Kerrygold Introduces Free Irish Book Club Kit

Kit Features Tips, Recipes and Entertaining Ideas to Host the Perfect, Irish-Themed Meeting

Book clubs reading an Irish author can send for a free kit with tips for hosting a book club meeting that will bring Ireland to life through food. The kit contains a simple, step-by-step party plan; easy recipes; Irish butter and cheese tasting guides; and product coupons. Also included are bookmarks and recipe brochures as favors for each guest.

For a free kit, email kerrygold@idbusa.com with the following information:

1. name of the Irish book your club is reading;
2. date of the book club meeting; 
3. number of book club members; and 
4. your mailing address.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a Market Plate

St. Patrick's Day in rural Ireland is steeped in traditions centered on farm and family. County Cork dairy farmer John O'Sullivan describes a typical observance.

"I get up, do the milking and check on the cows that are close to calving. We go to mass and have dinner (what Americans would call lunch) at home. Then we go to the town of Clonakilty for the parade. It's a 1 1/2-kilometer line of people in fancy dress, singing and dancing. The parade is lovely. The days are getting brighter and sunnier around this time of year and local supermarkets distribute free green ice cream cones to the children," he said.

For their St. Patrick's Day dinner, the family enjoys traditional Irish food. With warmer weather, they like lighter fare, such as a market plate, which is easy to assemble with local ingredients. The market plate consists of an assortment of cold meats, smoked fish and Irish cheeses served with mustard and chutney, and accompanied by hearty chunks of brown bread.

Dubliner cheese is always present on the O'Sullivans' market plate. O'Sullivan supplies milk to make Kerrygold Dubliner, a popular Irish cheese with a natural sweetness, the flavor of a mature Cheddar and the bite of an aged Parmesan.

Ireland's farmer and producer cooperatives ensure the survival of small family farms. O'Sullivan has a herd of 50 cows but the average herd size in Ireland is just 40. The local farmers pool their milk to make butter and cheeses at local co-op creameries and the renowned dairy products are exported around the world.

For Irish dairy farmers, quality starts with the grass. "The climate suits the grass. And the grass is brilliant. It's a premium product," O'Sullivan observed. "Our cows go onto grass pasture as soon as they calve. They are rotated amongst the paddocks to ensure they get fresh grass after every milking." The quality of the grass is reflected in the quality of the milk, which is reflected in the quality of the cheese, O'Sullivan explained.

For St. Patrick's Day, try the family's market plate and raise a pint to John O'Sullivan. The Dubliner cheese you bring home from the grocery just might have come from his farm.

Recipe

Mrs. O'Sullivan's Market Plate

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Irish Food: It's all about the Butter

Peter Foynes is mad about Irish butter. He savors its historical contributions to the cuisine and culture of Ireland. And he heralds it as the signature food item of the nation.

Foynes is director of the Cork Butter Museum, in Cork City, Ireland, probably the only museum of its kind in the world dedicated to this singular product. The museum traces the history of Irish butter through remarkable artifacts, from the 56-pound keg of 1,000 year-old butter, to butter-making tools, from ancient to modern.

The museum is located next to the old Cork Butter Exchange, founded in 1769, which was once the largest butter market in the world. In the heyday of its 150-year history, Irish butter was exported far and wide — to Europe and America, and as far away as India.

"To be the biggest anything in the world — this was especially important for a small country, a poor country," Foynes explained. "The reason the Butter Exchange was so successful was because they introduced food grading. Cork may have been the first to do that in 1769. It was quite extraordinary. Grading food and taking responsibility for quality management gave Cork butter an international reputation for reliability."

The modern era of the butter industry began in 1961 with the creation by the Irish government of the Irish Dairy Board, Foynes explained. The Board reintroduced quality control and efficient production through economies of scale. It enabled the dairy industry to market, package and brand more effectively by introducing the Kerrygold label.

"Irish butter is special," Foynes said. "First, the flavor is a consequence of the cows being grass-fed and the type of grass in Ireland. The trace elements in the soil that get into the grass are unique. The benign climate ensures that cows are pasture-fed, to take advantage of the quality of the grass."

