The Irish cookery school with added spice
A TROOP of grinning women are admiring towering profiteroles worthy of the Bake Off final. The Perfecting Pastry class is over and Cooking With Spices is about to start.
Spices don’t necessarily spring to mind when you think of Irish food, but Ballymaloe Cookery School, on East Cork’s coast, is gloriously global. The area might be known for its butter and fresh fish, but courses include Flavours Of Burma, Sushi Made Simple, A Taste Of Istanbul and Discovering Tapas.
You would be hard pressed to find something not taught there. Foraging? Fermented food? Butchery? Yes, yes, yes. Its real selling point, however, is the location: a 100-acre organic farm with a dairy, gardens, folly and maze.
There is also a vast greenhouse growing everything from kiwis and peaches to squash and strawberries, depending on the season. Opened in 1983 by Darina Allen, Ireland’s bestknown food writer, now 67, Ballymaloe (meaning ‘townland of sweet honey’ in Gaelic) is a blissful idyll.
The two-and-a-half day spice course is broken down into three expert demonstrations, two cooking sessions and plenty of eating.
To the students’ delight, Darina is giving the first demonstration.
In three hours she knocks up a dozen Indian-inspired recipes, all the while giving tips (‘pull rhubarb from the root’, ‘cinnamon is a cholesterol buster’, ‘black pepper enhances turmeric’).
She also eulogises about such past students as former MasterChef winner Thomasina Miers — founder of the Wahaca chain of Mexican restaurants. Afterwards we sample her food: madras curry, chicken and galangal soup, cinnamon scones . . .
The next day, after a breakfast of granola, bread, cheese and jam (all home-made), it’s our turn to cook Darina’s recipes for lunch.
Then it’s back to the demo kitchen for Rachel Allen, Darina’s celebrity chef daughter-in-law, to show us dishes to trump any dinner party competition.