Ice Cream Ireland

 Armed with the fantastic Bridgestone Guides and some recommendations, we headed up the country from Dingle in search of good food, good scenery, and a bit of a break in the bleakness of January.

Although the weather can be bad and some places closed, Winter is a good time to travel, since nothing is booked out, you have the countryside to yourself, and there are real bargains to be had in terms of lodgings.

Since it’s the quiet season in the world of ice cream and the workload is diminished, it’s a perfect time to explore parts of the country one doesn’t usually get to…

The first stops were in Galway - deliveries of ice cream to Ard Bia in Galway city (sadly we didn’t have the hunger to enjoy their lunch menu due to too much snacking) and to the multi-award-winning McGeough’s Butchers in Oughterard.

We pushed on then, heading up through beautiful Connemara for a stroll around Westport, then on to Sligo, where we had booked into Cromleach Lodge.

This highly-rated establishment has been recently refurbished, and it was very comfortable.

I think we were the only people spending the night, and there were only two other tables booked at the restaurant. Perhaps because the kitchen was so quiet, the meal was a bit of a let-down. The breakfast in the morning, however, was fantastic.

The next day we drove to Donegal, stopping for the cliff walk before Bundoran to take advantage of a break in the rain, although the high winds made things a bit difficult. In Donegal town, we visited Aroma and were not disappointed in the cakes. Top class baking.

We decided to spend the night in Ardara, having heard great things about the rustic Green Gate B&B, where there’s no TV or phones, and where the legendary ex-Parisian bookstore owner Paul had made headlines after cancelling all his American bookings (he had one too many head elsewhere after seeing how basic it was). And yes, he is accepting Americans again, but be warned - it is as basic as it is charming…

Nancy’s Bar in Ardara sadly does not do food in the off season, as I’ve been told they do the best chowder in Ireland, but it is definitely worth a stop. The Guinness was mighty, the atmosphere homey, and the conversation great…

The next day we drove around the coast, then headed into Glenveigh National Park for a walk. Although we ended up drenched from the rain, it was a good stroll, and some tea in Glenveigh Castle helped to warm ourselves.

We spent the night in Castle Grove House in Letterkenny, which we loved. On a quiet, restful site, it has tasteful furnishings, high ceilings, tasty food, and two drawing rooms with huge roaring wood fires to warm the bones.

The following morning we filled the van with diesel and headed toward the border…

(Part 2 to follow - Antrim, Belfast and Down)

Technorati tags: Ireland, North West, travel, Galway, Sligo, Donegal

 The ice cream man has headed North - Sligo, Donegal, Antrim, Belfast. I will post photos and high points when I get back. There have already been a few of the latter…

Technorati tags: Ireland, Northern Ireland, travel

 Vanilla ice cream is one of the most popular but at the same time most under-appreciated flavours. In our shops, people often order it apologetically, half expecting criticism at being unadventurous. However, if I visit an ice cream shop, I will almost always sample their vanilla. When you are making a strong flavour, perhaps you can cover up any inadequacies. With vanilla, however, it is either good or it is not, and you get the full flavour of the base ice cream. There’s no hiding.

Good vanilla ice cream is not only hard to make, it can also be very expensive if you use the real thing. We use four different natural vanillas in our ice cream to get the right balance - two types of bean, and two types of essence. Both of the essences are over €100 a litre - one is €160 a litre. It’s the most expensive ingredient we use.

When making vanilla at home, it’s not necessary to use four vanillas. The following recipe calls for a single vanilla bean. Sometimes it’s better not to over-complicate!

Murphys Single Bean Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar 
5 Egg Yolks  
1 3/8 Cups Cream
1 1/8 Cups Milk     
1 Vanilla bean

What to do:

1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow. 
2. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and put in a saucepan with the milk.
3. Bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
4. Remove the vanilla bean.
5. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
6. Pour the mixture back into pan, add the vanilla bean, and place over low heat. 
7. Stir until the custard thickens (around 60C).
8. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds from it with a spoon or blunt knife. Stir the seeds into the custard, using a whisk to disperse them evenly.
9. Allow the custard to cool.
10. Mix in the cream, beating for one minute.
11. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

6 Servings

Notes: 1. If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you can substitute with vanilla essence. It’s hard to say how much, since the essences vary so much. Mix it into the cool custard in small amounts until you have the right amount of flavour.

