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James Whelan Butchers: Beef Bonds on the Sunday Business Post (Daily Post)

Posted on Friday, November 16th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Press | No Comments »

It’s interesting to see the stats. This was the most viewed piece on the Daily Post with the Sunday Business Post and James Whelan Butchers Beef Bonds. Here’s what they had to say

“Buy a stake in a cow with new “beef bonds”

05:58, 13 November 2012 by Post Reporter

Pat Whelan, of James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel.

One innovative Tipperary butcher is giving Irish investors a tasty alternative to the troubled financial markets.

Pat Whelan, of James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel, will today launch what he claims is the world’s first Beef Bonds. The bonds are specially boxed certificates that give a share in one of Whelan’s Angus, Hereford or Wagyu/Kobe cattle. Each bond displays the ID number, breed and expected maturity of the animal it is linked to.

An “investor” who buys one, or multiple share certificates, gets delivery of a box of various cuts of prime Tipperary beef on maturity. The maturing weight of the animal is predicted at the time of purchase, guaranteeing the buyer a yield. However, if the animal exceeds its predicted target, then the bond holder is in for an extra windfall of meat, Whelan said. The bonds generally mature within 10 to 12 weeks of purchase, but shorter term bonds are available on request.

Bonds in Angus and Hereford cattle are €100 each, while bonds for the more exclusive Wagyu/Kobe Bond start at €150.”

http://www.businesspost.ie/#!story/Home/News/Buy+a+stake+in+a+cow+with+new+%22beef+bonds%22/id/19410615-5218-50a1-28fe-f221b0778951s

We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin. Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers

Tags: Bacon, beef, Beef Bonds, James Whelan Butchers, lamb, pork, Sunday Business Post, Turkeys

James Whelan Butchers: Beef Bonds with Hector on RTE 2fm

Posted on Friday, November 16th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Press | No Comments »

We’re getting a lot of coverage for our new Beef Bonds at James Whelan Butchers, I even had a chat with Hector on the radio about it and this is what Hector had to say

“We’ve all heard of jail bonds, bank bond and gold bond but this morning BWH focused on a meaty return on an investment – beef bonds!

Pat Whelan talks Beef Bonds on 2fm's Breakfast with Hector

Beef Bonds are the brainchild of Pat Whelan, a butcher in Clonmel, which involves selling futures in beef, which are being underwritten by them, with 250 cattle on their farm and if the animal does better than expected, the beef investor receives a higher yield! People can buy bonds in Clonmel or at their store in Monkstown in Dublin or on the website www.jameswhelanbutchers.com Bonds in Angus and Hereford cattle are €100 each, while bonds for the more exclusive Wagyu/Kobe Bond start at €150. An “investor” who buys one, or multiple share certificates, gets delivery of a box of various cuts of prime Tipperary beef on maturity – and Pat believes that we owe it to the animal to eat every single part and it brings people together around the table sharing great Irish food”.

Thanks Hector for helping us get the message out there!

Listen to Pat talking to Hector by downloading the podcast

Go to: Download the podcast by following the link feed://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_hector.xml and look for Breakfast with Hector November 14th 7-8am

Interview starts @ 4mins 30secs

Tags: Beef Bonds, Breakfast with Hector, Hector, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan, RTE 2fm

James Whelan Butchers: The White Stuff

Posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles | No Comments »

Writing a food column often leads one to make huge assumptions about the people who read food columns. You assume it is the same handful of people each week and that by now they know you and know your form. What you forget is that the person reading might not be a cook or is just learning to cook perhaps or developing an interest in food. I was reminded of this recently when a very nice customer at my shop remarked that she had only recently found my column in the paper and now reads it weekly. However she also added that cooking has become her new hobby. While this lady is quite mature she explained that she worked outside the home for many years and so never had a great interest in cooking. Having taken early retirement she had discovered her passion for cooking but seemed to be coming to it quite late in life. Actually it’s never too late, and taking up a hobby like cooking is relatively safe at any age. Now she could have discovered a passion for pole dancing and that perhaps would have been out of bounds, but the culinary arts welcome all and have no upper age limit as long as you are physically able to use the equipment.

cauliflower

Thinking about all the people out there who are only really discovering home cooking for the first time I felt it would be useful every now and again to visit and revisit the pillars of home cooking. These are the things that regular cooks have mastered and there is an assumption that everyone can do it, which is often a misconception. So this week I have chosen to look at a simple white sauce and how it can be flavoured.

Plain white sauce is a ‘must learn’ for any cook as it forms the basis of so many family favourite recipes. I believe there are two common mistakes with white sauce. One is that if the flour is not left to cook properly before you add the liquid or you add too much flour it will, without a doubt, produce an odd floury taste in the overall sauce. The other common mistake is to just use cold milk, without heating it and infusing a little bayleaf or peppercorn into it at the start. Now I know this is a little fiddly and adds time to the process, but it is worth it for overall flavour. Also hot milk is absorbed more quickly and easily into the roux so you are ensuring a smoother sauce. A ‘roux’ is the cooked flour and butter mixture at the start. By cooking the flour and butter together we burst the starch grains in the flour and again this allows the liquid to be absorbed. It is also important to allow the sauce to simmer as this will take away any floury taste and helps give the sauce a glossy finish. Always use plain flour when making a white sauce as you may get lumps with self raising flour and while I tend to have salted butter to hand most of the time, if possible I use unsalted butter. Finally although my recipe says to leave the bay leaf, shallot and peppercorns infuse in the milk for 10 minutes, obviously longer infusing time adds more flavour.

