Ballymalloe

Mariana Schroeder

15.02.05

Spring comes early to East Cork. The road to Ballymalloe passes fields of daffodils and orchards where the buds are ready to burst into bloom. Sheep and black and white cows graze in the fields and the sea spreads its blue sheen in the distance. It is in this idyllic corner of Cork county, just 23 kilometers from the city of Cork that Irish haut cuisine was born.

One woman is responsible for the revolution. Myrtle Allen, now 81 is the unchallenged doyenne of Irish cooking. “It all began in the sixties, right here in this room,” says Myrtle, settling into the chintz covered sofa in front of the fireplace. Her gray hair is short and like her neat slacks and cashmere sweater, gives the impression of a woman who has little time or patience for fussing with her appearance. “The children were grown up and I remember thinking, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just cleaning this house.”

The house is part Norman, part Georgian with a keep dating back to the 16th century and what Myrtle did was open a restaurant in it. It didn’t take long for the world to make its way to her door. Among her guests were a publisher and cartoonist who urged her to write her first cook book. The result was the Ballymaloe Cook Book, which was published in 1977 with drawings by Mel Calman. Her concept sounds deceptively simple: take the best and freshest of local products, cook them simply and let the taste speak for itself.

One of Myrtle’s favorites still makes a regular appearance on the daily changing menu at Ballymaloe House. “Take a very fresh plaice caught in Ballycotton Bay, preferably that day, and baked in the oven with just a wee drop of water in the pan. Then you take it out and skin it and you take some fresh herbs from the garden, chop them up and put them into a bit of bubbling butter and pour it over the top.

That’s the kind of thing I like to do,” says Myrtle.


Ballymaloe House is now considered one of the best restaurants in Ireland and has won top rating from all of the country’s good food guides. The 33-room hotel on 400 acres of farmland has all the charm of a country house, which is exactly what it is. Guests go for long walks, read books or play golf at one of the nearby clubs. Myrtle still keeps an eye on the kitchen at Ballymaloe house, but today, most of the work is done by her daughters-in-law. Hazel runs the hotel and restaurant and Darina runs the Ballymaloe Cookery School housed at a nearby organic farm.

Today Darina Allen is Ballymaloe’s best known celebrity, with 13 cookbooks to her credit and a televised cooking show. She is passionate about food and involved with the Slow Food movement, which stresses quality. “We cook absolutely by the seasons and cook the food from our gardens and our farm” says Darina. Although the stress is on fresh local food, Darina’s recipes are open to influences from all over the world. “I don’t go in for twiddles and bows and smarties on top. My food is simply presented but I want people to go ‘wow!’ when the taste it.” The most important thing, according to Darina is the shopping. “If you start off with mass-produced, denatured food, you have to be magician to make it taste good.”

Following morning sessions at the cooking school, students and visitors gather in the huge dinning room around three round tables, each seating 20. The tablecloths are blue and white checked cotton and pottery jugs of daffodils bring the season indoors. The buffet groans under earthenware dishes of steaming Irish stew, lamb tagine and cassoulet (the days lesson concentrated on stews) . Freshly picked greens from the farm’s greenhouse sparkle in the sunlight coming in from the floor to ceiling windows. There are fish patés and cottier’s kale, Agen prunes stuffed with walnuts and rosewater cream, rhubarb fool and blood orange tart. Baskets of freshly baked brown bread, white soda scones and soda bread with herbs are on each table, along with a Shangarry earthenware pitchers of fresh spring water from the farmhouse well.

The room is filled with the hum of conversations as people from as far away as Los Angeles, Brazil and Germany compare tastes. Visitors to Cork 2005 can make arrangements to attend afternoon cooking demonstrations and take part in the lunch. Darina suggests calling in advance because there is a definite limit on the number of attendants.

The youngest of the Allen dynasty of cooks is Darina’s daughter-in-law Rachel Allen, whose television show and book Rachel’s Favorite Food, have made her the family’s latest media star. She also gives demonstrations at the cookery school and juggles a career as a media cook with her children aged two and five. “Basically I cook food relevant to the life I lead, running around, collecting children – I want to cook healthy, nutritious food quickly, but I love the same kind of food as Darina and Myrtle.”

The Ballymaloe complex includes a box hedged herb garden. Visitors are accompanied by curious chickens who strut around the grounds. A shop sells products like Ballymalloe’s tomato relish, jams and cheese, along with a selection of Irish crafts and culinary equipment. The house itself is a refuge of peace and calm, where visitors mingle with family members. Myrtle orders a pot of tea and turns her attention to the view outside the garden window. “I’m really very proud that so many people come here to learn how to handle Irish products,” she says. “Many of the local restaurants have picked up our tricks and it appears that we’ve started a type of regional cooking, rooted in this area. That gives me great pleasure.”

Myrtle takes a sip from a thin white porcelain cup. The tea is her own blend, on sale at the shop. She is slim, despite decades as a star cook and looks much younger than her 81 years. And there is another thing that she is very proud of: six of her grandchildren cook, some professionally, some as a hobby. “You could say we started something here,” she laughs. “I for one am pretty sure it will continue.

Ballymaloe House Ballymaloe Cookery School

Shangarry, County Cork +353 21 464 6785

+353 21 465 2531 www.cookingisfun.ie

Recipe

(!!!please credit Darina Allen, “A Year at Ballymaloe Cookery School” published by Gill & Macmillan (note I have transcribed the recipe as it is with British spelling.

Gratin of Cod with Imokilly Cheddar and Mustard

Serves 6

6 x 175 g (6 oz.) pieces of cod

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

22g. (8 0z.)Irish mature Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

5 tablespoons cream

Piquant Beetroot

You will need an ovenproof dish 20 x 25 cm (8x10 in.) buttered

This is one of the simplest and most delicious fish dishes we know. If cod is unavailable, haddock, hake or grey sea mullet are also great. We use Imokilly mature Cheddar cheese from our local creamery at Mogeely, but you can use any good, well-flavoured mature Cheddar.

Preheat the oven to 180° C/350°F/Gas mark 4

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Arrange the fillets in a single layer in an ovenproof dish (it should be posh enough to bring to the table). Grate the cheese, mix with the mustard and cream and spread carefully over the fish. It can be prepared ahead and refrigerated at this point. Cook in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the fish is cooked and the top is golden and bubbly. Flash under the grill if necessary.

Serve with hot piquant beetroot

Serves 6

685 g. (1.5 pounds) beetroot, cooked

15g (1/2 oz.) butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sugar

140-75ml (5-6 fl. 0z.) cream

Peel the cooked beetroot wearing rubber gloves if you are vain!

Chop the beetroot into cubes.

Melt the butter in a sauté pan, add the beetroot and toss. Then add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and cream and allow to bubble for a few minutes. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Taste, and add a little more lemon juice if necessary. Serve immediately