Then there is the quality of herd management and the care cows are given, he added. "Irish farms have very small herds. The average size is 40 cows and the cows have a decent life. They are well cared for by farmers — the cows even have names. This impacts the quality of the product."

Think of happy cows in green Irish pastures when you make this recipe from Foynes for St. Patrick's Day.

Recipe

Buttery Irish Potato and Apple Bake

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What's Old is New: Irish Cuisine Comes of Age

The Country Cooking of Ireland, written by Saveur magazine's co-founder and its second editor in chief, Colman Andrews, sits as comfortably on a coffee table as in the kitchen. Published by Chronicle Books, (c.2009), it is a generous collection of more than 225 recipes and over a hundred photos that capture the vibrancy of the food, the land and the Irish people.

Andrews had his own reasons for investing two years researching and writing about a cuisine that rarely gets much attention beyond St. Patrick's Day. "I saw a really good food story that hadn't been reported in the way it should be," he said. "There was a place for a book to tell that story.

"Look at the trends in America — the artisanal food movement, grass-fed animals, farm to table, traceability — all that's old news in Ireland. That's how food has always been produced and distributed," Andrews said.

He added that today's Irish cooks are recognizing that the country's raw materials and basic cooking traditions are more valuable than imported ideas and foodstuffs. "Good chefs in the city and at country hotels have captured the spirit of Irish cuisine, but in modern dishes," he said.

It starts with the country's natural assets. "The most important thing they grow in Ireland is grass. Ireland probably produces the best dairy products in the world," he explained.

"If I go into a supermarket today — in New York, Connecticut, Florida or Boston — besides the standard butters, they tend to have some imported ones. Of all those butters the Kerrygold is the one I buy unless I have a very specific purpose (that requires a different type)."

For the recipes in his book, Andrews recommends using Kerrygold unsalted butter, explaining, "There is a consistency in Kerrygold Butter — an elastic consistency so rich — it has this great flavor and it's good for baking. The butter seems very, very dense — with low water content."

The quality of butter can make a difference in the outcome of a recipe, Andrews said. "Originally, the classic Italian recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo had no cream — it called for butter and Parmesan cheese, period. Recipes began to add cream because American butter was watery, and the sauce didn't get the nice, thick coating on the pasta. If you make Fettuccine Alfredo with Kerrygold Butter and good Parmigiano, you don't need the cream."

Taste the Kerrygold Butter difference in Andrews' mussels recipe below, a delicious example from The Country Cooking of Ireland.

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Ireland's Hottest TV Chef Shares Bread Pudding Recipe for St. Patrick's Day

When Rachel Allen left home at 18 to pursue a culinary arts education at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, Ireland, she never expected to become one of the hottest TV chefs in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and one of its most beloved food personalities.

Allen burst onto the broadcast scene with her first series in September 2004 on RTE (Ireland's national TV station). Called Rachel's Favourite Food, it was also screened on BBC 2 and has been seen in Australia, Italy, Africa and various other countries. The successful series was followed by Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends, Rachel's Favourite Food at Home, Rachel's Favourite Food for Living, and the current season's Bake! Each series has been accompanied by a best-selling companion cookbook.

Allen's popular TV shows reflect her philosophy about food and cooking. "I believe good ingredients simply prepared will give great results," she said. Allen cooks with home-grown ingredients: fish from local waters, farm-fresh vegetables and Irish butter, made with milk from cooperatives of small family farmers. The butter is widely available in the United States, sold under the Kerrygold label.

A mother of three, Allen also is a food writer and a teacher at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, the internationally acclaimed school where she learned to cook. While Allen's tastes and culinary skills are both regional and global, for St. Patrick's Day, she provided American audiences with a comforting bread and butter pudding, recommending Kerrygold Butter for this recipe. "Butter just tastes different in Ireland because cows graze on lush pastures, giving the milk and the butter a distinctive flavor," she said. "Using Irish ingredients like Kerrygold Butter and cheeses will really make your dishes authentically Irish for St. Patrick's Day."

Recipe

Bread and Butter Pudding

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Irish Butter is a Tradition for St. Patrick's Day

Deirdre Cronin loves her "girls," the 30 head of dairy cows she raises affectionately on a small family farm outside Mallow, County Cork, Ireland. Her farm was passed on from family to family through generations, ending up in Cronin's care.

