Review: The Tannery Cookery School, Dungarvan, County Waterford

I clearly remember when I first read Paul Flynn’s An Irish Adventure with Food - The Tannery Cookbook and I can recall the profound effect that the book and the recipes contained within its pages had on me. This was a book that presented Irish ingredients in a modern and exciting way that was far removed from the rather sterile utilitarian cookbooks that I had grown up reading. Paul’s passion and love of cooking was evident throughout and his calm, no-nonsense approach made me truly believe that I could replicate the recipes at home, in my own kitchen.

Entrance to Tannery Cookery School

A number of years later, I dined in The Tannery, the restaurant that Paul owns and runs with his wife Máire in his home town of Dungarvan in Waterford, and spent a wonderful night in the comfortable and elegant surroundings of the Tannery Townhouse which is located around the corner from the restaurant. The food that I ate that night was memorable and included an outstanding Crab Crème Brûlée which I don't think I will ever forget.

Paul and Máire achieved one of their main ambitions when they eventually opened The Tannery Cookery School in 2008. Paul’s enthusiasm and love of food is infectious and makes him ideally suited to teaching, so setting up the cookery school seemed a logical progression. The school offers an exciting range of courses with something to suit all tastes and skill levels. These include half-day and  evening courses along with some of a longer duration. Over the years the school has played host to a number of guest chefs/cookery writers including Neven Maguire, Richard Corrigan and Tamasin Day-Lewis amongst many others. It’s fair to say that I was really looking forward to finally attending a course in the cookery school and having the opportunity to meet Paul in person.

Tannery Cookery School

The school’s state-of-the-art kitchen has been designed to the highest standards and is kitted-out with everything participants will need. Hands-on courses are kept deliberately small with no more than 12 students but the school can also cater for up to 30 people attending demonstration courses. While some courses are demonstration-only many involve hands-on cooking or are a combination of both. The one-day French Bistro Classics course that I had signed up to was demonstration-only but this meant that I had the opportunity to sit back, take notes and learn loads from Paul

The course kicked off in a relaxed fashion at 10am with Paul describing the dishes that he would cook during the day. We each received a booklet containing all the recipes which we also used to scribble down the many tips and tricks-of-the-trade that we learnt along the way.

Bacon, Onion, Potato & Sour Cream Tart

From the outset it was clear that classic French bistro-style food is something that is close to Paul’s heart and he admitted that his last meal if on Death Row would most likely include Confit Duck, Dauphinoise Potatoes, a Green Salad and a glass or three of red wine! We were shown how to cook both the duck and potato dishes and later got the chance to taste them and could see why they were firm favourites of Paul’s. Confit Duck is one of those dishes that has always struck me as being tricky to prepare but Paul demonstrated how easy it was and it is something that I will definitely try out at home.

Paul Flynn is an instinctive chef who approaches cooking intuitively adding a pinch of salt, a grind of pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of vinegar as required, in order to create a dish that is balanced. He emphasised the importance of regularly tasting the food as you cook it, making any necessary adjustments along the way. In a similar vein, Paul encouraged us to experiment rather than slavishly following recipes because he believes that cooking then becomes something that is fun and as he so succinctly puts it, “if it tastes nice, it’s right”.

Caramelising Apples

For Paul, leftovers represent an opportunity to make something new and delicious tasting. This he readily demonstrated to us by including some of the caramelised onions that he had left over after making the Onion, Beetroot & Goat’s Cheese Soup (his twist on a classic French Onion Soup) in the Dauphinoise Potatoes. This was a wonderful and unexpected addition which gave the potatoes a certain amount of French je ne sais quoi!

Looking back I’m  amazed by the amount of dishes we covered, all of which were to form the basis of a meal that we would sit down together to enjoy in the spacious and tastefully decorated dining room adjoining the cookery school, once the course was finished. After feasting on a fragrant dish of freshly-cooked Mussels with Fennel, Orange and Pernod we tucked into our main course of Confit Duck and Dauphinoise Potatoes, which was served with a simple Watercress & Celeriac Salad and Lentils Vinaigrette. Needless to say all of these dishes were delicious and seemed surprisingly easy to cook.

Goat's Cheese Parcels

To finish off our meal we devoured a sinfully good Apple Tarte Tatin which we all loved. Often the simplest things can be the most delicious and this was certainly the case with this classic French dessert.

