The GIY (Grow It Yourself) 2010 Conference takes place on Saturday 18th September in the Guinness Storehouse. The theme of this years event is ‘Together We Grow” which focuses on the great work being done by local producers all over the country. Through this process of championing local producers the GIY 2010 Conference aims to encourage people to grow their own food. The event will be opened by President Mary McAleese, who is an avid GIY enthusiast and throughout the day there will be a number of talks/demos from a cast of high profile names.

Speakers at the event include Diarmuid Gavin (Garden Designer, TV Presenter and GIY Patron), Duncan Stewart (Environmentalist and presenter of Eco-Eye), Michael Kelly (Founder of GIY), myself (James Whelan Butchers and author of An Irish Butcher Shop), Klaus Laitenberger (Former Organic Centre Lecturer and author of Vegetables for the Irish Garden) and many more.

I will be giving a workshop demonstration with J.P. Crowe (Crowesfarm) on sausage-making and how to butcher your own meat. We hope to post a video from the event early next week. Tickets are priced at €40 and include a hot buffet lunch and a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. To book tickets now visit www.giyireland.com/shop/.

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 local Organic Week is in full swing as James Whelan Butchers hosts an all day BBQ, 17th September. The BBQ will run from 11am – 6pm outside James Whelan Butchers and all are welcome. This all you can eat event, which only costs €5.00 per person, is a celebration of local organic produce and all proceeds are going to our local hospice.

The essence of ‘Local Organic Week’ focuses on the local organic produce and it is supported by the Tipperary Food Producers network. T.J Crowe of Crowesfarm is providing organic sausages, Goodherdsmen and James Whelan Butchers are providing organic burgers and Red Nose Wine is supplying a variety of organic red/white wines for tasting.

Make sure not to miss your last chance to enjoy a BBQ this year!

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

It’s been a big week at James Whelan Butchers with the launch of our new website and the publication of our new book, An Irish Butcher, from Collins Press. Both a labour of love, both taking well over a year, both dedicated to the rearing, cooking and enjoyment of fine local foods, and both now online for your shopping pleasure!

To celebrate, we’re giving away a copy of An Irish Butcher to our newsletter subscribers in our first monthly draw. The winner will receive:

• A signed copy of An Irish Butcher, chock-a-block with mouth watering recipes for good home cooking across all occasions, from mid-week family meals to Christmas spectaculars.
• A €100 gift certificate for JamesWhelanButchers.com including free delivery anywhere in the Republic.

To enter, all you need to do is make sure you’re signed up for our monthly newsletter, Good Food, which arrives in your Inbox each month complete with recipes, video guides, new products, exclusive discounts, and the best from the blog. We will draw one winner from our subscriber list and announce the winner in our October newsletter. Good luck!

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

I got the evil eye from one or two customers this week accompanied by a sharp tongued reprimand. Patrons of James Whelan Butchers are no shrinking violets. I committed the heinous crime in this very column of recently referring to dieters as ‘fat fighters’. One woman went so far as to suggest I could do with a bit of fat fighting myself; that cut deep.

First of all, in my defense, a friend is currently attending a weight loss class and constantly refers to it in jest as fat fighters. I hate diets because I always feel, no matter how good the regime or what it promises, they always get a little boring and repetitive. I always assume a diet mentality; “I’m on a diet so therefore I couldn’t possibly enjoy my food”. I also think, “I can’t wait until I’m off this diet so I can have something really nice to eat”, and therein lies the problem. It’s this thinking that causes the inevitable failure. The reality is that many people of normal body weight eat great food and enjoy it so why can’t we all do that?

I’m not going all Gordon Ramsay, uttering expletives and being profane, but I am going to talk about the other equally offensive F word; FAT. There is no doubt that this country, and indeed the western world, is in the grip of a growing problem with obesity. Sadly ‘Fat’ seems to have been framed, blamed and tried without jury or due consideration. It has been turned into a catch all for everything negative in the food world and has become very, very misunderstood in the process.

First things first; the flavour is in the fat! There, I’ve said it. Don’t come to me looking for ridiculously lean meat and then wonder why it’s bland and tasteless. Don’t remove all the skin from chicken or duck before cooking it and then wonder why you end up with dry, boring meat that needs a tonne of sauce to make it appetising. Yes, fat has calories but so do carbohydrates and proteins. In fact the body needs a certain amount of fat to function healthily. I don’t know what the written equivalent of a megaphone is, but imagine that I am shouting through a big one and saying:

FREE THE FAT! FAT IS FINE! ONLY FOOD FOOLS FOREGO FAT!

Sunday lunch remains something of a sacred favourite in Ireland. It’s perfectly acceptable to make a stab at a sophisticated, European experience for a Saturday lunch – various bean salads or rocket and spinach based fish dishes or pretentious risottos accompanied by rustic, crusty breads are all very well on a Saturday – but Sunday lunch is all about a roast.

Some cooks favour chicken, others consider it a non event unless it is beef and then there is lamb, which still has the power to divide and polarise. The gravy is also hugely important, and potatoes always play a large part, with some even serving them in several forms. It’s never surprising in Ireland to find mashed potato, roast and even croquet potatoes on the same plate. And if serving beef, a cook could stand or fall on the quality of the accompanying Yorkshire pudding.

But the first thing to get right is the type of joint. If it is beef, make sure it is rib or sirloin or at least a suitable cut for roasting. Ask your butcher if you’re not sure. There are two schools of thought on roasting: cook the meat from start to finish at a consistent medium temperature, which produces a juicy, evenly-cooked roast; or put it in a very hot oven to start, and then lower the temperature for the remainder of the cooking time, which helps brown the roast and its juices. Always let the meat warm up to room temperature for at least an hour or two before putting it in the oven.

Preparing the meat is also worth considering. With a chicken I would always make sure the skin is dry to the touch and then generously butter it while also placing knobs of butter at the leg and wing joints. A sprinkling of salt and pepper never goes astray at this point either. With lamb I have always found success with making small slits in the surface and sticking in a slice of garlic and a sprig of rosemary at measured intervals. When it comes to beef the least I would do is dust the fat surface with a mixture of flour and mustard powder. Again none of the above is really necessary but adds to the overall finished dish.

I like to baste meat, even if it is supposedly self basting, but always remember that every time you open the oven door you are affecting the temperature, so you’ll need to take this into account when calculating the overall cooking time. And finally, rest, rest, rest! (And I don’t mean take a seat and enjoy a glass of wine; we’re talking about the joint.) This is vital regardless of the meat you are serving. Take the meat from the oven and let it rest for a minimum of 20minutes before carving or serving.

A roast dinner is all in the planning and preparation, but once underway it is actually much easier to cook than most people think. While I love to embrace and experiment with new food ideas, we should never loose sight of the value of a roast dinner enjoyed by family and friends. The memories will last forever and are therefore worth every minute of the preparation.

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