Cronin has a personal relationship with each of her girls. "They have their own personality," she revealed with a chuckle, "and my favorite ones have names. One cow is small and dainty and a bit fussy in the milking parlor so I call her Miss Fussy."

Milk from Cronin's cows, along with that of neighboring farms, goes to the local creamery, a dairy cooperative, in Kanturk. There the milk is churned into butter for local consumption, as well produced under the Kerrygold brand for shipment around the world.

Most people associate Ireland with potatoes. But dairy cows, milk and butter have been an enduring part of Ireland's heritage for thousands of years. And Ireland has been exporting butter throughout Europe and America for more than two centuries.

Irish butter is a bright, natural yellow from the beta-carotene found in the rich Irish grass. "Definitely, it starts with the grass," Cronin says. "The green Irish pastures the cows graze on affect the quality and flavor of the milk produced by the cows and used in making the butter."

This St. Patrick's Day, Cronin will celebrate in her usual way. "I'll go to the local parade and to church. And in the evening, I'll stop at a pub to 'wet the shamrock,'" she said. An accomplished cook, she'll also whip up some colcannon, adding shredded Dubliner cheese to the traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage. And of course, she'll add Kerrygold Butter for the most authentic flavor.

Recipe

Colcannon

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Meet Farmer Mary Burns

Dairy Products are the Pride of Ireland
Burns Farm Upholds 150-Year Family Tradition

The countryside surrounding the picturesque town of Kanturk, in the Duhallow region of County Cork, is carpeted with green pastures nearly year-round. The temperate weather is due to Ireland's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the presence of the Gulf Stream.

Cows eat fresh grass, not grain, and this natural diet produces milk rich in beta-carotene. When the cream from the milk is churned, it makes butter of an exceptionally golden color.

In Kanturk, Mary Burns is one of the farmers who produces this extraordinary milk. A farmhouse cheese maker since the 1970s, Burns took on the added responsibility of running the dairy farm with her son Gerald, after the death of her husband in 2000. By continuing the farm, she upholds a family tradition of 150 years. All her cattle are pedigreed Friesians.

The milk from the Burns farm, as well as from neighboring farms, is pooled and churned at the local creamery. Together with other co-operatives of dairy farmers and creameries throughout Ireland, butter and cheeses are produced and sold in the United States under the Kerrygold brand.

A visit to Mary Burns' farm would likely include an invitation to tea, where tender scones, warm and fragrant from the oven, are served with Irish butter and homemade jam. To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Burns shared her favorite Irish Scone recipe. "Don't forget the Irish butter," she says. "It has a true creamy texture and a smooth flavor that makes these scones taste their best."

Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter is available in half-pound blocks from supermarkets and specialty stores throughout the United States, and is the best-selling brand of imported butter in America. Packaged in foil to maintain freshness, the premium butter comes in two varieties: salted sweet cream butter (gold foil) and unsalted cultured cream butter (silver foil).

Recipe

Irish Scones

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Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a Ploughman's Sandwich

Enda Howley's story reads like a cheese lover's fairy tale. In 2001, the Irish Dairy Board held a company-wide sensory panel taste-off, searching for the next cheese grader. Only two highly skilled graders are entrusted with the maturing and aging of the company's Kerrygold cheeses, and one was set to retire.

"To my amazement and everyone else's we discovered that I was a super taster. I was surprised myself when I was told I had a heightened sense of taste that enables me to pick up the most delicately nuanced flavors," Howley said. An international food marketer for the Irish Dairy Board, Howley was anointed the next cheese grader, diverting his career to an unexpected new path.

Howley plays a critical role in making natural cheese. He ensures that the right cheeses are selected for maturing and aging. Throughout the maturation process, he tastes the cheeses, and continues to grade and select, month after month, until the cheeses reach perfection.

Dubliner is one of the Irish cheeses that benefits from this careful maturation process. Like all other Kerrygold cheeses, it is made with summer milk from grass-fed cows, using traditional processes. Upon aging for at least a year, the cheese develops the elements of a mature Cheddar, the sweet nuttiness of a Swiss and the piquant bite of aged Parmesan.

