Month: March 2009

Irish Whiskey Ice Cream

Garry with Ice Cream Even though whiskey cream might strike some Irish people as more of a Christmas flavour, I find it a delicious ice cream flavour and thought it would be a good ice cream for St. Patrick’s Day.

It has a simple, clean taste, and I suggest and strong-flavoured whiskey (we use Kilbeggan). Although I’d never add food colouring to any of our ice creams, if you want to dye it green for the big day, work away…

If you’re wondering who that is in the photos, it’s Gary, our new Killarney shop manager, who was gracious enough to pose.

Murphys Irish Whiskey Ice Cream

Irish Whiskey Ice CreamIngredients:

130g sugar 

5 egg yolks 

240 ml cream

200 ml milk 

45ml (3 tbsp) Irish whiskey 

What to do:

  1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow. 
  2. Bring the milk to a simmer. Remove from the heat.
  3. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
  4. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. 
  5. Stir continuously until the custard thickens (around 65C) and just coats the back of a spoon.
  6. garrryicecream2Allow the custard to cool.
  7. Mix in the cream and the whiskey, beating for one minute.
  8. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

6 Servings

Notes: 1. Make sure you add the liqueur when the mixture is cool, or the alcohol will evaporate.

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.

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Spring Cleaning and Irish Food Blogs

scrubbing I have to admit that between getting the business ready for the season, adding the odd blog post, twittering away, and just simply trying to get through huge volumes of emails, I’ve been very bad about both keeping up with other people’s blogs and maintaining my links.

Today, however, I did a bit of blog spring cleaning, and I thought that with Patrick’s Day coming up, I’d share some of my favourite Irish food blogs:

The Beer Nut, Bibliocook, Cheap Eats, Daily Spud, English Mum, Good Mood Food Blog, Fairy Cake Heaven, Healthy Irishman, Italian Foodies, John McKenna, Look and Taste, Martin Dwyer, Messy Chef, Oliver Moore, Ruth’s Kitchen Experiments, Stuff Yer Bake, Ummera, Val’s Kitchen, Well Done Fillet, Wine: Bubble Brothers, Curious Wines, Sour Grapes and Robert Francis Wines.

Happy reading!

PS. I’m always delighted to link to Irish food blogs, so please leave a comment if you’re not in my links!

It’s Getting Closer to Chocolate Time

Lorge Chocolate Easter Egg With apologies to everyone who has given up chocolates for Lent, I must say that I’ve been in a bit of a chocolate haze today. Not only have I been making  chocolate hearts for Mother’s Day, but we’ve received our yearly Easter delivery from Benoit Lorge for the shops.

Another Lorge Chocolate EggThey look great as usual (and you should know that they are filled with his delicious truffles). He’s also added a chocolate bunny to go with his chocolate hen.

If you don’t know his chocolates, seek them out! They are fantastic.

Seeing them, I’m kind of inspired. Maybe we’ll make some ice cream Easter Eggs again this year…

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Kerry Lodgings Top Tripadvisor

Killarney with Snow Mountains It’s fantastic to see Kerry guesthouses doing so well on Tripadvisor. Of the top five hotels, based on guest ratings, four are in Kerry. Loch Lein Country House tops the list, followed by Killeen House – both are in Killarney. Heaton’s and Castlewood House also make the top five.

Of the top B & Bs and guesthouses,  Emlagh House in Dingle and Friars Glen in Killarney are in the top five.

Good to know that we’re still able to extend Kerry hospitality and have it appreciated!

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Hot Toddy Sorbet

HotToddySorbet2 OK. I know a hot toddy sorbet is an odd concept, since a sorbet is hardly hot, but it is tasty, and I wanted to share it. We made this flavour for the Malton Hotel in Killarney, and it’s been quite popular in our shops as well. Warning: it packs an alchoholic punch!

Murphys Hot Toddy Sorbet

Ingredients:

  • 340 gr sugar
  • 500 ml spring water
  • 100 ml whiskey (we used Kilbeggan)
  • 75 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey (or more to taste).
  • 2 cloves.

HotToddySorbetWhat to do:

  1. Boil the water with the cloves, then remove from the heat.
  2. Remove the cloves.
  3. Stir in the honey and sugar, until completely dissolved.
  4. Cover immediately and cool completely.
  5. Stir in the whiskey and lemon juice.
  6. Taste it to make sure you like it!
  7. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer, stirring at 1 hr intervals to break up the ice.

Notes:

1. It’s hard to make sorbet without an ice cream machine. You will need to interrupt the freezing process and stir, or you will be left with a block of ice! The more times you do this, the better the consistency will be.

2. Since both honey and whiskey vary so much in flavour, make sure you taste this before you freeze it, and add a bit more if you wish…

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Signs of Spring in Dingle

Crocus Although the weather has turned colder again, there are definitely signs that the winter is behind us and things are looking up.

A crocus has popped up in my garden, the daffodils are abundant, and in the fields all around us are the cutest spring lambs.

Spring lamb in Dingle

Seeing the little creatures appear and bounce about always makes me happy. They show that life goes on and that summer is coming.

Maybe it’s because I have my own little one on the way, but I’m feeling a bit sentimental!

I don’t really know what this year will bring in Dingle, but I’m not pessimistic. Friends with guest houses have reported strong bookings from April on, and we haven’t seen any drop off in sales. 

It may well be that even in tougher times people still need to get away to somewhere special and hopefully cheer themselves up with ice cream!

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A Refined Coffee Bean

Espresso with Coffee Beans We’ve been moving more and more toward organic with all the coffee in our shops, and yesterday our coffee supplier brought us in the most amazing bean – a Peruvian triple certified bit of magic. It’s grown at high altitude, is 100% arabica and is triple certified (organic, Fairtrade, and Rainforest Alliance). While that’s all very good, what really has impressed me is the taste. It’s just so clean and refined.

Our worry, however, is that when it comes to coffee in Ireland, many people seem to prefer a very harsh taste. We’ve always tried to have smooth coffees, but some people complain that our coffee is weak. There’s a full shot in every drink, and there is just as much caffeine, but they seem to be convinced that we’re putting less coffee in because it’s not super-bitter.

In a way, it goes to the crux of what we try to do. In most things, a delicate flavour is the mark of high quality. Think of a cheap or expensive vodka or whiskey – the cheaper ones are harsh, the better ones are smooth. It’s a big question of whether enough of our customers will appreciate the amazing, but delicate flavour of this bean. We know there will be those who will consider it far too “weak.” 

We’ll be testing it out on customers, but I think it’s the bean for us. We’ll just have to work on convincing people of its merits. My brother thinks that for those who want a more robust taste, we can use a second grinder with a dark-roast bean. After all, tastes do vary, and he is probably right that we should be giving people a choice.

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Chocolate Poll

 We’re trying to improve our chocolate ice cream, and it’s meant lots of chocolate tasting around the place (not too many complaints from that, mind you).

Chocolate is a very tricky flavour, I think, since people rarely agree on chocolate. It’s either too dark or too light, it’s either too rich or too thin. We’ve always done a medium strength chocolate, using real melted chocolate, which makes it very luxurious, but not really strong enough for serious cocoa-heads.

I think the way we will go now is to do a range of chocolate ice creams, from milk chocolate to dark chocolate. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to know what the average preference is out there, so please take a moment to vote!
[poll id=”3″]
Thanks!

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