We Irish need a decent summer to bolster us for what’s ahead. Not getting one makes us glum and cranky. There has been chaos in the airports as, unsurprisingly, people are keen to get away.
War, soaring inflation and ever-lurking Covid have curtailed the ebullient free-for-all we were told was going to happen when the pandemic eased and people got back to normal. Dungarvan is quieter than expected.
Damien Derwin, our head chef who started with us at The Tannery last summer, now has his feet well under the table. A Dub who wanted a lifestyle change, he has brought a zenness to the food and kitchen that we needed. I can be a bit high-octane, always wanting to try new things while I’m whizzing through, leaving confusion in my wake.
Professional cooking can be pressurised in a way that most people don’t understand. We have to be on top of our game all day every day, for every dish, no matter what and it takes a certain type of person to thrive in that environment. That’s what hooked me when I first stepped into a kitchen; there’s a certain frisson that becomes addictive. I was never going to be a librarian.
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I know this sounds obvious, but you also have to love food and be continually curious about it. I find that doing the same thing over and over again can be tedious for the cook as well as the customer, but repetition also brings consistency and an assuredness to a young aspiring chef, they master the dishes and learn to walk before they fly.
So in theory I’m the calm assuring mentor, the conductor of the orchestra. That gives me a certain freedom. Damien and I do the menus together and I taste everything, but the most important component is the customers. If they are happy leaving they’ll come back. If they are not they won’t return, and of course tell twice as many people that we didn’t live up to our reputation. So it’s very much in our interest to impress them, and there is never a day we don’t try.
Recipe: Chilled mackerel with new potatoes, peppers, harissa dressing