An avowed "foodie," Howley has many creative ways to use the cheeses he so carefully nurtures. For a quick but delicious lunch, he turns Dubliner into a ploughman's sandwich, taking inspiration from the classic Irish ploughman's lunch, a meat-and-cheese salad, Howley's version packs everything onto rustic bread, ready to enjoy with a pint.

Recipe

Ploughman's Sandwich

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Ballyvolane House

Guests Dine in Style at an Irish Country Manor House
Cheese Souffle Features Food of the Land

To dine at Ballyvolane House, one of Ireland's most elegant manor houses, is to have stepped into a Jane Austen novel, where pampered guests of the landed gentry arrive for a house party with liveried servants in tow. But in the 21st century, Ballyvolane House has been turned into a family hotel and restaurant, now run by Justin and Jenny Green, who are hotel school graduates with international experience. Having worked in Hong Kong, Dubai and Bali, the couple returned to Ireland and the family business in 2004.

Ballyvolane House, located in Castlelyons, County Cork, has been home to just three families. The historic house was built in 1728 by Sir Richard Pyne, a retired Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. The Greens acquired it in 1955 and the mansion was turned into a country guest house by Justin's father, Jeremy. Guests can select from accommodations in the main house and beginning in June, from walled garden retreats now being built.

Dinner, served at 8 p.m., is a four-course seasonal menu. Guests are ushered into the magnificent dining room - agleam with polished wood, silver, china, crystal and the candlelit glow from handsome candelabras. Justin Green presides at the head of the table and dinner is presented by the wait staff and served family style.

The menu at Ballyvolane House celebrates locally produced ingredients, including the freshest, garden-grown fruits and vegetables, as well as salmon from the famous River Blackwater and local lamb, renowned for its tenderness and flavor. Ireland also is world-famous for its green pastures, the exclusive diet of the country's dairy cows, so cheese and butter star on the Ballyvolane House menu.

To help Americans celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the Greens shared a recipe for Ballyvolane House Dubliner Cheese Souffle, selecting for the main ingredient an authentic Irish cheese that's readily available in United States supermarkets and specialty stores.

Recipe

Ballyvolane House Dubliner Cheese Souffle

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Ballymaloe Cookery School

Irish School Educates from Farm to Fork
Darina Allen and Ballymaloe Cookery School are on a Mission

The indefatigable Darina Allen is a whirlwind of energy, multitasking at every turn. Leading a group on a tour of the showcase gardens of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, Allen is busy picking up a leaf here, discarding a twig there as she talks about her food philosophy.

The celebrated founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, Allen's is the most recognized name in Irish cooking outside of Ireland. Among her many awards is Teacher of the Year from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), whose 35,000 worldwide membership includes virtually every culinary profession.

The Ballymaloe Cookery School is more than about the act of cooking - it embraces a farm-to-fork philosophy of growing food in sustainable ways and celebrating the bounty of the land. It means cooking in season with just-picked produce from the garden, fish caught hours before from surrounding waters and cream skimmed off milk from the farm's own cows.

The school sits in the middle of a hundred-acre organic farm with its organic market gardens, greenhouses and orchards. The classrooms have been carved out of farm buildings with rooms that are airy, cheerful, and bright with whimsical contemporary and traditional art. It exudes vitality, as students bustle to lectures, cook what they've learned in the student kitchens or eat their creations in the sprawling dining room.

The school offers a comprehensive professional 12-week certificate course. Shorter courses of a half day to a week cover specialty areas, including bee keeping, organic gardening or how to keep chickens at home. In addition, the school offers more than 200 afternoon demonstrations for the food-interested and custom courses for groups.

For St. Patrick's Day, Allen shared two recipes that can be adapted to fresh local ingredients in any area. Irish butter is available throughout the United States in supermarkets and specialty stores under the Kerrygold brand. The butter is made from Ireland's grass-fed cows with no growth hormones. The intense gold color of the butter is not from artificial coloring, but from the beta-carotene in the Irish grass.

“In Ireland we can grow grass like nowhere else in the world. Many of our best foods like our butter come from this lush green grass,” Allen said.

Irish butter has a rich and distinctive taste, very evident when slathered on Mummy's Brown Soda Bread, from the recipe collection of the Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Recipe

Mummy's Brown Soda Bread

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