So my basic white sauce recipe is this: 1 bay leaf, 1 shallot, 6 peppercorns, ¾ Pint of Milk, 2 oz of butter and 2 oz of plain flour. Obviously full fat milk will give you the creamiest flavour, but if you want to reduce the fat then use semi skimmed or try half milk half chicken stock, but more about that later. My first job is to infuse the milk. Tear the bay leaf to release the flavour and put it in a pot. Cut the shallot in half and along with the peppercorns add them to the pot. Pour over the milk and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and let the whole thing simmer for about 90 seconds. Remove the milk from the heat – cover the pot and leave to infuse for at least 10 minutes. Strain the liquid into a measuring jug ready for the sauce. Now melt the butter in a heavy based pot over a medium heat until it has melted completely. Put in the flour and lifting off the heat slightly, stir well with a wooden spoon combining the flour and butter, then put back on the heat and cook, stirring all the time, for about 2 minutes. This buttery coloured, fluffy textured lump is called a roux. Reduce the heat and start pouring the warm milk, little by little, into the roux. Keep stirring until the roux has absorbed the milk and then add some more. Once all the milk is in simmer, stirring all the time, for about 5 minutes to make a smooth sauce. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and simmer gently for another minute or so.

With the basic white sauce made it can become the perfect vehicle for a myriad of flavours. For a cheese sauce for pasta bakes or a cauliflower cheese I might add about 120g of cheddar cheese and a dollop of Dijon mustard to the quantity above. You could fry a finely chopped onion in the butter before adding the flour and then add chopped parsley to finish. Wholegrain mustard stirred through a white sauce works very well with fish. And if you are using this with chicken and you are really concerned about the calories, you could, as suggested earlier, use half milk and half chicken stock instead.

Along with a pouring sauce, white sauce is a must with pasta dishes such as lasagne or macaroni cheese. Indeed many vegetarian vegetable bakes benefit from a creamy white sauce and of course fish also. It has often been used to transform leftover meat into a seemingly whole new meal for the next day. Master the basic white sauce and then play around with the flavours; it’s a great cooks’ skill to have up your sleeve.

This post was written by me, Pat Whelan, owner of James Whelan Butchers and a passionate advocate of local artisan food. My family have been producing quality Irish Angus beef for generations using a traditional dry aging process. This tradition is one that I continue to practice at our abattoir on our family farm in Garrentemple, Clonmel. These posts aim to impart some of the wisdom to readers and help them get the best out of the meat they eat! Our meat is available online here! I welcome your feedback to [email protected]

Tags: cauliflower, foodie articles, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan, white sauce

James Whelan Butchers: It’s Mid-Term Party Time

Posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles | No Comments »

Looking out my window today I watch as the elements enjoy a high octane party. Leaves are bobbing around on the wind, swept into swirling dancing groups, moving at a terrific pace into mini tornado shapes and then disappearing quickly past my first floor window. The sky is ominously dark and I have no doubt that before I finish writing we will experience a shower; perhaps even a violent one by the look of that sky. Autumn is in full swing in Clonmel and as we hurtle towards the depths of Winter, the end of the year is just over the hump of the hill. It’s a cliché but this kind of weather always turns my thoughts to large warming bowls of thick soup, long slow cooked rich stews, casseroles and luscious savoury pies oozing pools of gravy and calling to me with their buttery crusts and the promise of mouthfuls of meaty flavour underneath.

The trouble with these kinds of dishes is that it is hard to cook them for one or two people. They tend to be large and abundant by their very nature and while you can freeze any leftovers or cook with freezing extra portions in mind, it strikes me that we should have lots of people around to share them with. The trouble with most of us is that when we invite people to our homes we try to impress with our food and ultimately overly complicate everything. Some people wouldn’t dream of serving guests a simple stew and therefore inviting people to our homes tends to put us under pressure, which in turn makes us reluctant to do it more often. The Scandinavians are very good at inviting each other for hearty, home cooked meals without any pretension to the more fussy traditional ‘dinner party’ or the formality of having people over. It’s simply about good food and good company.

Perhaps this will be one positive upside of the recession that we will loose our desire for blatant one-up-man-ship or keeping up with the Jones’ (or the McGraths or the Powers). Perhaps we will once again be able to go around to each others’ homes in our casual clothes, sit at kitchen tables, breaking bread together enjoying some good grub and great chat. Personally I think the food we choose to cook for friends can influence the evening no end. Place a large pot of steaming goulash in the middle of the table with warm crusty bread and a dish of creamy mashed potatoes and watch as the company instantly relaxes.

