Tannery Tasting....

Last "official" at The Tannery was yesterday (though I am still in Dungarvan until Tuesday) I finished off with a nice night in the dining room with a Tasting Menu.  Everything was perfect!  The soup starter was a *wild garlic broth with local mussels, scallops and roe and fresh vegetables.  The beet cured salmon, I could have eaten an entire plate of, with its tiny pickled vegetables and raisins...really good.  The country terrine was *Guinea fowl and pork with spring onions and sage fritter, sprinkled with pickled turnips and carrots...... The monkfish is seared and roasted on the bone on what is called a tortilla but is kind of a cake made of turnips and potato, kind of like a tiny fritatta...awsome!  Then the smoked duck which just kills it, so rich....I don't use the word decadent to often, or at all actually, but its the word that comes to mind for this dish.....between the smoke, the duck skin, the richness of the duck breast...then with kale dressed with a bacon hazelnut dressing...over the top.  The warm chocolate mousse was a great way to finish the meal and the winter fruit compote at the bottom below the mousse was perfect as it cut through the richness of the chocolate and lightened it up a bit and the tiny sliver of pistachio and dry cranberry biscotti....a nice finish.  But then the cheese course came..  Wedges of each, Knocklarra semi-soft sheeps milk cheese, Coolea aged cheddar and Wicklow Bleu....with oatmeal cakes and house made walnut bread.  And then the coffee, black as night.....perfect.                        

Ok....so this wasnt supossed to be any kind of review, thats not what started this post to do, but the meal was excellent and worth talking about!     I am now, since it is 10am here, on my way down to Kinsale, about 1.5 hours south of here (I think) to drop off a delivery of books from Chef Paul to Chef Mitchell Shanahan, the chef/owner of the restaurant "Fishy Fishy", they collaborated on a book together "Surf N Turf", which apparantly was also a tv series over here.....anyway, I was heading there anyway for lunch today so Paul asked me to do him a favor.....Very much looking forward to lunch, everything i have read about it says its a "don't miss"...then on the way back I hit Michelin Starred "Cliff House" in Ardmore (?) for a drink and a tasting of their bar menu.....I just hope everyone knows the suffering I am doing for my art...the sacrifices I am making here to bring back new Ideas and to broaden my knowledge of food.....now I am not being a martyr or anything, but just remember what I am putting myself through here as you read these..It is no easy task to be eating and drinking like this, to have to travel from each beauitful village/town to the next...to have to sample Guinness at each pub along the way, just to compare, to talk with chefs and butchers and shop owners..to taste cheeses and sausages.  The things I do .....Next......

The Last Leg of the 2013 Tour.....

So here I am in my God Damn car again.....Its 6pm on Tuesday and I am looking at my last week here in Ireland.  What a trip it's been so far....  This past week was great working at The Tannery...felt like back at Le Cirque back in 88, there was a good buzz in the air with the Waterford Food Festival going on all weekend.  The dinner on Saturday night with re-nowned and Michelin starred guest chef Fergus Henderson from St. John Restaurant in London was a blast, a snout to tail dinner...was just great fun to be in the kitchen.  A couple of days off from the restaurant meant more travels and catching up on "stuff"....some salt menu's some shopping, needed laundry and being a tourist.  Today I spent the btter part of the day traveling south west to the city of Cork.  Stumbled into "The English Market", which
"Donegal Joe" told me was a not to be missed while here...  He was right.  The English Market is one of Ireland's oldest working markets....a closed market right in the heart of the city with a dozen of each, butchers, fish mongers, bread bakers, pastry stalls, produce, cheese mongers, specialty goods....all in one market and a working market....butchers breaking down meat, fish mongers cleaning fish....the farmers, the cheese makers..all there and wanting to talk....I spoke with the wife of the Irish Gentleman Fisherman "Barthy" (I hope that spelling is right, he is the brother of my Aunt Terry in Staten Island) and we are set to head out on the waters on Saturday, weather permitting...the weather has been absolute shit for the past 4 weeks, give or take a day....the winds have been fucking typhoon strength, literally blowing old ladies to the ground, drunks against walls and little kids out to sea....crazy winds here on the coast.  I have to say though, as I look up from the computer and take it all in today, on a beautiful sunny day and I see the mountains, the rolling green fields, the ocean, the cliffs, the oyster beds, the grazing cows, the sheep..and this is all in one look, all literally right before me..it is amazing, and its no wonder why they are such a happy people...because at the end of the day, life is good....