The heat is on for budding cooks
Chef Paula Mcintyre’s love of cooking began as a child and now she’s inspiring youngsters here to get into the kitchen — and they could win a fabulous prize in our special competition, as Rachel Dean finds out
Now that the summer holidays have begun, well known chef Paula Mcintyre is inspiring young Belfast Telegraph readers to don their aprons, pick up their spatulas and get busy in the kitchen.
The food writer and broadcaster from Aghadowey, Co Londonderry, has teamed up with the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland to create simple recipes for parents and their children to cook together at home. All of the recipes include tasty local dairy products with both savoury and sweet options to satisfy even the pickiest taste buds.
Cooking should always be fun, which is why the The Dairy Council for NI has teamed up with the Belfast Telegraph to offer each of the three lucky winners a £100 One4all voucher.
For Paula (53), a love for all things food and cooking started at an early age as she found herself surrounded by great cooks, including her mum Rae, aunt Doreen and even her next-door neighbour, Mrs Hunter.
“When we went to my aunt Doreen’s house, she did the cooking and it was a real treat,” she says.
“Mrs Hunter, our next-door neighbour, was the same. I would have gone there after school and she would make pancakes straight off the griddle for me and her grandson.
“But it was my mum who encouraged me to cook. She baked pancakes every Saturday and she would have baked wheaten breads and things like that.
“Mum very much encouraged me to start reading cookbooks — she owned loads of Le Cordon Bleu cookbooks — and I worked my way through those. If I needed a hand, she would be there to help, but she also encouraged the independence side of cooking.
“I would have had an independent streak anyway, and I was quite adventurous from a very early age. I remember making a cherry clafoutis from one of mum’s cookbooks when I was just 10.”
A trip with family friends to an Italian delicatessen, Valvona & Crolla, in Edinburgh, was a turning point for the then eightyear-old Paula.
“The first time I had real parmesan cheese was from a deli in Edinburgh which I still go to,” she says.
“That was my first taste of proper Italian food and that’s something that still lives with me. I still love Italian food. I love Italy and I love that culture.
“And I love how Italian people are with their kids as well. I love the way kids there are involved in cooking and they know what all the vegetables are. There’s no kids’ menu in Italy — they eat off the main menu but in smaller portions. I think that’s the way it should be everywhere.”
It was then that Paula realised she wanted to be a chef, and at age 14 she got a job in the kitchen of Macduff’s restaurant in Aghadowey while she was still at school.
“I didn’t do home economics at school because I felt it was too regimented for me,” she explains. “I liked the whole flair of working in kitchens.
“And then I worked in the Ramore restaurant and that was another sort of turning point for me because it had just opened and it was quite adventurous.
“I learnt so much then, especially old-fashioned basics like filleting fish, making stocks and making sauces. Absolutely everything was made from scratch.”
Since then, Paula has worked in top restaurants in London, published two cookbooks and is a resident chef on BBC Radio Ulster, bringing listeners a recipe every week. So, what’s the chef ’s favourite thing about cooking?
“Taking an ingredient and transforming it into something that is really impressive,” she says.
“I love taking our amazing local ingredients and making it a little more adventurous. I think we’ve got the best dairy products in the world.
“I’ve travelled a lot and yes, you get great cheeses in France, but our milk and cream here is second to none.”
Paula says she believes lockdown has had a positive effect on home cooking, with more families taking to their kitchens to cook and bake with their children.
Getting busy in the kitchen will not only help kids learn important life skills but will also help younger children grow their vocabulary and increase their maths ability by using new and fun recipes with different measurements.
“That has been the great thing about lockdown; everyone’s been baking with their kids,” Paula says.
“It helps with home-schooling as well because maths, English and science is all tied in with cooking.
“I think if your kids have learnt how to bake a cake, make bread or a couple of dishes during lockdown, it hasn’t been a failure.
“If they’ve been outside, seen a bit of nature, not been tied to their ipads and have been cooking with their mum and dad, that’s a positive.
“I’ve heard people saying, ‘We actually sit down as a family now because we want to talk about what we’ve made together’ and that’s lovely. I hope that continues.”