This time of year is a great excuse for such a gathering. It needn’t be expensive. Instead of time consuming canapés and cold buffet spreads, make a large pie or a one pot; it is certainly economical and always big on taste. Having a young family demands that we create our own fun at home, we try to find a balance between the junk food and the nutritious. I do my best to create an experience with real food. For example if it is a meat pie then the pastry decoration can work the theme. Spiders, bat shapes and even an evil pumpkin face are easy to replicate on the pastry crust. For fun I like to make Ritz cracker spiders by sandwiching two crackers together and using cheese strings to create the spiders’ legs. Food colouring can be added to icing for orange topped cupcakes and, if I’m honest, ordinary food served in shop bought ‘Halloween-y’ shaped or coloured bowls and plates can look very effective. Guacamole is always witches sludge at Halloween and of course, ketchup is good for a little gory blood. You’d be surprised what you can do with a simple burger to make it look like the common feast for any self respecting ghoul.

While a recession suggests that there is a dearth of money, it doesn’t necessarily follow that there should be a dearth of fun and laughter.

Tags: foodie articles, Halloween, James Whelan Butchers, Mid-Term, Pat Whelan, sharing food

James Whelan Butchers: A Food Truck Rodeo

Posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Good Food | No Comments »

“Street Food” is something I’m hearing and reading a lot about and I’m still not sure I fully understand what it is, but it has certainly elevated the standard of food-to-go generally and it seems to be creating great excitement. On a recent trip to America you can imagine my excitement when I not just discovered “Street Food” but also a Food Truck Rodeo. This is really clever and seems to be capturing the imagination of both public and stakeholders alike. Food Trucks in the states are trendily designed retro vehicles, some the same shape as the classic UPS vans but adapted as mobile gourmet kitchens. The magic that’s behind this whole rodeo concept is that a number of these vehicles each with a unique menu and offering come together in one place and create a market feeling leveraging off each others strengths. The consumer is exposed to many different food cultures and on a recent visit I discovered everything from Gravalax to Cuban Sandwiches, great barbecued beef and a unique vehicle which allowed you dispense your own chosen flavour of organic frozen yogurt. What further intrigued me was that all of these vendors use social media as a significant medium to communicate with their customers and these Rodeo events pop-up in different communities and at different events and are managed by gourmet food trucks, a website used to promote these gatherings.

Entertainment at these events is themed around the festivities or celebration at that time or of that place. I had heard of Food Trucks in California in 2010 but was delighted to discover that this phenomenon has now made it’s way to the East Coast. On the evening we visited, which was Halloween, there was talented balloon artists, great music, puppet shows and skilled mime artists which created a unique theatrical atmosphere. I took some photographs to share with you on my phone. I hope you enjoy!

Tags: barbecued beef, bbq, beef, Cuban Sandwiches, Food Truck Rodeo, frozen yogurt, Gravalax, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan

James Whelan Butchers: The Power of Television

Posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles, Good Food | No Comments »

I don’t watch a great deal of television, but certainly I see more in the autumn and winter than I would on brighter evenings in the middle of the year. When I return to television having been away for the summer months it can be quite exciting and the winter schedules always contain new programmes

I tuned in last week to catch the new Nigella Lawson show. In this new offering entitled Nigellizzima, the name alone leaves us in no doubt as to the theme; of course it is Italian. It turns out that the lovely one spent a year in Florence as a teenager and fell in love with the country and its food. In this show she brings, as she says herself, a spirit of Italy into the kitchen using easily found ingredients in this part of the world.

Many people claim a love for Italian food, but I have a problem with that as it is far too sweeping a statement. Italy is a large and diverse country and to suggest that your love of pasta dishes or pizza makes you an Italian devotee is a great misconception. There are distinct cultural differences throughout and the climate and crops vary. Perhaps what binds it all together is an attitude rather than one particular taste. Recipes are handed down from generation to generation, food is seen as an inherent part of the fabric of everyday life and simple cooking techniques combined with fresh ingredients seem to be common. These would be the reasons that I would hold affection for Italian food. In truth many Italian dishes have a peasant heritage and so are not as meat heavy as we expect or sometimes replicate. In Italy a traditional ragu (or bolognaise as we like to call it) would be used more sparingly over the pasta. We tend to pile the meat sauce on the pasta and, you know, if that’s how you like and enjoy it then so be it. Also true Italian pasta sauces are often simple and quick to prepare; taking no longer to make than it takes the pasta to cook.

So what did I think of Nigella’s take on all things Italian? Well I’d have to be honest and say that I wasn’t overly impressed with all of the recipes featured on the first show; indeed one or two left me quite cold and I would have serious reservations about some of the ingredients used. However, I have to fully support her approach, in that she is simply taking inspiration from a particular place, taking it home and making it her own. Ms Lawson makes no secret of the fact that she likes hot chillies and they tend to creep into many of her savoury recipes whether it is true to the place of origin or not. I fully support this maverick approach of simply being influenced by something and then creating something new. Why should there be rules with food when we should enjoy being creative and watching it evolve. Food is to be enjoyed and in this global village that we are blessed to be in, we have so much more to choose from and that’s a good thing.

Trying new things is good for us and opens up many possibilities. Once we allow ourselves the space to do something different we can even deconstruct our own traditions and do something new. Anyone who has been into James Whelan Butchers recently will know that we are doing something very different with pork and beef. I have to urge you to come and try our pulled pork or pulled beef pittas. Again both are traditional Irish meats but we are slow cooking them with a barbecue method and placing them in a pitta pocket. The result is outstanding and yet it has a truly traditional Irish feel in that it ticks all those boxes of being warming, filling, nutritious, meaty and delicious; as they say, “what’s not to like?”

