Forgotten Skills

I woke up this morning, put my chef’s whites on, and all I could smell was hot oil – kitchen smells! Thankfully tomorrow is washing day! Had another good day in the kitchen, and managed to make a few extra things. White soda bread, crème caramel with caramel sauce, and quesadillas with chorizo were on my order of work. I started my Seville orange marmalade, made caramel shards, finished my candied peel, and made creamed kale as well. I wasn’t really interested in making caramel shards, but holy are they fun to make, I could have played with the caramel for hours.

Everyday I think about how fortunate I am to be in the middle of an organic farm, being taught by people who have such a great ethos, who are so passionate about what they are doing, and really care to be here doing what they do. Not just Darina and Tim, but the entire staff, from the gardeners, to the teachers in the kitchens, to the demonstration teachers, to the artisanal producers they bring in… Darina feels that with basic skills (many of which she refers to as “forgotten skills”), you can cook, and produce simple, nutritious food, and quite often there doesn’t need to be a big price tag or a lot of time involve. Some of what we are doing might seem so simple, but they are such basic techniques, and I mean basic in the sense that once you can do the basic technique well, you can adapt it and vary it to make so many things, and to your own style. I’ve said it before, but their attention to detail blows my mind, everyday I notice something else either on the farm, in the kitchens, or in the dining rooms, that makes the whole experience of being here that much more meaningful. Tomorrow is the end of week two, and I really can’t believe it, the time is going by so fast… Too fast.

Rory taught the demo this afternoon, he is so on the ball, quick, and so talented. I said to Hannah, I could watch him plate salad over and over again. They believe that all good chef’s respect their ingredients, and he truly does, the way he handles the various herbs and leaves so delicately (always with his hands, not salad tongs!), and tosses them gently in the dressing, and then the way he can produce a perfect plate of salad without it looking at all like he’s put any effort into it is pretty neat. He also fileted a round fish, which I assume I will be doing tomorrow… Hopefully it goes well! Bread and butter pudding was on the menu today, and it will be on the lunch menu tomorrow, one of my all time favourites. He made a couple of individual puddings in teacups, such a neat way to serve. He poached an egg with no gadgets, no swirling of the water, just salted water, and it was a perfect poached egg. I wish I had a hen, so I could have fresh eggs everyday! Sigh!

Busy day in the kitchen tomorrow, and it’s Friday! I am still in Kitchen 3 next week which is nice, although will make it that much harder to change kitchens when I have to. Looking forward to the weekend, a few of us will head into Cork to explore on Saturday, and then we are headed to Ballymaloe House on Sunday morning to go orienteering – is that even how you say that? Family dinner on Sunday, hoping to buy some fresh shrimp in Cork, or Midelton on Sunday.

“Don’t over nutmeg the pudding.” – Rory O’Connell