Spice Bags

It is time now to turn to our sizzling, Covid-era heartthrob, the kitchen, and unpack all its secrets. Going through your kitchen tools is like reexamining your dating history. Some tools are frivolous, some remind us of our parents, some we snapped up on a whim and can’t live without, some are pretty but what the heck were we thinking?

We talk tools with food writer and stylist Ali Dunworth, Bob Toal, founder of Dublin’s cooking supply shop Triggerfish Cookshop, and Maria Llamas, who runs the legendary cooking school and supply shop Alambique in Madrid.

From sous-vide to salad-spinners, we examine the world of kitchen utensils. What utensils make our kitchens tick? Which tools fill us with shame?

Plus we find out why Blanca has a corner in her kitchen that looks like a medieval dungeon.

Mentioned in this episode:

Ali Dunworth thatalice.com

Triggerfish Cookshop https://triggerfishcookshop.ie/

Alambique https://www.alambique.com/

Burt Wolf, The New Cook’s Catalogue

Spice Bags is a part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. Join HeadStuff+ for bonus episodes and lots more.

(Photo credit: Kitchen vector created by pch.vector - www.freepik.com)

Who doesn’t? This country is resilient, colourful, and has a reputation for having some of the most beautiful women in the world. Recently we have observed  a number of Venezuelans starting food businesses all around the world, including in Ireland. 

We talk to some Venezuelans making food in this country. They include a TV food personality, a wine expert, two pastry chefs, a cheese maker and a few guys committed to bringing a taste of their culinary heritage. 

On the table: tequeños, cachapas, hallacas, and of course arepas, the corn cake that can be eaten at any time of day, stuffed with any kind of filling, and in some ways is a mirror to the Venezuelan personality, diverse, flexible, and delightfully addictive.

Correction: Mei said that Sweet Churro owner Nigely Massud’s grandfather was from Milan. In fact, he was from León, Spain.

Interviewed in this episode:

Jeeny Maltese https://www.instagram.com/jeenymaltese/?hl=en

Brizaida Hernandez https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/dubhcci-conrad-dublin/

Gabriel Quintero, Arepas Grill https://www.arepasgrill.ie/

Gaby Guedez @gabyguedezh

Also mentioned:

Dayana Maltese, Sabanero (Cheese)https://www.sabanerocheese.com/shop

Daniela Carnevall, Mon Amie Bakery https://www.instagram.com/monamie.ie/?hl=en

Nigely Massud, Sweet Churro https://www.sweetchurro.ie/

Worth noting: Venebazaar, a Dublin-based Venezuelan grocery https://www.venebazaar.ie/

Brought to you in the midst of lockdown, Spice Bags delves into bread. Let’s face it, many of us are making it, and most of us are eating far too much of it.

Why can't you make soda bread outside of Ireland? Why does Blanca call communal ovens in Spain the original Insta? Who are the modern bakers shaking things up in Ireland today? Plus, we talk about bread dick pics. 

Blanca and Dee also chat with Eoin Cluskey, founder and owner of Bread 41, one of the coolest, new bread bakers in town, and who has some pretty frank things to say about our beloved soda bread.

Referenced in  this episode:

Bread 41

Margaret HIckey, Ireland’s Green Larder

The Bakery, 8 Essex St W, Temple Bar, Dublin

Camerino Bakery https://www.camerino.ie/

No Messin' Bakery https://www.nomessinbakery.com/

Farmhouse Bakery https://farmhousecafe.ie/

Cupcake Bloke Bakery http://www.thecupcakebloke.com/

Ayla Bakery https://ayla.ie/

Haoliland Bakery  37 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, Dublin, D02 PY79

Pinoy Sari Sari 25-26 Mary Street Little, Smithfield, Dublin 7, D07 DP03

Gold Ribbon Bakeshoppe 31 Dorset Street Lower, Mountjoy, Dublin 1, D01 XT73

New Curry and Grill 6 Dolphin's Barn, Saint James' (part of Phoenix Park), Dublin 8, D08 XK63

El Door Bakery, MacCurtain Street, Montenotte, Cork, T23 VF65

Spice Bags is a part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. Join HeadStuff+ for bonus episodes and lots more

Happy Year of the Ox! We kick off this episode with a crash course on dumplings, but the true highlight is an interview with the Lord Mayor, Hazel Chu. Chu, who is known for her commitment to a diverse Ireland, shares with us her memories of growing up Chinese-Irish in Dublin, her culinary passions, and some of her hopes for what the New Year (and the future) has in store. Plus she confesses dumpling love even though it is not part of her Cantonese heritage.