I want to encourage you to try a little deconstruction of your own. Take your favourite meat and cook it in a different way. Or try a new meat altogether, have you tried cooking Wagyu beef yet perhaps? Try new combinations of your favourite recipes. For example rather than cooking an entire meat pie, just cook the filling and minimise the pastry to a cooked pastry disc popped on the top, or dispense with the pastry altogether and replace it with dumplings or herby breadcrumb crust instead. Flex your muscle with herbs and spices, swap a few or use some mild curry spices in a non curry dish; you’ll be amazed at the subtle differences you can achieve. Naturally you can expect to have failures or dishes that don’t work as well but you might also stumble on something new and sensational. It is not about throwing out the tried and tested but creating new ones. Allowing yourself such experimentation will also quickly dissolve the panic that often surrounds cooking – the “I can’t complete this dish if I don’t have all the ingredients in a recipe” panic. Start to make (educated) substitutions and know that there are many routes to food satisfaction. In fact many of our much loved European influenced recipes today come from a peasant tradition. Soups, one pots, stews and casseroles all come from a history where people had to use what was to hand; there was little choice in the matter. Being without one particular ingredient didn’t ruin the meal, it went ahead without it or with something in its place. Our current worship of the chef sometimes renders us inflexible and like sheep we follow the rules to the letter. Shake off the shackles I say and try something new. Essentially it is what they are at on the television. We watch in wonderment when all they’ve really done is taken the time and tried something new. Be your own television programme and let the great experiment begin.

Tags: foodie articles, italian, James Whelan Butchers, Television

James Whelan Butchers: Let Them Eat Tipp…in Dublin!

Posted on Saturday, October 20th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Press | No Comments »

* The Tipperary Food Producers are invading Dublin with a once off Pop-up restaurant

Marie Antoinette would approve! Tipperary’s top food producers are to let them eat more than cake when they showcase the best of the county’s traditional, wholesome food at a special pop-up dinner to be known as, “Eat Tipp” in Avoca, Dublin.

The producers will take food lovers on a sumptuous, culinary tour in the wonderful setting of Salt Restaurant (which is part of the Avoca food market in Monkstown). On Tuesday November 13th, they will create a magnificent banquet using only top quality, fresh seasonal Tipperary ingredients.

Chairman of the Tipperary Food Producers, Pat Whelan opened his first James Whelan Butchers shop outside of Tipperary in Avoca, Monkstown one year ago. Such was the national interest in the annual Long Table Dinner, Pat proposed a plan to bring a taste of Tipp to the capital.

“Tipperary Food Producers have been coming together to host an autumn dining event annually since 2007 and we are delighted to be bringing a taste of Tipperary to Dublin this year. As producers we love sharing the very best of our produce and reinforce the importance of supporting local producers to a local, national and even international audience” he said.

Whelan, along with his fellow Tipperary Food Producers, will host the meal to remember, which will include Tipperary produced meats, breads, vegetables, cheese, cakes, condiments and fruit. Gary Gubbins of Red Nose Wine in Clonmel will be on hand to match the best of artisan wines to the artisan foods on offer.

The mouth-watering menu will include:

Breads from Hickeys bakery & Mags home baking
Crowes Farm pigs cheek pastilla with baba ghanouj, dukkah & red pepper relish
Gortnamona goats cheese & Inch House black pudding beignet with an heirloom carrot salad
James Whelans dry-aged fillet of beef with Jerusalem artichoke, truffled beans & chervil beurre blanc.
The apple farm apple & blackberry crème brûlée
Tipperary cheese board with Crossogue quince jelly, oat crackers and walnut and raisin bread from the Tipperary Kitchen.
Petit fours from Tipperrary kitchen, The Cookie Jar, Sarah Baker Cookery School & Lough Derg Chocolates

Producers represented at the dinner will include Hickeys Bakery, Crossogue Preserves, Crowe Farm Meats, Cooleeney Cheese, Cloughjordan house, Mags Home Baking, Tipperary Kitchen, Inch House, James Whelan Butchers, Irish Piemontese Beef, Red Nose Wine, Russell Catering, Seymour Organic Farm, The Apple Farm, The Cookie Jar, O’Donnell’s crisps, Lough Derg Chocolates.

This group has being sharing the delights of this culinary events since 2007 when a group of local food producers came together to dine at a long table under the abundant fruit trees in the orchards of the Apple Farm in Cahir one late summer’s evening. From that memorable evening they have entertained and hosted the annual dinner in unusual venues, from an army barracks, Cahir Castle to an historic Harry Potteresque long hall boarding school refectory.
Tipperary food producers now employ 220 people directly, and have a cumulative turnover of €24m.

There will be a limited amount of tickets for sale, price €75. Please contact James Whelan Butchers, Oakville Shopping Centre, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Telephone: 052 6182477 or James Whelan Butchers at Avoca Food Market, The Crescent, Monkstown, County Dublin. Telephone: 01 6638924.

