The "Eye" in Pig - looking your free range pig in the eye before they land on your plate

Rasher and Sausage, two rare breed Middle White pigs

"A cat will look down to a man. A dog will look up to a man. But a pig will look you straight in the eye and see his equal."
(Winston Churchill)

Meet Rasher and Sausage, two rare breed Middle White pigs.  They are six months old sisters.  I decided I would like to rear pigs a long time ago but it was only last June I took the plunge.  I had never reared anything to eat, although I have had hens and ducks for a good number of years and some of them found their way into a pot.

They are free to range having a walled garden to root about in.  It began as a grassy paddock but it is now mud and stones.  They have a stable to sleep in and can come and go as they please.  They are fed rolled barley, potatoes, fruit and vegetables.

Pigs remind me of small children in that they are alternately fun-loving or petulant and have very particular likes and dislikes when it comes to food.  They have a real "sweet tooth" loving strawberries, melons and grapes in particular.  This pair dislike broccoli, cabbage and turnips, kicking them out of the way.

I know it's not feasible to rear a large number of pigs like this.  They do considerably more "damage" to land than cattle or sheep.  Damage in that they root and rotate the soil so grass does not last long.  However the damage to actual soil structure is minimal and probably aids it ultimately.  In the past they were used to rotivate and fertilize a plot in advance of planting a crop.

Nowadays they are reared intensively, confined in concrete structures with no access to outdoors and unable to root.  Under EU regulations they are not allowed bedding such as straw in order to prevent the spread of disease.  Sows are confined in farrowing crates to prevent them lying on their young.

Intensively reared pork is also fed with genetically modified maize and soy.  The bacon is produced by wet curing, injected with nitrites to prevent spoilage and phosphates to absorb and retain water.  When you fry bacon and foamy white water appears on the pan this is the reason.  The meat is produced from a special breed of pig called a Landrace. The Landrace converts feed to muscle much quicker and more efficiently than the rare breed varieties.  The meat is lean and relatively tasteless due to the low fat content.

Rare breed free range pigs produce a darker coloured, richer tasting meat which contains more fat meaning it has more flavour.  They also grow more slowly taking eight to nine months to reach kill weight as opposed to five and a half for the Landrace.

When I first tasted free range pork and bacon I decided I didn't want to buy meat from intensively reared pigs anymore.  I am lucky that I have the space and the capacity to rear pigs. Because, lets face it. unless you rear your own, it is virtually impossible to buy.

I will have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what my pigs have eaten, the comfort of knowing they had a good life - living it as nature intended.  When the time comes for killing and curing, I intend to do so without phosphates and with a lower salt content than that traditionally used.

For this reason I can look my pigs in the eye.

Put the kettle on - never underestimate the importance of tea to an Irishman

Put the kettle on.  A phrase used every day in every house in Ireland.  Everyone knows it means make a cup of tea.

Are you a Barry's family or a Lyons one?  Or the new kid on the block - Campbell's?

Tea covers all ails - sympathy, encouragement, a little chat, family crises, bereavement or celebration.  What would we do without it? 

Our emigrants ask that Barry's tea is sent to them in their new homeland  but then complain it tastes different.  "It's the water" is the usual explanation. 

But tea tastes different whether you use tea bags or tea leaves.

Whether it's Barrys or Lyons or Campbells.

Whether you put the milk in first or last.

Whether you drink from a china cup or a mug.

Whether you use a tea pot or not.

The Irish drink a higher grade of tea than our neighbours in the UK.  This apparently is because, during the war the British had to make do with a cheaper blend which they then grew accustomed to, and so never changed back once the war was over.

An old favourite is a tea brack.  Often enjoyed by non-tea drinkers.  Try it out - after all it's the time for brack, coming up to Halloween.

