What We're Reading, Eating & Watching - May 13th
A delicious digest of satisfying suggestions
Hey friends!
In Turin at the moment and the week hasn’t quite gone our way. From wallets being lost/stolen and catching a bit of a bug to Ireland crashing out of Eurovision last night, this was not the fantasy we had of our return to Italy’s royal city. Hope your week has gone better!
For all subscribers, we’re compiling a ‘recommendations email’ every few weeks sharing the articles, shows, podcasts etc. - both from here within Substack and other places as well - that we think you’ll enjoy. Plus, we’ll include what we’ve been watching, cooking, eating and picking up which may be of interest to you, too. A delicious little digest, if you will, to uncover things that are new, exciting, timely and interesting.
What’s New?…
Well, we went and bloody wrote a book! The last couple of weeks have sort-of been consumed by Hot Fat, which is finally out in the world and we couldn’t be happier. We’ve been inundated with people posting their copies and their at-home recreations of the recipes, including Nigella Lawson (who seems to adore our lasagne bites!)
Funnily enough, she posted that the same day we made one of her recipes (and a favourite in our kitchen, too) the fish finger bhorta. Another regular in our kitchen is Romy Gill’s Easy Butter Chicken, which we make once at least every two to three weeks.
Reading…
We loved reading fellow Irish food writer Kate Ryan’s words on black pudding and its reverence within Irish cuisine for Vittles. No better woman, and her based in arguably the home of iconic black pudding in Ireland, Clonakilty!
Eating…
In preparation for the book launch we’ve been back on the frying buzz the last while, just making extra sure everything within its pages are as spot-on as can be (even though we knew that already…but the anxiety!). From turkey schnitzel with a zingily-dressed spicy leaf salad to béchamel croquetas, buttermilk fried chicken to black pudding Scotch eggs and donuts piped with coffee crème pâtissière.
Elsewhere, we took ourselves out Variety Jones to celebrate the launch, Keelan Higgs’ Michelin-starred hole in the wall in the Liberties where the food is sensational (around €80pp for the tasting) and the pairings by Vanda Ivančić are out of this world. Then we snuck off to one of our favourite spots for a drink in Dublin: The Sidecar at The Westbury, just off Grafton Street. A great spot to stay in, but even for non-guests this bar is a total destination. If not into cocktails and well-made martinis, steps away is one of Dublin’s best bars for a pint: Bruxelles.
Another restaurant we’ve returned to recently is Grano in Stoneybatter, which we’ll include in its own post on Chip Paper in the next few weeks.
Watching & Listening…
One of our lockdown pastimes was up-skilling our knowledge around wine and food. On the wine front, since we were ordering from independents who could deliver across Ireland, we were picking interesting bottles from producers we’d never known or grapes and regions we hadn’t tried before, but paired with that we booked onto one of Brigid O’Hora’s Virtual Vineyards six week appreciation course. On the cheese side, we studied and sat the exams to achieve Level One of the Academy of Cheese. Would highly recommend both…
But that led us to more enlightenment around writing and broadcasting on cheese and wine. We have been long-time fans of a podcast called Cutting The Curd which delves into the world of cheese, from artisan makers to sellers, emerging trends, unique styles and healthy discussions and debates around the world of cheese. It’s an American-based pod but naturally often throws an eye over to Europe, too.
For wine, there’s two books we’ve really enjoyed Noble Rot’s Wine from Another Galaxy and also Natural Wine for the People by Alice Feiring.
Super excited that Andi Oliver’s new weekly radio series One Dish has launched on BBC Sounds, the first 15-minute episode focuses on soda bread with former GBBO contestant, writer and presenter Briony May Williams.
If you haven’t yet tuned into either season of Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy we’d really recommend it –– we’ve missed a heap of episodes ourselves but to us it’s really showcasing the real food of Italy, and Tucci is such a cool, effortless character and a real tonic of a presenter where travel shows are concerned.
We’re delighted to hear that our good friends Laura and Johnny of Indie Fude in Northern Ireland have been awarded the Blas na hÉireann 2022 Producer’s Champion award –– which we don’t think there’s a pair on the island more deserving than them. The work they do, zoning on and showcasing the incredible produce from across the island of Ireland, is second to none and we couldn’t be happier. They got our vote when the nominations were open!
and Drinking…
Finally, if you are tuning into the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest this Saturday (and we bloody well hope you are, even if Ireland aren’t competing) then this guide to Eurovision drinks pairings from our great pals at Char is a must. Shamim de Brún is a wonderful writer, sommelier and all round food and wine pairing expert, so naturally her pairing prowess extends to whatever you want to sip along to –– whether it’s Finnish rock, Moldovan folk or Swedish schlager, she’s got the drink for you!
If you’re in Turin for this weekend (or know anyone who is) our handy Turin City Guide includes a map dotted with all our recommendations, which may be useful!
[‘Prelude to Te Deum’ plays as we sign off!]
