Here’s the beef – come and get it
You’ve got to be a true lover of protein to cope with a typical Beef Club dinner at The Chophouse gastropub at Shelbourne Road in Dublin 4. At the club’s regular meet-ups, four meat courses are served, followed by a cheese board. The menu might begin with tartare of Angus with oyster mayonnaise, followed by beef tea with oxtail tortellini, short rib gratin, and then a 45-day dry-aged Porterhouse. The next dinner takes place on September 24th, when a menu similar to this will be served, with two glasses of Bordeaux included in the €55 fee. Membership is free and the club meets about five times a year to eat at a communal table in the restaurant. To join, email info@thechophouse.ie.
Seafood season kicks off
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There’s an “r” in the month again, and appetites turn to shellfish, especially oysters and mussels. The Cornstore restaurants in Cork and Limerick are running their fourth seafood festival this month, with specials including this oyster tasting plate with tempura oyster, oyster Rockefeller, pickled seaweed and salsa oyster, devils on horseback, and a natural oyster too (€12.95). In Dublin, it’s Lobsterfest at Saba restaurant (September 18th-28th), when Inishbofin lobster, Carlingford oysters and Roaring Water Bay mussels get the Thai treatment. There are cocktails designed to match the seafood. A seafood platter for two, with a grilled lobster, squid, mussels, prawns and swordfish, served with stir fried vegetables and fried rice, is €49.95. See cornstore.com and sabdadublin.com.
Stein’s ways with fish and shellfish
There's a faded and battered (no pun intended) copy of Rick Stein's Seafood on my bookshelves that is my go-to when I am cooking fish and looking for inspiration, but it is to be replaced by a handsome new volume. Rick Stein Fish & Shellfish (BBC Books/Ebury £25) is described as "the definitive guide to cooking seafood, with 120 classic recipes", and before you ever reach any of those recipes there are 100 pages of clear instructions and lots of photographs explaining the techniques you'll need to tackle any fish.
There are step-by-step instructions on filleting all varieties, even tough ones such as ray and monkfish; cooking methods including hot smoking and baking in a salt crust, and an arsenal of tips on things as diverse as tenderising squid in the oven to preparing sea urchins.
There are lots of new recipes, gathered on Stein’s far-flung travels, and Stein says: “Every recipe in this book that was in the original book has ben changed in some small way to reflect 40 years’ experience”. There are lots of classics too, including Dover sole à la meunière.
Gluten-free bakery in-store
Scally’s SuperValu in Clonakilty has launched what it claims is Ireland’s first in-store gluten-free bakery and food production facility. As well as bread and cakes, including these Smarties cupcakes, the unit is producing ready meals, soups and sauces, where gluten can often be present. The €500,000 facility has brought five new jobs to the store and the range will also be on sale at Scally’s SuperValu in Blackrock, Cork.
mcdigby@irishtimes.com