Irish Tea Brack

Using a small loaf tin (an old fashioned 1lb tin)

1 mug of hot tea poured over 1 mug full of dried fruit (sultanas, California raisins mixed)
A handful of unsulphured dried apricots chopped (unsulphured are much nicer than the orange ones and are usually available in health food shops)
A handful of whole almonds chopped
A handful of dates chopped
Some grated nutmeg

Soak the fruit, nuts and spice in the hot tea for an hour or until the fruit has absorbed most of the liquid.  Melt 100g butter and add to the tea and fruit.  Add 75g of  brown sugar and two eggs beaten.

Fold in 150g of sieved flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.  Pour the mix into the greased tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 160C for an hour approximately or until a skewer comes out clean when put in center of the cake.

This is the most forgiving cake to make, so you don't have to stress over measurements.  I often measure by eye and it always works.

Cut a big slice, butter generously and enjoy with your favorite cup of tea.

The old tradition of the Irish town butchers -- Judge your butcher on the selection of "cheap" cuts and food knowledge

Lean and red meat only in the butcher's shop

The local butcher shop used to be an integral part of every town and village in Ireland and there was usually more than one.  In Northern Ireland very often there was one for each section of the community - The Protestant butcher and the Catholic one. The butcher shop was a monitor of how affluent the town and hinterland was. 

This changed somewhat with the arrival of big multinational supermarkets, particularly in more urban areas.  When I moved to a small rural village in county Meath over 20 years ago, virtually all meat was purchased in the local butcher shops.  I live equidistant between two small villages with a border dividing them.  Despite this the butchers were brothers-in-law and shared an abattoir.   Their meat was second to none.  Then along came all the EU regulations with the subsequent abolition of local abattoirs and the meat changed beyond belief.

Carcasses arrived into the shop all but cut. Suddenly they had no feet, hocks, heads or offal. In many cases it was almost impossible to get bones.  The butcher counter became "lean" literally. The cheaper cuts disappeared.  On display were diced up uber-lean round steak pieces in place of stewing beef, strip loins at the expense of sirloin, mince without an ounce of fat, chicken breasts, loin lamb chops etc.  Fat was banished and the counter was red.

I judge the quality of a butcher shop by the selection of "cheap" cuts available and by this you have a fair idea of the food knowledge of the locals as well.  In a complete turn around, the butcher counters servicing the more affluent/food savvy populations have a better selection of cuts and it is here you will find hocks, shanks, skirts, cheeks and tongues. In "the country" you will also find them in areas where there are large immigrant populations.

In the English Market in Cork, the selection of every cut of every animal is second to none.  Tripe and drisheen are on display in almost every butcher counter.  As well as the English Market, the butcher shops in Moore Street in central Dublin have an amazing display of many old and forgotten cuts and even sell goat for the large African community.

Old cuts nestle with the battered

Cooking the cheaper cuts (it is only in Ireland they are cheap - in France they are the more expensive), requires a bit more skill, time and energy so when you analyze it in more detail they are probably not cheap.  However, they have the most flavor, the best texture and are deliciously moist.  You need to add more vegetables and herbs to make the meal, making them much more healthy than just slapping a load of protein on a barbeque.

I wish my now local butcher shops were not so boring.  I want meat with fat and bone and personality. After all it's time people woke up to the fact that fat is not the enemy we have all been led to believe.  We were rightly led up the garden path by the big food cartels in cahoots with government and even the medical profession.  We need to go back and open granny's old recipe book because in her day there was not half as much obesity, diabetes and heart disease.  They ate meat with personality because the butcher was a butcher and not a slicer.

Loving Languedoc - the Irish foodie falls for delicious tastes of France

Jarret de veau

If someone asked me to close my eyes and describe the Languedoc region of France, this is the image which comes to mind.

Plane trees (Platanus occidentalis) growing along roadsides with their very distinctive mottled cream and grey patterned bark.

In the Languedoc, roads are most likely to be flanked with fields of vines.  The primary grape varieties grown - Carignan, Mouevedre, Cinsault and Syrah amongst others.