I should point out that we were shown how to cook many other dishes during the day including a range of sauces, Goat’s Cheese Parcels with Caramelised Apples & Pickled Beetroot  inspired by Nigel Slater who is Paul’s favourite cook and Cervelle de Canut - a flavoursome dip made with crème fraîche, garlic and an abundance of herbs including chervil, parsley and chives. This we ate with slices of sourdough baguette as a snack. One of my favourite dishes of the day was a simple Bacon, Onion, Potato & Sour Cream Tart which really proved that less IS more. Based on an Alsatian Tarte Flamiche, Paul had it assembled and baking in the oven in less-than-no-time and we descended on it like hungry vultures when it was ready.

Making Tarte Tatin

I really enjoyed the French Bistro Classics course in The Tannery Cookery School and would highly recommend it or any of the other courses on offer. I found that Paul Flynn was a knowledgeable and engaging teacher and that his reassuring manner and entertaining approach ensured that the day was tremendous fun. Most importantly I learnt loads and came away from the course with a renewed enthusiasm for cooking simple, delicious food.

Further information on the courses offered in The Tannery Cookery School, including prices is available at info@tannery.ie

 

The Tannery Cookery School

10 Quay Street

Dungarvan

County Waterford

Telephone: 05845420

Website: www.tannery.ie

 

This article first appeared in TheTaste.ie

 

Paul Flynn making Tarte Tatin

 

Review: Aniar Cookery School, Dominick Street, Galway

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the food in Aniar, the first and one of only two Galway restaurants to hold a Michelin star. I can still remember the first time that I dined there and I recall with sparkling clarity the tastes and textures of each dish that I ate that night. Aside from being delicious, what impressed me so much about the food was its sense of identity and its connection to the land and countryside that it came from. The cooking in Aniar unashamedly celebrates all that is great about Irish food and this it does in a modern and exciting way which I found intoxicating. I especially love the inclusive philosophy of the restaurant and the fact that whilst the food ticks all the fine-dining boxes it does so without being elitist or pretentious.

 

JP McMahon

Restaurateur and self-taught chef JP McMahon runs Aniar alongside his wife Drigín Gaffey. In addition to Aniar they also own two other successful restaurants in Galway - Cava and Eat Gastropub. One senses that JP is a man who doesn't like to stand still because, in addition to the pressures of running three busy restaurants, he was also responsible for bringing Food on the Edge - an international food symposium - to Galway in October 2015. Many of the world’s top chefs were in attendance and key issues regarding the future of food and the restaurant industry were discussed over the two days of the conference. Quite astonishingly, JP still manages to find time to work on his PhD in Art History and fit in media and journalism commitments. Not content with all that, he also runs a boutique cookery school in Aniar, personally delivering most of the courses himself.

 

Beef, Onion, Mushroom, Beer

The cookery school offers a range of courses including Breadmaking, Gastropub Classics, Tapas and Planning a Dinner Party amongst many others. Classes are held in the kitchen at Aniar and as result most of them take place on Sundays or Monday evenings when the restaurant is closed. The courses are understandably popular and get booked up quickly. However, prospective students can sign up through the restaurant’s website to receive email notifications when new courses come on stream.

 

I was keen to do the Understanding Food course which takes place each Monday evening over a 6 week period. After putting my name on the waiting list, I was delighted to finally start the course a couple of months ago. Classes are small and limited to six students so you really have the chance to improve your cookery skills and learn loads from JP.

 

Pork, Apricot

Being familiar with restaurant kitchens, I know that many of them can be small and cramped and whilst the kitchen in Aniar is compact there was still plenty of space for us all to get stuck in and do a lot of hands-on cooking. All ingredients and equipment are provided and the atmosphere is laid-back but focused at the same time as there is a lot to get through.

 

Each week of the course has its own theme which means that you can really explore each topic in detail trying out a number of recipes and different cooking techniques. Subjects covered include Bread, Beef, Pork, Fish and Poultry with the final week covering Vegetables and Desserts. On our first night we were each given a lovely Aniar apron which we wore with pride for the duration of the course. Detailed notes containing all the evening’s recipes are given to all participants at the beginning of every class. After the 6 weeks we each received a comprehensive booklet containing all the notes and recipes bound together.

 

Chicken Skin, Oyster Emulsion

Each weekly class begins in a relaxed manner just before 7pm with a cup of tea/coffee in the dining room during which time JP informally outlines the evening’s activities. Moving into the kitchen proceedings kick off with a demonstration where ingredients including all meat and vegetables are prepped. JP guided us through all aspects of the cooking and food preparation and with his calm and reassuring manner even the most inexperienced of us felt imbued with a confidence.

 

Lamb, Celeriac

The first of the classes dealt with Breadmaking and it is fair to say that we all threw ourselves into it with great enthusiasm, kneading and punching our bread dough as if we were boxers trying to win a title fight. During the course of the night we made a vast array of yeasted breads including a standard white loaf, foccacia, bread sticks as well as sourdough and soda bread. We also found the time to make a soft cheese and homemade butter which we flavoured with dillisk, a seaweed which is commonplace off the Irish coast.