Tags: Avoca Food Market, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan, Tipperary Food Producers

James Whelan Butchers: La Fromagerie Event: Beaujolais & Beef

Posted on Friday, October 19th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Good Food | No Comments »

After meeting Patricia Michelson last year, I’m delighted to announce I’ve been invited to speak at the upcoming Beaujolais Noveau event at La Fromagerie, Moxon Street, London on November 15th. The La Fromagerie is run by Patricia and Danny Michelson and as the name suggests, they specialize in farmhouse cheeses and have been doing so since opening their first shop in 1992. La Fromagerie opened their second shop in 2002 and both shops feature cheese maturing cellars with on-site affinage and their signature walk in cheese rooms.

This event promises to be a fabulous evening celebrating exceptional artisan producer’s passion for food with a delicious supper of Autumn fare. On the night, I will be talking about my book “An Irish Butcher Shop” and will be sharing my knowledge of animals, butchery and cooking meat. I will also explain how each cut of meat requires a certain method of cooking, focusing in particular on getting more bang for your buck with less fashionable cuts of meat. The evening’s meal will feature classic French fare with an Irish twist, incorporating my Pork & Pistachio Terrine with toasted Poilâne & Cornichon; followed by my Boeuf Bourguignon alongside the 2012 Beaujolais Nouveau Village. Patricia will select a fitting plate of Irish cheese to pair with the Beaujolais, finishing the evening on a delectable French note with Tarte Tatin or Crème Brûlée to finish.

This promises to be a delicious evening celebrating our passion for good food & wine all in a convivial setting sharing some of the knowledge that goes hand in hand with being an exceptional artisan producer.

Please visit their website or telephone La Fromagerie for further details: 020 7935 0341

http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk

Tags: Beaujolais, James Whelan Butchers, La Fromagerie, Pat Whelan

James Whelan Butchers: BALANCE

Posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles, Good Food | 1 Comment »

If I had to sum up my personal philosophy on life I think I could reduce it to one word and that’s ‘balance’. While it sounds simple, achieving perfect equilibrium on the scales of life requires quite a degree of focus and discipline. I’m not perfect and many times fall short of my set balance point, but just aiming for it generally seems to keep me in check

Just like life, preparing excellent food also requires balance. Successful cooking relies on getting the flavour and texture balance just right. I began to think about this recently when I ordered a lunchtime bowl of butternut squash, coconut and chili soup in an Avoca restaurant. The flavour balance was outstanding with all the ingredients working together in a harmonious blend on the tongue, without any one ingredient singing louder or harsher than the others. It was the best bowl of soup I’ve had in ages. And so the art of flavour balancing began to dance around in my mind and I came to realise that it is one of the key differences between mediocrity and greatness.

Acquiring the ability to flavour match and balance will also give us more confidence, particularly when following recipes. You know how it is sometimes if you follow a particular recipe to the letter and yet the final dish fails to elicit the pornographic sighs and groans of satisfaction that it did on the tongue of the TV chef. The problem is that we often fail to take into account that ingredients, particularly fresh ingredients, differ. Not every onion, carrot or tomato will always taste exactly the same. This goes for any fresh ingredient. Spices can vary slightly and even different brands of beef or chicken stock for example can change an overall flavour, even if it is a subtle change. For this reason the job of the cook is to continually taste and if following a recipe, have the knowledge and confidence to tweak a few things here and there to balance it up if necessary. In Asian cooking particularly the first thing you learn is that there should be balance in the dish but also balance among the dishes you are serving; hot spicy curry served with a dollop of cool yoghurt for example. Indeed whether it is a French inspired casserole or a fruity Asian curry, balance is the key to success every time.

Think of the individual flavours for a moment; sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy aromatic and spicy hot are general flavour categories. Let’s start with salty. Salt is one of the culinary stars and while there is a great degree of debate about too much salt in processed food, for those of us to who tend to generally cook from fresh, this is not a worry. The right amount of salt can really wake up the flavours in many foods. I always believe in adding a little at a time, tasting and then waiting for the flavours to come alive. There are other ways of adding saltiness without actually adding salt directly. You could try adding a salty food such as ham or bacon, a fish or soy sauce or salted butter. And don’t neglect to try some of the many seasoned or garlic salts on available as these can transform some dishes.

You might have noticed television chefs’ penchant for fresh lemon. This burst of acid can perk up many otherwise bland dishes and falls into the ‘sour’ category. If you are adding acid such as vinegars, lime, lemon or pickles try and do it near the end of the cooking time to retain the flavours. Don’t forget tomatoes can be quite acidic as can berries like raspberry and cranberry. This is why we often let tomato based stews simmer for a while in order to allow the acid to mellow out.

When we think of Sweet, we tend to think of sweet foods but don’t neglect to put a little sugar into savoury dishes. An old pal of mine shared this secret a long time ago. A spoon of honey, maple syrup or a teaspoon of sugar in a stew, a curry or a bolognaise sauce can make all the difference. You will also commonly find this approach in Chinese recipes. You won’t make the dish sweet you will just counter the acidity of the other ingredients. Less is definitely more in this instance, so don’t be tempted to be heavy handed. About a teaspoon of sugar in a dish for 4 to 6 people is about the right ratio.

