Tipperary might well be renowned the world over for its majestic castles and monuments, but here at Beár Bia HQ - the most important thing you need to know about it, is that it's Dee's home county! So it was obviously just a question of time before we made the "trip to Tipp" and tasted some of its best culinary offerings.
The Tipperary Food Producers network is a community of artisan producers working together to create quality, nourishing food and sustainability. We reached out to them to see what kinds of local food & drink pairings we could showcase and we were spoiled for choice. Their diverse community includes cheesemakers, beekeepers, fruit farmers, cider makers, butchers, bakers, and creators of various delightful products such as sauces, jams, ice cream, sorbet, vegetable oil, sweets, chocolates, crisps, corn tortillas and peanut butter.
Representing the Tipperary Food Producers Network on the day was Nuala Hickey, also of Hickey's Bakery in Clonmel whose amazing barm brack we sampled to start the day off nicely. We then hung out with James O'Donoghue, owner of Longways Cider who are based just outside of Carrick on Suir. He brought a few bottles of his Tipperary Cider with him as well some Con's Apple Cider from The Apple Farm.
James paired Con's Apple Cider with some excellent bacon ribs from Crowe's Farm & Butchers who are based in Dundrum, Tipperary and have been in operation since 1981. They were braised in the cider itself before being slow cooked with spices. The cool dryness of the cider cut through the rich meat and made for a beautiful autumnal all Tipperary food & drink combo.
For the second pairing, James cracked open a few of his own Longways Tipperary Cider. He then turned his attention to the golden fork winning Cashel Blue cheese and cut off small pieces to place on the Tipperary made Blanco Niño smoky chipotle corn tortilla chips. This totally surprised us and turned out to be a decadent, yet perfectly flavour filled tableside or bar room snack. Rich, unctuous blue cheese spread on a spicy, crunchy tortilla chip plays wonderfully against the crisp multi layered cider.
