Blogs

THE STEREOTYPE As chefs we’ve heard it all... “Oh! You want to be a chef? Don’t go down that road”, “Ah, would you ever give up that job and look for one with normal hours”, “Why would anyone want to work that many hours?” Long working days and lack of personal time, are two stereotypes often associated with the hospitality industry, giving us a bad reputation. Often the industry gets dragged through the mud over it. We’re not the only ones working long hours and yet it’s our industry that is known for overwork! Doctors, nurses, guards, paramedics, even hairdressers have all had to work hours outside the ‘norm’. Perhaps in the past this was more ...

As we see a shift towards more restaurants adopting a takeaway model, we decided to look at the different types of packaging so that you can stay on track and meet your sustainability goals. There are many things to consider when purchasing food packaging, in this quick guide we’ve broken down the most popular options and shared some information which will help you make a more informed decision on what’s best for your business. In the past year or so, we had seen significant progress in efforts to reduce single use disposables in the catering sector and a growing awareness of the impact of the volume of packaging waste produced in our industry, with ...

KITCHEN CULTURE Meet the chefs & teams of Ireland’s professional kitchens, with Chef Network The Chef Network community brings together chefs at all levels from all sectors across Ireland. In a  Hotel & Restaurant Times  regular column we meet some members and hear from them what inspires and motivates them, their career challenges and opportunities, and how they believe we can improve the industry. In this edition, we meet  Wade Murphy, Chef Owner of 1826 Adare in Co. Limerick Why did you become a chef? It’s all I ever wanted to be, even from a very young age. My Granny Cullen was a cook in Gorey, where I grew up, ...

JANUARY 2020 In my case this is the month to take a breather, to get your head around what happened over the Christmas period. A time to organise your Christmas menus for next Christmas. A chance for the team to have a small break after a busy period and to get ready for the year ahead.   Like many properties, the Lough Erne Resort was gearing up for a fever pitch 2020. The busiest year was set to come, and everything was full steam ahead with new menus to order, staff in place and plans progressing. Away from our culinary world, however, COVID-19 was in full effect in China.   MARCH 2020 I always see March in the hotel ...

At our second annual future-proofing foodservice seminar in September 2019, we heard from a range of speakers on the topic of sustainability in our kitchens. During the seminar, our speakers, Philippe Farineau & Paula Stakelum from Ashford Castle (with help & support from Ailish Keane (Ashford Castle Estate Purchasing Manager) and Sorcha Kavanagh from the Conscious Cup Campaign, focussed on what we can do across our kitchens and businesses to reduce plastics and single-use disposables. Here are their top pieces of advice and insights into this topic.   BACK TO THE OLD It’s only in recent years that we’ve begun to depend more heavily on ...

Last week Sarah talked about the start of her chef journey. If you haven’t seen that yet, you can click here to read part 1 A BIT ABOUT ME Hi! I’m Sarah Mitchell, a 23-year-old, first-year culinary arts student at TU Dublin, Tallaght Campus. I started my culinary arts journey a few years back in Galway, but for personal reasons that didn’t quite go to plan. Now I’m starting over. In Autumn of 2019 I joined TU Dublin, Tallaght as a first-year culinary arts student, ready to start fresh and begin my journey again. As I mentioned in my earlier blog for Chef Network, I’m in a completely different place now compared to when I first started ...

INTRODUCING MYSELF Hi! My name is Sarah Mitchell and I’m a 23-year-old, first-year culinary arts student at TU Dublin, Tallaght Campus. Cooking has always played a big role in my life. My mother was a chef in Intel before I came along and my grandmother, I would say is locally famous for her apple tarts, and rightly so because they are amazing! When I began to think about becoming a chef, I knew I would have big shoes to fill. I loved baking and cooking at home. Although in the beginning, I burned everything! MY FIRST JOB At the age of 16, I worked in a little café in my local town. It was only for two weeks, as part of my Transition ...

KITCHEN CULTURE Meet the chefs & teams of Ireland’s professional kitchens, with Chef Network The Chef Network community brings together chefs at all levels from all sectors across Ireland. In a Hotel & Restaurant Times regular column we meet some members and hear from them what inspires and motivates them, their career challenges and opportunities, and how they believe we can improve the industry. In this edition, we meet Mark Anderson, Culinary Director for Gather & Gather Ireland and a member of the Chef Network Advisory Council . Mark was one of the first members of Chef Network and has been actively involved in its creation ...

Vegan food from a non-vegan chefs' point of view I started my journey as a vegan chef 3 years ago. When I was offered to take over the kitchen in The Hopsack - an institution in the Irish health food scene since 1979 - my knowledge of vegan cuisine came from the Lent menus in Greece. The Greek Orthodox Church applies a different concept to Lent to their Catholic counterparts. Instead of banning chocolate and wine, they stick to advising the believers not to consume meat or dairy product for 40 days before Easter. Then, for Easter, everybody feasts on whole lamb cooked over embers on a spit. For restaurants, this period means that a lot of recipes ...

Tempering chocolate in a restaurant kitchen is often difficult because conditions are often not optimal for working with chocolate. So, what are the conditions for creating the perfect result? And what are the smart tips and tricks to successfully temper chocolate? We teamed up with Gastronomixs.com and they share all you need to know about chocolate and how to work with it with the help of master patissier Hidde de Brabander! The components of chocolate  The basic ingredients in chocolate are cocoa beans, cocoa butter, and sugar. Dark chocolate contains a high percentage of cocoa-based components. In addition to sugar and cocoa-based ingredients, ...