I always distinguish between aromatic and hot spice. To me the aromatics are the onions (the entire family), garlic, gingers, herbs, celery, and sweet peppers. Hot spices include the obvious such as pepper, mustard, turmeric, cumin and chili; just a few of the favourites. From these two categories many cultures create base trinities for much of their cuisine. Garlic, ginger and chili are a common Asian dish base. You’ll find a great deal of French dishes that have a basic trio of onion, celery and carrot. In the Caribbean it is onions, garlic and peppers together. I also like to include citrus zest in the aromatic category but would usually only add it towards the end of cooking, like I would with fresh herbs such as parsley or oregano.

Black pepper is probably the most common spice in the world. It seems to be added to everything. And the dish needn’t be a necessarily hot dish to benefit from a little perky pepper. Another chefy tip is that if you come to the end of cooking a dish and you think it needs a pepper kick adding it from the pepper pot might not be the best idea. Chefs tend to use a hot peppery sauce such as Tabasco or a hot paste like harrisa rather than sprinkling in the powder at the end. I have seen far too any dishes, particularly Italian, overpowered by too much of this small ingredient which should be a background note on the taste buds and certainly not the main event. Generally with dried spices I think they need time to develop. Quick cook dishes rarely benefit. Dried spices can be quite harsh and so they need that cooking time to mellow out. Put them in at the start and remember oil works best with dried spices. There is a rule of thumb when using hot chili peppers. First of all there are no rules, in that it is a personal taste issue as to how hot you like your food. If you want the chili to blend into the dish then de-seed, chop finely and put them in early allowing time for the heat to cook off. If you want a fresher, hotter effect, put them in towards the end of the cooking time and always remember that not all fresh chilies will taste exactly the same. Of course don’t forget that if you do find that spice going over the top, that too can be balanced with a little creamy coconut milk to take it back down a notch.

Remember to keep tasting your food throughout cooking; it really is the only way to be sure. If it’s too spicy add a little creaminess or maybe sweetness. Too sweet? Then add some sourness or try a little heat. If it’s too sour, do the obvious, sweeten it up. Blandness is counteracted with a salt hit and if it’s too salty add some sourness. The main thing is to get used to adding and subtracting and know when to leave a dish alone. Happy experimenting.

Tags: Chinese food, foodie articles, Italian food, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan

James Whelan Butchers: The Fat Free Sausage

Posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles, Good Food | No Comments »

I totally understand if the headline, “fat free sausage” caused a wrinkle in your brain. After all the very idea of a fat free sausage is practically an oxymoron. Personally I never thought I could use those words together in a spoken sentence, let alone actually taste one in reality but that day has finally arrived.

To understand the genesis of this wonder food I have to take you back several weeks when I finally decided to do something about my weight. Weight isn’t an easy subject to discuss for anyone and particularly for men. You see weight loss and diets seem to be a largely female domain. While overweight men are equally conscious of their health and body image, we don’t find it easy to join a group or a club that can help us. We tend to join gyms or see personal trainers and while some succeed, many fail for lack of human interaction and support, something women recognised years ago. The interesting thing is that all the popular weight loss programmes and groups are open to men as well as women, yet it is largely women who attend. Having spoken to a number of regular customers who were visibly getting slimmer by the week I finally decided to pluck up the courage and join a popular weight loss programme that has a weekly meeting and weigh in.

I will admit that the first night was beyond daunting and I thought about not going many times during that first day, but it didn’t take me long to realise that no one else was bothered by my presence. Thankfully, my lovely wife came too, so it was something we could do together and that has genuinely made it so much easier. The programme is proving to be a life changer for us in so many ways. It is a sensible regime that revolves around real food, generally unrestricted eating with little or no fiddly weighing and measuring and the opportunity to indulge every now and again. Within a very short time I found that it really suited me and I was enjoying it in so many ways. Rather than being ‘on a diet’ per say we are reinventing the way we eat and cook and largely going for that long term lifestyle change rather than a short sprint to a meaningless goal on a scales. This is also having an impact on the family. We cook healthy meals for everyone so without even realising it, the children are benefitting also and hopefully, into the future, they are learning to eat well naturally, by the example we are setting. Our aim is to promote health, fitness and long life and not to create that tense and negative atmosphere of dieting or depravation. Never once has anyone said, “We can’t have such and such because Daddy is on a diet”. So all was going well, I was adjusting more easily than I had anticipated and, believe it or not, within 5 short weeks I had lost over 1 stone in weight. Result! However I was missing one thing and that was the humble sausage; banished from my diet because of its high fat content.

They say necessity is the mother of invention and, to be honest, I felt that I needed a sausage. Alternatives were suggested. There are several low calorie and meatless options on the market and I duly tried them all, but not one of them passed the taste test in my opinion. Each one lacked something and none of them reached a decent mark on the satisfaction scale. As a butcher if there’s one thing I understand, it’s what makes a good sausage and so eventually I was forced into my own test kitchen. I donned the apron, feeling like Thomas Edison, when he invented the light bulb. Now I knew that Edison had many failures before he hit on the right idea and so I was prepared for a few non runners in the fat free sausage stakes. I was a man on a mission, driven by my cravings and determined not to unlock that door until I could shout “Eureka, the fat free sausage is here”. And so the great experiment began. I took all the various elements that make a great sausage and began to make substitutions. Having stripped out all the fat and only using 100% lean pork meat the biggest challenge was a replacement for the bread rusk ingredient. I finally found the right balance using cous cous. While I didn’t actually cry “Eureka”, I believe that my taste buds did. It was great. Admittedly a slightly different texture than your average sausage but the all of the flavour is still there and yet none of the calories.

