While my own trained skills lie in the art of food and butchery anyone who has ever worked behind a counter will tell you that over time you acquire a certain ability to read body language and detect mood. I can spot people staring at the chill cabinets with a bewildered look on their faces. I can often read it as that bothersome internal question “What the hell will I get for the dinner tonight/tomorrow/next Tuesday/whatever?” It is often a pained expression and one that suggests cooking is a chore best or a necessary evil at worst.

Engaging this particular breed of shopper in conversation you can usually sort them out in seconds with a few hints and tips.  It doesn’t take long for the smile to return to their faces and one idea from inside the counter tends to spark a number of ideas in their own heads and suddenly the furrowed frown disappears.  Further probing often reveals that they do have a genuine interest in cooking but don’t particularly enjoy it because of lack of time.  This suggests that cooking is long and arduous as opposed to a contemplative and enjoyable creative recreation that has the added benefit of nourishing our nearest and dearest.  We probably don’t think long enough on the words we use, but that very word, ‘recreation’ means to do something that ‘re-creates’ us.  In other words it lifts us up, nourishes our souls and sends us back to our normal routine in a better state of mind; in a word ‘re-created’ in order to start again.  Now many believe it is the eaters of the meal that get the best of the recreation and not the providers or cooks.  I beg to differ.

First of all let’s look at the time element.  Most of us complain about lack of time and yet research tells us that an average individual can spend a staggering 25 hours a week watching television!  Ironically it is possible that several of those hours are spent watching programmes about food.  Having watched Jamie, Nigella or Gordon in the kitchen we are so exhausted from all their work that we drag ourselves to the kitchen and prepare that TV dinner we bought earlier. We need to reconnect with real food.  If you don’t want to do it from scratch there are plenty of things to help along the way. At JWB for example we do a range of freshly prepared foods and meats that don’t take any length to cook.  They can be accompaniments or the star of the show, there’s plenty to choose from.  I think what most of those TV programmes fail to demonstrate is how quick and easy it is to rustle up real, tasty food without a professional kitchen and every gadget under the sun; try an omelette and test the theory of real fast food.

We have been seduced by the packet and pouch language of ‘instant’, ‘quick’, or ‘express’.  Celebrity chef Valentine Warner recently commented on such food advertising and said, “These are words that encourage a loss of knowledge and indicate an unwise dependence on having things done for us”.  I couldn’t agree more.  The other thing that is quite sad is the loss of experience in handing down skills from one generation to another.  There is something very natural and lovely that takes place between a parent and a child when teaching them a skill and particularly a food skill.  Baking cookies, boiling an egg or peeling and preparing vegetables can be a tremendous time with the added benefit of something good to taste at the end of it.  Teaching someone to open a pouch or how to pierce some plastic with a fork before bunging it in the microwave doesn’t even come close.  Nobel Prize winning Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, captured this elegantly in his poem, In Memoriam, which was about his mother.

When all the others were away at Mass
I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
They broke the silence, let fall one by one
Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
Cold comforts set between us, things to share
Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes
From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.

So while the parish priest at her bedside
Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
And some were responding and some crying
I remembered her head bent towards my head,
Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives–
Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

Of course we would probably claim that if we don’t have time to cook, we certainly don’t have time to mess around with children in the kitchen!  Dear oh dear, where are our priorities?  We send our children out into the world, educated as best we can, warned about the dangers of sex, drugs and rock and roll and yet we never check to see if they can make themselves a meal.  Obviously they are well able to roll up at a chip shop and ask for something, but that’s not really the point.  If they are unable to identify food in its raw state or assemble ingredients for a recipe then that knowledge will be a lot more difficult to pick up as an adult or perhaps a closed door to them forever.  No doubt they too in their busy grown up lives will say that, just like their parents, they don’t have time to cook! I encourage you to find your cooking mojo again.  Don’t see it as a chore but as a time of creativity and recreation and pass that idea of pleasure to your children.  For that reason the recipes below are simple and fit very nicely with our idea of ‘fast’, ‘express’ and ‘quick’ but without an overly processed product in sight. I welcome your feedback to [email protected].