 

Pork week was  a particular favourite of mine and I loved all the food that we cooked especially the dish using the pig’s head. On that evening, I was tasked with picking the meat from the head out of which we later made little breadcrumbed croquettes which we deep-fried until they were a lovely golden colour with a crispy texture. The croquettes were absolutely delicious and tasted wonderful with the accompanying beetroot purée and thyme gel that we had also made. I also loved the Pork Belly that we cooked and thought that the Pork Loin, Serrano Ham & Apricot dish with its punchy Spanish flavours was heavenly.

 

Mackerel, Trout Caviar

I really enjoyed all the subjects we covered but probably gained most from the Fish week as, like a lot of people, it is something that I am reticent to cook at home fearing that I will overcook it to the point that it is inedible. JP showed us how fish is really the ultimate in fast food being easy to prepare and quick to cook. Since completing the course in Aniar, I find that I am cooking fish much more regularly and that I am really enjoying experimenting with using it in different ways.  During the Fish week we also cooked scallops, shellfish and prepared a dish using a live lobster.

 

There were so many stand-out dishes over the six weeks that it is hard to single out one as my favourite. If pushed I think that I would have to choose the Egg Yolk and Turnip dish that we made in the final week. Not only was it beautiful to look at it but it really demonstrated how the simplest of ingredients could be elevated to a fine-dining standard. I also loved the Scallop & Artichoke dish that we made during Fish week and I thought that the Beetroot Parfait dessert was one of the most unusual but delicious things that I have ever eaten.

 

Cod, Chorizo, Barley

Each class ended in a convivial manner at around 10pm when we sat down together with a glass of wine and sampled the food that we had cooked. Many of the dishes that we made during the classes were variations of those that are served in Aniar, Cava and Eat Gastropub. Others we adapted as we cooked them to incorporate and use the ingredients that were available to us on each particular evening. At this point I should mention that participants are urged to bring a container in order to carry home samples of the food that they cook and this I would definitely advise doing as there are loads of leftovers and everything is so delicious.

 

I gained so much from the Understanding Food course. As a fairly competent home cook I particularly enjoyed the creative aspects of the course and was fascinated at seeing a top chef at work. I was genuinely sad when the course came to an end because I had enjoyed every single minute of it.

 

Further information on all the cookery courses run in Aniar is available from:

 

Aniar

51 Lower Dominick Street

Galway

 

Telephone: 091-535947

Website: www.aniarrestaurant.ie

 

This article first appeared in TheTaste.ie

 

Carrot Cake

 

Cookery School Review: Ballymaloe Cookery School - Butchery & Charcuterie Course

Many people feel that we are becoming increasingly disconnected from the food that we eat. At worst there are those who believe that meat comes in neat little vacuum-packed plastic trays with little idea of which animal provided that meat and that salads come pre-washed in plastic bags. We are prepared to sacrifice flavour so that all our fruits and vegetables are of a uniform size rather than understand how to get the best out of the ingredients that we are presented with. Somewhat ironically, despite the tough economic climate in recent times, we still throw away thousands of tons of food each year.

 

Somewhere along the way something seems to have gone wrong.

 

Cookery School Entrance

With the pressures of modern life, the last thing that any of us want when we come home from work after a long and stressful day is to have to prepare a meal from scratch. It is perhaps understandable that it seems easier to order a ‘take-out’ or to pop something into the microwave for a few minutes but the truth is that many meals can be prepared quickly using fresh ingredients for a fraction of the cost of these so-called ‘convenience’ foods. Ultimately, without understanding where our food comes from and appreciating the effort that goes into producing it, it is impossible to have respect for it.

 

However, there appears to a shift in thinking and more and more people are now keen to grow their own fruit and vegetables and reconnect with what they eat. Cheaper cuts of meat are now regularly seen on fine dining restaurant menus and there is a resurgence in the popularity of the foods that fed our ancestors. People want to know where their food comes from and there is increased interest in back-to-basics cooking based around the seasons.

 

Demonstration Area

Ballymaloe Cookery School was set up in 1983 by Darina Allen and her brother Rory O’Connell with the aim of showing us all how we can cook great food using the wonderful ingredients available to us in this country. The school enjoys a world-wide reputation for excellence and has taught thousands of students since being set up.

 

In addition to the intensive 12-week Certificate Course, a number of shorter courses are offered throughout the year covering subjects as diverse as Butter & Cheesemaking, Cake Decoration, Seafood Cookery  and Sushi Made Simple amongst many others. Whilst some of the courses are demonstrations, many are hands-on meaning that you get the chance to cook and prepare food for yourself. At all times the emphasis is on the quality of the ingredients used, many of which are grown on Ballymaloe’s 100 acre organic farm or are sourced from local organic suppliers.