They all combine to create some of the most magical wines, two of which I really enjoyed this trip - Picpoul de Pinet and Pic St. Loup. 

The iconic cassoulet is the dish of the region.  It's hearty, filling and oh so tasty combining haricot beans with pork, duck and sausage.  Wandering around the Cité of Carcassonne I came across this poster on a wall.

This trip I had lunch in the two star Michelin restaurant Le Parc in Carcassonne.  The lunch was a set menu although it was possible to dine à la carte. For the quality of food we received it was incredibly reasonable for €35 with a complimentary glass of wine.

I was staying in the lovely old medieval town of Pézenas, In peak season this town is thronged with tourists, but in late September it is a much more pleasant experience.  My son works here as a chef and it is really a small village where all the locals know each other.  For this reason you get a very different perspective on what life is like than if you breezed in on a day trip. 

Aubergines of every variety

What I love most about towns like Pézenas is that even though the buildings and infrastructure are ancient, they are still used and loved.  There is no sense that you need to modernise or try to improve.  The old city remains as it was hundreds of years ago.  Time moves on, but it remains; solid and immutable.

The produce from the region is fresh and tastes of sunshine.  Fish - dorade (sea bream), loup de mer (sea bass) and morue (cod).  Try brandade de morue which is a salt cod dish mixed with mashed potato, garlic and olive oil.  Aubergines (egg plant) in season with their purple hues nestle between every variety of peach, tomatoes and then later figs and mangos in the market every Saturday.

It would be difficult to say that the Languedoc is better than any other region in France, but it is special and well worth a visit.  I'm loving exploring and getting to know the area a little bit more on every trip.

Moroccan lamb stew with an Irish twist - a perfect warming recipe for fall

Irish lamb stew Maroc style

Fall has arrived here after a dismal summer.   The days are shortening rapidly and the evenings have a definite chill in the air.  So after a day of relentless rain when it feels colder than it actually is, the mind and stomach turn to comfort food.  I love long, slow-cooked dishes and like to experiment with recipes and ideas.  I am not very regimental about following a recipe and like to improvise depending on what ingredients I have or can get hold of.

I worked with a French Moroccan pastry chef some years back and visited him and his parents in Brittany, France.  His mother made a traditional lamb stew and this is my adaptation of her recipe.

Irish lamb stew Maroc style

450g (approx 1lb) lamb shoulder cubed

1 large onion diced

1 leek sliced

3 stalks of celery chopped

2 fat cloves of garlic crushed

1 heaped teaspoon of cumin and coriander seeds lightly crushed

450 ml/1 pint lamb or beef stock

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 aubergine cut into chunks

6-8 unsulphured dried apricots chopped

Handful almonds sliced finely lengthways

1 preserved lemon cut into small pieces

Method:

Toss the lamb pieces in a tablespoon of flour seasoned with salt and pepper.  Fry pieces until browned in a pan.  Set aside and deglaze pan.

In your stew pot (or large deep pan with a lid) soften the onions, leeks, celery and garlic.  Add in the spices and season.

Add the meat back into the onion spice mix. Pour in the stock and the tinned tomatoes, the apricots and the almonds and simmer for about an hour with the lid on. I simmered on the stove top but it can be done in an oven equally well.

About 15 minutes before serving and in a separate pan fry the aubergine in some oil until just beginning to colour and soften and add into the stew.

Finally chop the preserved lemon.  If you buy the really tiny ones then add a few to taste, but do taste as you add them.

Check seasoning.

This quantity will serve 4-6 depending on appetite.

Serving suggestion:

200g/7oz couscous with same volume of boiling water added

2 teasp. ground cumin

2 teasp. turmeric

1 red onion and 1 small courgette sautéed in some olive oil

Stir boiling water into couscous and stir vigorously with a fork until the water is absorbed and the grains remain separate. Cover with cling film or a plate to allow the steam to cook the couscous.  Soften the onion and courgette and add in the spices.  Add the vegetable mix into the couscous.