She used to make 25 Christmas puddings every year, now the owner of Balloo Inns Ronan Sweeney has persuaded his mum to reveal her legendary recipe to our readers
Tomorrow is Stir-Up Sunday, a tradition dating from Victorian times which marks the day when Christmas puddings are made. Here, the owner of Balloo Inns, Ronan Sweeney, tells Stephanie Bell about his mother’s much loved pudding traditions — and, specially
tanding as a young boy elbow deep in flour along with his 10 siblings, gastro pub chain owner Ronan Sweeney has fond memories of his childhood at this time of year. And as the tradition of Stir-Up Sunday takes place this weekend, Ronan is aiming to spread a little early festive cheer by sharing ‘some’ of the secret of his mum’s delicious Christmas pudding recipe which is a firm favourite on his restaurant menus.
Stir-Up Sunday, which falls on the last Sunday before Advent, is a Victorian Christmas tradition, when the family would gather together to stir the Christmas pudding five weeks before the big day.
It is a tradition which Ronan remembers well from his childhood growing up in Newry when his mum, Teresa, baked up to 25 Christmas puddings for her extended family, roping in all of her 11 children to help.
It was a sure sign that Christmas was coming when his mum brought out the big pot to mix up the ingredients.
The kitchen of their small home above their father’s grocery store in Newry was filled with the spicy aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg, rich fruit, stout and brandy which even now evokes those strong childhood memories for Ronan.
Ma Sweeney’s pudding was legendary with her friends and family which is why she baked so many and needed so many tiny hands to help.
It has since become a firm festive favourite in the Balloo Inns chain of gastro pubs — The Parson’s Nose, The Poacher’s Pocket and Balloo House.
The chefs in all three have already prepared Ma Sweeney’s puddings — not just to serve up to customers in the restaurants, but for people to buy and take home to be part of their own Christmas Day.
Ronan’s mum kept the recipe, which was handed down from his granny, secret for years.
It was only when she no longer was able to bake it herself for the restaurant a few years ago that she agreed to share it with her son’s chefs.
And sharing it with Belfast Telegraph readers today is a whole other step away from tradition, but one Ronan assures us his mum is happy with. “She did have a wee wobble because the recipe was secret for so long but she is really excited about sharing it and it is a great recipe that she has perfected over the years.
“We’ve maybe kept one or two of her special ingredients out to preserve the uniqueness of her recipe, but it is as close as anyone will ever get.”
Ronan remembers his childhood home as full of happiness — a place where his mum cooked everything from scratch and, with so many mouths to feed, the kids were encouraged to help.
And he has no doubt that his own love of good food comes from his childhood.
He says: “My mum worked full-time and still cooked everything from scratch. She would come home in her lunch hour to cook for everyone and on Sundays there would have been apple pie and buns. She was always in cook mode and we all love cooking now.
“The smells of mum’s baking and cooking evoke so many memories for me even now.
“This was the time for Christmas pudding and my mother would have made 20 or 25, 7lb Christmas puddings every year for us and her family.
“We would all have had to help and would have been elbow deep in the mixing bin.
“Mum used to reapply the brandy every couple of weeks coming up to Christmas to mature her puddings.
“She also made about 15 Christmas cakes and two or three of them would have had Guinness in them. The funny thing is she has never tasted alcohol in her life, she has been a lifelong teetotaller.” Ronan, who is in his 40s, believes this early experience of good food served up at home also influenced his choice of career.
He runs his multi award-winning restaurants with his wife Jennie. The couple have four children aged from 10 to 18 years.
They opened Balloo House in Balloo near Strangford in 2003 and a year later launched The Poacher’s Pocket in Lisbane, followed in 2009 by The Parson’s Nose in Hillsborough.
All three have won an array of accolades including Michelin Guide en- dorsements and this year were included in the Sunday Times ‘Top 20 sexiest restaurants UK list’ and the Mail on Sunday Best Sunday Lunches UK.
Every sauce, soup and meal served up is cooked from scratch by a talented team of chefs, and this is something Ronan says was also passed on by his mum.
Growing up there was no money for ready meals and even his late father, Gerald, who passed away in 1998 aged 74, contributed by baking fresh wheaten bread for the family every day.
Ronan says: “My dad didn’t cook but he baked every day. Money was tight so mum wouldn’t have been able to buy ready meals for 11 of us even if she had wanted to.”
And this ethos of making everything from scratch is something which is important in Ronan’s business.
“We don’t buy ice-cream in, we make our own and we don’t buy cut chips as we do them ourselves,” he explains.
“It is not a sales pitch, it’s just what we do. It is more labour intensive but we believe it is always better to make everything from scratch just like my mum did when we were growing up.
“Even our bread and scones are baked fresh daily and that’s what people want, something fresh that is just out of the oven.
“All three of our restaurants started to make Ma Sweeney’s Christmas puddings in October to give them lots of time to mature, although we don’t put in as much brandy as mum would have tipped into them.
“We also package them and sell them in the Poacher’s Pocket.
“When we first opened in 2003, mum made the puddings for the restaurants and would have done 30-40 of them but when it became too much for her we had to wrestle the recipe from her.
“It is a fairly simple recipe but you have got to follow her technique. Everything has to be mixed thoroughly and cooked long and slow.”
Of course, these days Ma Sweeney is taking things a lot easier at Christmas which she still spends surrounded by family who are now happy do the cooking for her.
As well as having an appreciation of good quality food, her son Ronan has learnt the hard way about eating healthily after he suffered a stroke 10 years ago.
It wasn’t long after he opened his first restaurant and it took almost a year for him to make a full recovery.
Since then he has dramatically changed his lifestyle, cutting out smoking, exercising more, working fewer hours and eating more heathily.
Ronan is so grateful to have come through it that he has dedicated this year to raising awareness of stroke as well as gathering funds for the local charity Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke (NICHS).
All of his 120 employees, including chefs, managers and front-of-house staff, have got involved in fundraising as has every one of his customers.
Ronan was also motivated to support the charity by the tragic loss of his head chef at the Parson’s Nose, Marius Clery.
Marius, a father of three boys from Enniskillen, was 50 when he suffered a stroke three years ago, and passed away a few days later.
Launching Balloo Eat and Defeat five months ago, the company invited customers at any of its three restaurants to add on a donation of £1 to their bill for NICHS.
Ronan says not a single person has refused. “In five months, not one customer has declined to contribute which is fantastic and I think that is a reflection of the worth of people in general.
“Every family has been struck by stroke or heart problems and people can really relate to what we are doing.
“The aim was to run it for a year but we will try and keep it going after that and continue to support the charity.
“The charity means a lot to me because of my own personal experience. I am absolutely committed to putting a lot of energy into supporting them.”
Ronan adds: “I am feeling super and I cycle two to three times a week with Killinchy Cycle Club.
“I’ve overhauled all aspects of my life and to be honest I feel healthier now than I have ever done.”