 

Philip Dennhardt

One particular course that caught my eye was the one-day Home Butchery, Charcuterie & Sausage Making with Philip Dennhardt, so I booked myself a place on it and was looking forward to my day away in Ballymaloe.

 

The focus of this course was pig butchery and as we entered into the large cookery demonstration area we caught sight of the pig carcass that we would use during the day. It had already been split in half lengthwise but other than that, all of the butchery that took place was carried out in front of us.

 

Originally from Germany, Philip Dennhardt is a master butcher who has been living in Cork and teaching at Ballymaloe for a number of years. He is a mine of information about all aspects of butchery and encouraged us to ask questions throughout the course. It was fascinating to learn about the tradition of pig-slaughter and to realise that not so long ago many families living in the country would keep their own pigs which they would rear, slaughter and butcher themselves. No piece of the animal that could be used was wasted or thrown away and consequently, people were very creative in the dishes that they would make to feed their families. To illustrate this point Philip then prepared a dish of Brawn (Head Cheese) which is made from the whole head of the pig.

 

Bones for the Stock-Pot

There are countless recipes for Brawn but we used Darina Allen’s which is included in her book Forgotten Skills of Cooking. The fresh pig’s head must be brined first in a solution of salty water before being gently simmered in a large pot of water and vegetables for a number of hours. After this time the meat, including the pig’s tongue and some of the fat, is picked from the bones and roughly chopped before being mixed with herbs, seasoning and some of the reduced cooking liquor. Packed into bowls, it is then weighted down and refrigerated to help it set. Although initially it might not sound appetising, this was one of the tastiest things I have eaten in a long while and something that I would be more than prepared to try making at home.

 

Philip then showed us how to make a Pancetta-style cured ‘bacon’ using the pork-belly from the pig that we had butchered. What amazed me was how relatively simple this was to achieve. In order to make it, you essentially need good quality fatty meat into which you rub a generous amount of salt and spices before hanging in a cool, dry spot. After a couple of days you can wash the cure off the meat and use it as bacon but given the right conditions you can also choose to let it ripen for at least 4 weeks and let the natural enzymes do their work in order to create Pancetta.

 

Brawn

The difference between dry-curing and wet-curing was also explained to us and we were shown how even the fat of the animal can be cured. Coppa, Guanciale and Lardo are all made by curing fat and are considered delicacies, seen on many fine-dining restaurant menus.

 

During the morning, as Philip butchered the pig, he collected any off-cuts and scraps of meat together and these were minced and used later in the day to make Sausages. Interestingly we learnt that although sausages made from 100% lean meat might sound appealing, a certain amount of pork fat should be included to create sausages that are juicy and succulent to eat. Some of the students then volunteered to fill the minced meat mixture into natural sheep and hog casings using a hand-operated machine to create the sausages. This was great fun and a skill that Philip assured us was easy to acquire with a little practice.

 

Salami

Moving on Philip also showed us how to make Frankfurters to his own recipe which included cold-smoking the filled sausages for at least an hour. Keeping to the sausage theme, we then covered the principles behind the making of Salami and Chorizo.

 

Finally we stuffed the Loin of Pork with a simple herb and breadcrumb stuffing and roasted it in the oven along with its covering of skin which we scored to create the crispiest pork crackling imaginable. This was accompanied by Bramley Apple Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage, Roast Potatoes and Buttered Carrots as the centrepiece of a feast to finish the day. Also included were the cooked sausages and frankfurters we had made during the day along with samples of cured meats. All these were delicious and we left with our bellies full and smiles on our faces after a most enjoyable day.

 

Frankfurters

I really enjoyed my day at Ballymaloe and would recommend this course to anyone. Philip Dennhardt is a great teacher with an easy manner who succeeds in making the subject accessible. Extensive notes and all the recipes from the day are given to all participants and I felt the price at €195 was reasonable considering all we learnt and the fact that we were fed so well during the day. The price also included a light lunch which consisted of wonderful pizzas cooked in the wood-fired ovens in the café attached to the cookery school. The pizzas were delicious as were the salads and desserts that we also ate.

 

Self-catering accommodation is available to those attending courses in the school with further details available when booking. Further information on all the courses offered at the school is available from

 

Ballymaloe Cookery School

Shangarry

County Cork

Telephone: 021-4646785

Email: info@cookingisfun.ie

Web: www.ballymaloecookeryschool.ie
 



Roast Pork Dinner