P.S.  For those unfamiliar with the term “banana,” it gets explained, although you should never use it.

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.dublincity.ie/council/your-city-council/lord-mayor-dublin

Spice Bags is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network. For bonus episodes and lots more become a member of HeadStuff+

When we interviewed Ahmet Dede, head chef of Dede in Baltimore, none of us (including Dede) were aware that he was about to win another Michelin star. Instead we listened, rapt, to the many stories he had to tell. Among them: childhood memories of lavish breakfasts on the floor of the Ankara house that his grandfather built;  his rise in Ireland to earn his first Michelin star at the West Cork restaurant, the Mews; and the origins of some of his favourite dishes in his native country of Turkey. What are Turkish culinary regional differences? What constitutes a great kebab? Most importantly, is it possible to be both a dedicated chef and a passionate Turkish native, yet manage to keep those identities separate?

Note: we had so much fun talking to chef Dede that we reluctantly had to cut some of the interview for time. Specifically, Blanca, Dee, and Mei, in their wrap up, refer to Dede educating himself on the Michelin system by reading The Perfectionist, Rudolph Chelminski’s scrupulous biography of the tragic chef Bernard Loiseau. You can find Dede talking about beginning as a pizza chef to earning his first MIchelin on the bonus material on the Headstuff+ website.

Chef Dede also said that he is planning to have his mother into the restaurant for a Four Hands dinner as soon as it is possible. Once you hear Dede talk about his mother’s cooking , you will be as excited as we are.

Watch www.spicebags.ie

and www.customhousebaltimore.com/ for updates on this event.

Referenced in this episode:

Dede Restaurant, Customs House, Baltimore www.customhousebaltimore.com/dede

Ayla Turkish Foods, 30 Capel Street, Dublin: www.ayla.ie

On Dede's new Michelin Star in the Irish Independent: www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/food-news/ahmet-dede-bags-his-second-michelin-star-with-less-formal-dining-by-the-sea-40010934.html

The Spanish have a tradition of all-day nibbling that the rest of the world has fetishized, adored, and mimicked. Yet what is a tapas and how does it differ from a pintxo? How have these traditions migrated and transformed in Ireland? We chat to Gorka Arrieta, the Basque chef based in Kerry, who has wowed Ireland with his Irish-Spanish fusion, and also brought the Spanish tradition of tapas and pintxos competitions on these shores. We also talk to Vanessa Murphy and Anna Cabrera, the couple behind the renowned Las Tapas de Lola in Dublin. They created a sit-down tapas restaurant in this country, which, as they explain, is a paradox. From gazpacho and Gilda (anchovies, pickled chilies and olives) to Pintxos Morunos (lamb skewers) in Bilbao, we examine this topic, one that is particularly close to Blanca’s heart. 

 

Mentioned in this episode:

 

http://lastapasdelola.com/

https://www.solysombra.ie/

@gorka.arrieta 

suabasuquefusionbygorka

https://www.solastapas.com/

https://unomas.ie/

https://tastekerry.ie/the-all-ireland-tapas-pintxo-championships/

https://www.bascofinefoods.com/spanish-recipes/pinchos-morunos/

 

With the holidays hovering and some of us feeling a touch homesick, is there a better person to chat with than the legendary Darina Allen? Allen is the fairy godmother of modern Irish cooking and the queen of Irish Christmas; however, she’s been instrumental in bringing the rituals and cuisines of other countries to these shores. Join us as we talk turkey with Darina, and dish about Darina’s classic book, A Simply Delicious Christmas, a book that has graced many a household (not just Irish), and to tease her about a famous mistake. Also our listeners from Romania, Venezuela, and Ethiopia-Somalia share their own holiday traditions.