To date I have tried them on a cross section of people that have included friends and family. I have made a few tweaks here and there and now feel that my quest is at an end; the James Whelan delicious Fat Free Sausage is on the market. I get a great kick out of the flavour but an even greater burst of pleasure knowing that as I am indulging I am still staying well within the parameters of my programme. These are truly fat and guilt free sausages. On the particular programme I am on they give food what they term a ‘syn’ value. Well I am giving my sausages a ‘SIN’ value and on my virtuous scale they are SIN-less! A big fat (or thin) 0% fat sausage! It truly is a miracle and so whichever programme you are on, whether it is one of the famous branded ones and you are counting points at WeightWatchers or syns at Slimming World or yums at Unislim or you are just cutting down on your own, this healthy fat free sausage will fit in with what you are doing. The even better news is that it is produced with local pork.

Of course you don’t have to be on a diet or trying to shift the pounds to try them. Give them a go as a healthier alternative to the full fat version. If nothing else they certainly give you another option when it comes to sausage choices. Drop by the shop any time and give our sinless sausages a try. With my new found zeal I’m also looking at developing a full sinless range for all those out there who, like me, have struggled with their weight for far too long. Watch this (diminishing) space.

Tags: fat free, foodie articles, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan, sausage

James Whelan Butchers: A Taste of the South

Posted on Monday, October 1st, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles, Good Food | No Comments »

The other day a request came across my desk inviting me to speak to a group of potential start up business about running a food business. One of the headings they asked me to speak on was, “How to keep the offering fresh”. This had nothing to do with shelf life or meat refrigeration. It was asking me to speak about how we keep coming up with new things to hold our customers’ interest. I thought about it for a while and realised that although this is an obvious business tenet, I have to admit that it’s not one I spend a great deal of time on! My own curiosity, love of food and passion for new things drives everything and while it may not be ‘businessy’ enough, it’s just the natural way of things around here. I feel that by being passionately interested in food, I discover interesting things. It’s a simple approach. I wish I could tell you that there was a grand design, a five step scientific or commercial plan in place, but it really isn’t anything other than a personal zeal for food and the joy I find in sharing those discoveries with everyone else.

The best way to explain is to give you an illustration of how the most recent additions came into existence. The best things are often the culmination of months or even years of dabbling; (or should I say development perhaps?) I test, taste and investigate before even considering something as a new product for the shop. Our new pulled pork and pulled beef pitas have just been launched in store. If you’re looking for something that will truly excite the taste buds then you have to try our pitta pockets filled with either pulled pork or pulled beef, topped with our own recipe red slaw and our own in house BBQ sauce. So let me give you the genesis of these delicious carnivorous delights and the long road to their launch at JWB.

For some years now I have been interested in barbecue foods and each summer at James Whelan Butchers we have built on our outdoor offering of food and tips, despite, at times, the inclement weather. About two years ago I had the good fortune to meet American chef Adam Perry Lang who also owns a very successful restaurant in London called Barbecoa (the original word for barbecue as it became popular in Europe). Barbecoa bills itself as a “cathedral to fire and food” and basically it has taken all those manly methods of smoking, barbecuing and grilling and married them with great cuts of meat to create a heady theatrical mix of food and excitement for the diner; a veritable feast for all the senses under one roof. At close quarters I had the privilege of watching the expert Adam Perry Lang work over an open flame and it was awe inspiring. The flavours achieved were scrumptious and I returned from London with a fervent appetite for exploring the whole area of smoking, brining and fire cooking methods. I immediately invested in some serious domestic equipment and have, in my spare time, been trying and trialling various ideas over the past 24 months. I’ve had a ball and the smoky wafts have often transported me back to my days of childish imaginings of cowboys on the open plains of America. I may not have had a covered wagon but I was in my own way like one of the early pioneers discovering new culinary pleasures at every turn. Despite protests from my family that I was just being indulgent, I knew it was all most productive and the tastes, aromas and senses I experienced all heightened my enthusiasm for this relatively primitive but skilled way of cooking.

As with most things, once you begin to develop an interest in an area you start to notice more of it. Suddenly all sorts of things, from television shows to actual people with similar interests, began to cross my path; it was quite uncanny. Food programmes focusing on American Barbecue began to appear more regularly, piquing my interest even more and then I made a fortuitous connection with a fantastic chef from the US, Will Drake. I couldn’t have wished for anyone more authentic as he is from Birmingham, Alabama, USA! While I, the butcher, was hungry for more information on barbecuing, Will, the chef, wanted to sharpen his butchering skills and was also interested in learning about our artisan approach to beef production; Destiny.

To cut a long story short, Will has now come to Ireland where we can trade our skills and knowledge. It is an exciting time. He is staying until Christmas and we have installed a wood smoker in the shop. Both Will and the wood smoker have already proved to be a fantastic addition to the JWB family. And so we have developed our two new products, Pulled Pork Pitas and Pulled Beef Pitas. Will and I prepare the cuts of beef and pork and then we cook them low and slow in the wood smoker. Just walking past the machine causes you to salivate and I never tire of trying the resulting delicious, meltingly tender, flavourful meat. Add that to our special red slaw and our very own BBQ sauce and you have nothing short of epicurean paradise wrapped in a pitta! It’s an authentic and exciting taste of the Southern States right here on your Tipperary doorstep and has to be tried sooner rather than later. So there you have it, something wonderful borne out of nothing but a personal interest in a new flavour. Maybe subconsciously I am “trying to keep the offering fresh”, but personally I prefer to think of it in terms of sharing the great things I discover with my customers.