2. To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and keep at that temperature for three minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

Technorati tags: vanilla, bean, essence, ice cream, recipe, Irish

One of the new developments in the Irish gourmet food world is the emergence of off licenses with a selection of gourmet foods. The new Castle Off License in Castle Street, Tralee is a good example of this. Besides a good range of booze, they sell local smoked salmon, Irish cheeses, chocolates, and our ice cream among other things. It’s definitely worth a visit.

I think this trend makes sense, especially if the off license specialises in fine wines or upscale spirits, for those customers would tend to be interested in unique foods as well. There certainly are other off licenses around the country that are doing the same - the Celtic Whiskey Shop in Dublin was one of our first customers…

Technorati tags: Dublin, Tralee, off license, gourmet, Ireland

 Ok. I know that this will provoke a few traditionalists and perhaps bring back memories of those terrible chocolate noodles, but I decided to try a sweet risotto yesterday evening. After all, it’s not that different in concept from rice pudding. It turned out very dense but very tasty, so I added copious amounts of vanilla ice cream, and then it worked well as a dessert.

Here’s a recipe if you want to try it…

Black Currant and Chocolate Risotto

Ingredients:

100 gm Arborio rice
500 ml Black Currant Juice (I used an organic cordial mixed with water)
50 gm 70% chocolate, chopped

What to do:

1. Combine the rice and half the juice and cook in a saucepan over low heat, stirring all the time.
2. As the rice absorbs the liquid, add more juice, and continue stirring until the rice is cooked and the liquid absorbed (around 20 min)
3. Stir in the chocolate until it is completely melted.
4. Serve warm in small portions with generous amounts of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 4

Technorati tags: risotto, black currant, chocolate, dessert, recipe

 I got a package in the post yesterday - the folks at Leica managed to resuscitate my old camera, which is quite amazing, given that it was dumped in the sea. Either that, or they gave up on the repair and sent me a new one (perhaps more likely since it’s positively gleaming).

However, I have to say my cheating heart has been completely won over by my new Nikon D80 in the meantime, and I also love the 1.4 fixed lens I bought for it. It lets in so much light and makes so many things possible.

The above photo was taken just before the Dingle shop closed for the season, just after dark, without a flash. I used a tripod. The blur is a passing car.

Change back from the D80? I think not. I do still love the Leica, though, and I guess it will be my travel camera, since it’s so much more compact…

Technorati tags: digital, camera, Leica, Nikon, d80, photography

Seems like a viral thing is going around, and I have to blame Conor for getting me involved. Still, I’ll be a sport, especially since I’ve had an attack of blogging laziness over the past few days, and this might get me back in the swing…

So, five things you don’t know about me, the ice cream man:

1. My brother Sean and I used to share a house near Dingle, and when he decided to go and get married (and I got turfed out), there was naturally a custody battle. 

After all, we both raised the two wee ones, who had grown up together since they were babies and had overlooked all their natural differences and propensities to become best of friends.

In the end, Sean and I settled amicably. He got custody of the dog, and I the cat. We both get visitation rights…

2. People always ask my favourite ice cream flavour, and I usually dodge the question (after all, it can change). I’ll go out on a limb here - my favorite ice cream flavour is our Caifé. Espresso, Kahlua, and chocolate shavings. It combines my three favourite things - coffee, chocolate, and ice cream. The booze is a bonus!

3. I have a degree in philosophy. So why ice cream, you ask? Well, I could get philosophical about it, but instead I’ll just say it’s better than drinking a cup of hemlock…

4. Maybe it’s my philosophical nature, but I believe cats can be trained as well as dogs to do tricks. Of course, you do need infinite patience, but I’ve proven it is indeed possible. My latest project is to teach an old cat new tricks, and I thought it would be fairly winning if the fellow could beg. Don’t believe me? See the picture introduced as evidence…

5. I can ride a unicycle.

Now, who can I annoy in turn? Julian, Caroline, Auds, Finbarr, Sophia

Technorati Tags: Five Things, tags, ice cream, favourite flavour, cat, dog

  It’s always a nice feeling when we close the shops for the season, and this year we kept Dingle open much longer than we ever have, mirroring our shop in in Killarney, which stayed open last year until the end of December. Both shops will be closed for one month. It allows our staff to catch up on vacation time, although a few of us are still around in production to make the ice cream to distribute to shops and restaurants. Still, even there it will be quiet.

For our shops, we have a little window of opportunity to paint, prepare, and see what we can do to improve things in 2007. It’s not much time, really, and it always goes quickly. It’s nice to look ahead to a year full of promise and fill the head with dreams of ice cream…

Technorati tags: Dingle, Killarney, shop, ice cream, Kerry