Mentioned in this episode:

https://ballymaloeshop.ie/product/darina-allen-simply-delicious-christmas-hardcover-1

http://letters.cookingisfun.ie/2014/12/06/a-simply-delicious-christmas/

https://www.irishcentral.com/news/menorah-christmas-irish

https://www.rte.ie/news/dublin/2020/1210/1183523-hanukkah/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tochitur%C4%83

https://www.independent.ie/life/food-drink/tastes-like-home-christmas-dishes-from-around-the-world-39844929.html

Hot on the heels of another Irish-American president elect, Joe Biden, Spice Bags delves into the complicated history of the Irish in America. Blanca has mingled with the Irish of Chicago and DC; Mei has lived in Boston, New Haven, and New York, and Dee has traveled widely in the US and contemplated immigrating herself. What’s up with corned beef? Why does Irish-American soda bread always come with sultanas?  We discuss how old Irish habits (and accents) have lingered in the US, where they have moved on in Ireland itself. We also talk about how the modern Irish identity is infiltrating that of Irish Americans today.

In this episode:

Maura Laverty

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/maura-laverty-ireland-s-first-celebrity-chef-still-dishes-up-food-for-thought-1.2774422

Colman Andrews, The Country Cooking of Ireland

Caroline Campion and Kathy Brennan, Keepers 

Kevin Dundon, www.kevindundon.com

David McWilliams https://open.spotify.com/show/6dzfsIlMVEdKVSfSd1mclr

The Dead Rabbit 

https://www.deadrabbitnyc.com/

Spice Bags is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network

In Soup, Spice Bags tackles another installment of “Staples” – where we three discuss a food from each of our cultural perspectives. In this episode, we talk soup, because baby, it’s cold outside. Soup, for us, is fundamental, and yet, as we discover, plays a different role in our lives. Why do the Spanish drink their gazpacho from a glass?  Why do the Chinese hate blended soups? What is the Jewish-American legacy of “chicken soup?” Why does Mei pack cans of Campbells in her luggage when she goes to the US, why does Blanca find it weird to make a meal of a soup, and how is Dee’s father the master of the Knorr packet?  From consommé to chowder and congee, we take some stock.

P.S. We mention the sexiest soup scene in cinema history.

 

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Links

 The movie “Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios” (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095675/

 

Gazpacho scene

https://bit.ly/38ZrUaL

 

A Celebration of Soup

Lindsey Bareham

http://www.lindseybareham.com/books/

 

Recipe for Spartan black soup

https://momsrecipes.web.app/3482-recipe-of-quick-black-soup/

 

Stone Soup (apparently, there’s an Irish version as well, that WB Yeats adapted)

https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1548.html

Nanphun Srakhunthod and Una Lancaster are daughters of two of the oldest Thai families in Ireland, who opened Baan Thai, Ireland’s first Thai owned restaurant, in 1998. Now on the eve of the Lantern festival, the two girls sit down with Dee to shed some light into a culture that we at Spice Bags love but know very little about. We hear about what it was like to grow up between Ireland and Thailand, and also something of the close-knit Thai-Irish community on our doorstep. We learn about a great-grandfather who tried to overthrow a monarchy. And of course, Una and Nanphun introduce us to the complicated maze of Thai food while sharing some favorite dishes of their own.

 

What is the legacy of Thai street food? How did Japanese-Portuguese-Bengali Maria Guyomar de Pina become the queen of Thai desserts? Are Irish palates favoring more authentic Thai dishes, and if so, how are restaurants meeting this demand? From dishes like moo ping (pork skewers with coconut cream), som tam (green papaya salad), and santaya (pandan custard), there is something in this interview to whet everybody’s whistle.

 

Blanca, Dee, and Mei were first introduced to Una and Nanphun at “Eat like a Thai,” part of a series of dinners at Baan Thai, highlighting some of the more authentic Thai flavors, and overseen by Nanphun, who was most recently a chef at Pichet. It was truly a sensational meal. Sadly, these events have been postponed but when it is rescheduled, we will be there, and think you should be too.

 

For the “Eat Like a Thai” menu & more information about Baan Thai nights

https://baanthainights.eventsmart.com/events/eat-like-a-thai/

 

About Baan Thai

https://www.baanthai.ie/

Spice Bags is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network