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

The season for celebrations is upon us.  Communions and confirmations abound.  During the Celtic Tiger years many will agree that the whole thing was getting a little out of hand.  I was a guest at one or two ceremonies during that time and remember some eyebrow raising moments when the cost of the child’s dress was discussed or the amount of money the child ‘collected’ was revealed.   I reflected on my own communion and confirmation, which weren’t without celebration, but seemed to have a different set of values attached.   I certainly remember them being special and a huge amount of effort was put in, but it could never have been compared to the ‘mini weddings’ of today.  Needless to remark the kind of things I was dreaming of buying with the proceeds didn’t involve high tech gadgets like mobile phones, mp3 players, DS Nintendos or Wii game consoles that all seem to cost the bones of the average weekly industrial wage!   My dreams were smaller and, as my mother insisted, included a boring savings account!

While no one would ever have wished for the downturn perhaps it forces people to come to their senses.  I think sometimes it makes us focus on the actual event rather than the shiny packaging, but it shouldn’t make us feel that we are being deprived or that the occasion would be much better if we had an unlimited budget.  If anything we might find that having to be a little more creative with the entertaining rather than just throwing money at it, brings a much higher satisfaction rating overall.

For many the answer to the party dilemma is to have it at home.  Having any kind of celebration at home has many benefits and not all of them are budgetary.  Because you are in your own home the children and the guests’ children are free to run around as much as they want.  They have access to all their toys and have more freedom than they do in a hotel or restaurant.  We have all witnessed bored youngsters hanging around hotel foyers trying to amuse themselves.  Usually the adults will sit huddled in a nearby group and every now and again as the noise escalates and the running reaches fever pitch some says, “Hey lads, calm down”.  The miniature marauding gang will usually stop for all of thirty seconds before the din starts again.  It’s unfair to ask children to be quiet just because the environment doesn’t lend itself to their games, particularly as it is their special day.

There is also the intangible benefit of getting the family around and sharing food or a meal with them in your own home.  There is something very special about this act of breaking bread together and sharing these special moments in our children’s lives.  Jewish families have long known the benefits and regularly share long lazy days with food as the centerpiece.  In Ireland our busy lifestyles, shift work and extra curricular activities mean that many families have largely moved away from the idea of sitting down together for meals.  The clock often dictates and it is definitely damaging our sense of family and our sense of connection.  This means that occasions when the generations come together are even more special.

So how do you keep it simple but at the same time make it simply stunning within budget?  The first thing with any form of party planning is to draw up a list of guests.   This will often dictate the catering needs.   If there are elderly family members for example there may be special dietary requirements or a buffet may not suit.  If the numbers allow perhaps a sit down meal would be a better arrangement.  If you do decide on a buffet style, it’s up to you whether you want to go with all finger food or a full plate hot or cold buffet; there are a myriad of choices.

Creating the meal can often seem daunting but there are many ways around it.  Due to the sudden increase in home entertaining we spent several days putting together our outside catering menu.  It features hot, cold and finger food options all delivered to your door without any of the hassle (and you can still take the credit.  We don’t cook and tell!).  Some people rely on us entirely to do the work while others will create most of the dishes and augment their selection with just one or two things from our selection.  The full range is available to look at online at jameswhelanbutchers.com.  Of course we’re not the only ones doing take away party food and there are plenty of options all worth exploring.  One of the other benefits to having the celebrations at home is the leftovers!  You are not returning tired and hungry to a cold house in the early evening having to make do with a sandwich.  This way the party can go on all day and, if planned correctly, there’ll be little cooking to do the following day.

Probably the most important thing about a home event is that the celebrant, the child, can have a much greater involvement in the arrangements.  They can choose colours and themes for table decorations.  They can get involved in choosing the food and sometimes, even making it.  This can make for a really satisfying experience for the whole family.  If there are other children in the family, they too can get involved in the planning.  They can offer opinions, suggest ideas and sometimes even make things for the event.

I always think it’s appropriate that most confirmations and communions take place in the late spring, early summer period.  This time of year is all about renewal.  Having a party at home gives us all a chance to catch up with friends and loved ones after the long winter.  It offers an opportunity to nourish with food and embrace our family in the bosom of our own home.  It is also a great example for our children that events and celebrations are about good people, good food and plenty of love rather than expense and fancy venues.  Having a wonderfully positive experience of fun and fellowship will create memories that last a lifetime. I welcome your feedback to [email protected].

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