By the way if you are dropping by James Whelan Butchers at the Oakville Shopping Centre make sure you say “Hi” to Will; after all he’s a visitor and we want to make him feel welcome. Have a great week.

Tags: A Taste of the South, Adam Perry Lang, BBQ Sauce, brining, fire cooking methods, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan, smoking, Tipperary

James Whelan Butchers: Teach the Children

Posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2012 by Pat Whelan in Foodie Articles, Good Food | No Comments »

It never ceases to amaze me the number of teenagers that can’t cook or at least claim they can’t. They certainly won’t starve as they are capable of placing cornflakes in a bowl, pop tarts in a toaster, a ready meal in a microwave or ordering a takeaway, but when it comes to long term sustainable food preparation on a budget, many are clueless. Countless young people are about to strike out on their own, as they do at the start of every college year, and mothers all over the country fret and wonder if they will eat properly. Given that food is something we involve ourselves with every day of our lives we fail to pass on passions and skills and most people have those wilderness years in between their mother’s cooking and developing there own cooking ability later in life. Boys are particularly good at avoiding the challenge altogether and instead put their energies into finding a girl who can cook; a good plan but not the best one

It makes so much more sense to catch our children young, and I’m talking in the single figure years, and introduce them to food and cooking. It’s not about turning them into professional chefs, but it is about giving them confidence around food and nutrition. It will also give them an appreciation of the work that goes into preparing meals and, long term, the wrench from home when it does inevitably come around, will be one stress less.

Cooking and preparing food involves many skills that will help with a child’s general development. There is a maths element, learning to measure and weigh, reading recipes and making notes. You can even learn about where food comes from which sometimes will involve different cultures and places as well as ingredients. These days we have video and digital cameras to record our work and chart our progress in a fun and colourful food diary if we want to. There is also something quite special about sharing time in a kitchen with a child and nothing gives a greater sense of importance that being involved in making a meal for the family. One of my favourite poems by Seamus Heaney is In Memoriam, where he recalls time alone with his mother preparing a meal. “When all the others were away at Mass, I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.” It is a beautiful piece that encapsulates that shared time of productivity. Also cooking together is something you can do and enjoy for the rest of your life.

So where do you start and how young is too young? Personally I think around 4 years old is a good age and there are plenty of books out there to get you started. Naturally you are going to start out with simple things. If you can count to 10 and hold a spoon, as most 4 year olds can, then counting out ingredients is a great help or stirring and mixing is not beyond them. Washing fruit and vegetables or bashing with a pestle is another task easily achievable as is using a cookie cutter. Of course the job of tasting is always a good one. Now before you think that I have lost the run of myself completely I am fully aware of the time needed for this kind of exercise. It is about learning and enjoyment and so if you are pressed for time or under pressure to prepare a dinner then having a three foot helper with poor or under developed motor skills in the kitchen is a recipe for disaster. It does require time and a tolerance for mistakes and a few spills here and there, but in order to make an omelette we have to break a few eggs and trust me in the long run it will be worth it.

The other obvious difficulty when you are starting to teach a child about food and cooking is the health and safety element, but there are plenty of things you can cook without the use of an oven or even a knife. Making dips and salad dressings, stuffing peppers, topping crackers with a mixture or even making a sandwich to begin with are all without too much danger. Recently I helped my own little guys make a quick . The kids really enjoyed mashing and bashing the flesh of the ripe avocado and mixing in the other ingredients that I had measured out for them. Squeezing the lime brought more squeals of joy and there was plenty of discussion about the resulting green, lumpy mixture and how it reminded them of Halloween! The best part though was when we brought the big bowl of dip to the table and turned out a big bag of tortilla chips into another bowl and then we all had a taste and a chat. It was simple, there was very little mess and it was great fun listening to them trying to pronounce ‘guacamole’ and discussing where avocados come from. On one of the sunnier days a few weeks ago I put bowls of ice cream out on the garden table and then little bowls of toppings for them to choose and create their own sundae. My next challenge will be a pizza. I will put all the ingredients into little ramekins and let them make their own edible creation. Obviously I intend to supervise the placing in the oven and the general cooking.

My kids are quite young and our cooking ‘lessons’ are not tightly scheduled or planned. They happen on rainy afternoons or days when I have to do something with an over ripe avocado rather than throw it in the bin or sometimes they suggest a desire to bake some cookies or “make Mammy a surprise”. However I do take every opportunity to discuss food with them. I take them blackberry picking or down to the farm to check on the calves. And occasionally I’ll take them on a trip to visit a supplier. I always do it as a fun adventure, never as a rigid educational event. I want them to love food, for it to be part of the fabric of their memories and something that comes naturally to them. Hopefully by the time they are flying the coop, I will be missing them for the great food they can prepare. That’s the plan anyway.

Tags: Back to school, healthy eating, James Whelan Butchers, Pat Whelan