wonderful advice on this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=70271&hl= Apparently the key is leaving the skins out. The shoulder of lamb sounds wonderful. We await your return.