Taste of the Week Special from On The Pig's Back. Celebrating Spiced Beef

Taste of the Week Special from On The Pig's Back

A Celebration of Spiced Beef in Cork Cafés

Popped across the city to On the Pig’s Back in Douglas to start the Spiced Beef Week in Cork’s Character Cafes. Warm welcome and soon we were sitting at the table with two menus, the regular and the specials. The regular is packed with good things: Paté Plate; Charcuterie and Cheese Board; and a Terrine Plate. Quiche, Fish and Brisket all featured on the specials  (see below). 

Great choices indeed but where was that spiced beef, I'd come for? It turned out it was on the Sandwich Menu, the one we hadn't been offered. The spiced beef was fresh in from Jack McCarthy in Kanturk and is a regular on the menu here. It comes with perfectly matured fruity milky Brie de Meaux Nugier and is packed into delicious Arbutus Wholemeal slices, big but tender. 

The whole combination, they don't reveal all the ingredients (super secret, I'm told), was absolutely perfect. There was a wee bowl of extras including broccoli florets, Feta cubes, sun-dried tomatoes, nuts etc and, all in all, it was five star food, dressed in humble garb, not that there was anything untidy at all about the presentation. Just goes to show that once the ingredients are fresh and when they are well handled and matched, that you can dine like a king for a fair price (€8.95 in this case).

And the same price too for our other sandwich: Chicken and Harissa Mayo with salad and roasted peppers, again on that magnificent Arbutus Wholemeal sourdough. Another excellent lunch. A top class munch. Other city restaurant participating in the Spiced Beef Week are Idaho Café and Nash 19. In Nash 19, they have great time for Derek McCarthy’s spiced beef.

Monday's specials at On the Pig's Back whose store in
the English Market is celebrating 25 years in business. Well done!

Over 12 cafés are supporting the week so those south and west of the city won't be short of spiced beef choices either. Check out the Lemon Leaf Café in Kinsale, the award winning Kalbo’s in Skibbereen, the Riverside also in Skibb, the Stuffed Olive in Bantry and URRU on the banks of the river in Bandon. 

Well done to Failte Ireland food champion Ruth of URRU who has organised this (and previous) themed week. URRU serve Allshire's spiced beef and Ruth says that Maurice, producer of Rosscarbery Biltong, “is going to do something very special with it for us for the week".

Many of the Cork cafés will be using the Spiced Beef from the Chicken Inn in the English Market. They have been producing the famous beef for over fifty years now and Tim Mulcahy tells me they supply some of Cork’s finest independent cafés.

That list includes Idaho where the Quesadilla will be filled with Tim’s spiced beef, Monterey Jack cheese, pickles and French's mustard. “It's like a crispy New York deli taste, but using a spiced beef that is produced in Cork. Idaho Café love Tim Mulcahy's beef, moist, lightly but firmly spiced and evocative of Christmas and a proud history of food production in this city. €9 on the menu for that week!” Beat that boy!

#tastecork #thisisirishfood #SpicedBeefWeek 

Tapas at Skibbereen’s Riverside Café

Spanish delights in Skibbereen evening sun

Albarino, almost same colour as the olive oil behind

Having spent a day in the West Cork sun last Saturday, and having walked every step in the exhilarating MizenHead experience, I was looking forward to dinner in Majella O’Neill’s Riverside Café in Skibbereen.

Had checked out the fish specials and thought they were just what were wanted. But there was a change of plan on entry to this lovely restaurant. The lady looking after us was from Galicia and so too was the chef. We noticed the Tapas Tasting menu on a board and went for it.

Seafood Bon Bon

We were seated close to the windows with a nice view over the River Ilen. Indeed if the weather had been a degree or two warmer we’d have been sitting at an outside table. Still we enjoyed the sun inside and indeed there were times when we could have done with the sun glasses. All very Spanish as we waited for the tapas.

But first a decision had to be made on the wine. The French and Italian were on a loser here and we choose the Atlantik Albarino, Rias Baixas, Spain (of course), and priced at seven euro a glass. I liked their description: While it may slake the thirst of many a Camino pilgrim, this Albarino is far from penitential. Really enjoyed it and it had an outstanding colour almost as gold as the olive oil alongside it (see photo).

Duck Pate

We were to enjoy four tapas on the Tasting Menu that cost €18.50. First up was a Sea Food Bon Bon, served in two little shot glasses with a garlic and olive oil mix. A great mix of flavours and we were on our way to the North West of Spain.

Pig's cheek

Our second plate saw the arrival of their Homemade Duck Liver Parfait, served with salad, caramelised red onions and crostinis. That didn't last long either!

Pig’s cheek is making a comeback in these parts and we were about to get the Galician version: Pork Cheek Confit, Truffle mashed potato, Savoy Cabbage, carrot chutney and Port salsa. Pig’s head with spuds and cabbage in other words. In one word: gorgeous! In two words: super tasty.

Lamb

And the best was yet to come: Roast Rump (had lump down first!) of Lamb, served with aubergine Zaalouk and sauce of red peppers. Superb stuff indeed.

Lemon Pudding

And still room for dessert (not included in the tapas menu). We each went for the Lemon Pudding, served with chocolate cigars and meringue (€6.00). Delighted with that too and finished off with a pot of loose leaf Earl Grey before stepping out into the sunshine and a long enough walk to the car. If you do book the Riverside (and I recommend that you do visit), remember that Saturday is mass night in Skibb and, with the church very close to the Riverside, all the nearby parking will be taken.

*By the way, the Riverside is a great supporter of local produce. “Our list of suppliers changes with supply and demand but among our regular sources of products are:

Ballyburden Meats, Busby Strawberries, Caherbeg Freerange Pork, Carbery Milk Products, Clona Milk Products, Cork Coffee Roasters, John and Mary Cronin Feirm Ur Milk & Yogurt, Durrus Cheese, GlenIlen, Gubbeen Smoke House, House of Tea ,Independent Irish Healthfoods, Lorge Chocolatier , Milsean Artisan Chocolatiers , Pandora Bell, Seafood Cuisine, Shannonvale Chicken, Skeaghnore Duck, Thornhill Organic Farm,,Valleyview Freerange Eggs, Woodcock Smokery.."