Saturday 2 May 2015
Monday 8 December 2014
White Chocolate Bavarois
Ingredients:
150ml milk
200ml whipped cream
18g caster sugar
125g white chocolate
4 egg yolks
1 cap of vanilla
1 vanilla pod
2.75 gelatine leaves
Method:
1. Heat the milk, vanilla essence, vanilla seeds and pop the pod in as well.
2. Mean while whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Place the gel leaves in cold water to soften.
4. Remove the pod from the milk and discard, whisk the egg mixture into the hot milk over a low heat making sure not to curdle it. Keep whisking until the egg is cooked out, this will only take a few minutes.
5. Add in the gel leaves and chocolate and stir until melted.
6. Gently stir in the whipped cream .
7. Let the mixture cool down and thicken a bit before pouring. The reason for this is to prevent all the vanilla seeds sinking to the bottom. When its ready, pour into a mould or glass and place in the fridge for a few hours to set. If your using a mould such as a ring you may need to heat the sides slightly when removing it.
8. Garnish with berries of your choice and a sprig of mint. My favourite are red currents. Happy eating.
Below are a few different ways of plating it.
Wednesday 26 March 2014
butter
The journey of Irish butter to Russia is long but offers huge potential
By Jack Kennedy on 20 March 2014
With over 20 million people living in Moscow the market potential for Irish dairy product is huge.
The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) office in Moscow was set up in 2013. Before this, some IDB product was sold in Russia but it was imported from Germany. Now IDB Russia is attempting to build a new entity importing Kerrygold butter and cheese direct from Ireland. Here’s how it works.
Vadim Zaitsev is the boss of IDB Russia. Vadim has three staff – a sales representative who liaises with the Russian distribution companies; a marketing executive recently hired from Diageo; and an office clerk whose duties include liaising with transport and certification officials. Russian sales and distribution companies deliver and sell Irish butter and cheese around Russia.
Like most places in the world, competition for shelf space is tough in the Russian supermarkets. Recent mergers and acquisitions have made it even more difficult. Pepsico (the giant Cola drinks company) bought WMB (Wimm-Bill-Dann), the second largest dairy processor in Russia. The move was aimed at blocking the growth of key competitors. The other big player in Russia is Danone. Danone recently bought the large Russian processor Unimilk and all its brands to give it a strong foothold in a growing market. Pepsico and Danone now control over 60% of Russian market volume. The scale and power of these two dairy giants shows the challenge facing smaller competitors.
How IDB Russia works
When I was in Russia, the Kerrygold butter was coming from Irish processor Arrabawn. So the chain of events goes something like that shown in the graphic. Arrabawn butter manufactured in Tipperary is marketed outside of Ireland by the Irish Dairy Board as Kerrygold butter. So the butter is manufactured in Nenagh and travels to the Irish Dairy Board chilled warehouses in Dublin, from where it is loaded onto a cargo plane bound for St Petersburg in Russia. From St Petersburg it travels by train in chilled containers down to Moscow where it arrives into a chilled warehouse rented by IDB Moscow.
One of the four IDB distributors in Russia picks up the butter from the warehouse and brings it to their chilled distribution centre and from there is collected by another fleet of chilled lorries and taken to supermarkets all over Russia. The journey can take five weeks by the time all quality audits, tax clearances and transport is completed. A similar journey is completed by Carbery cheese which is now also on sale in Russia.
The challenge for IDB is to maintain quality at all steps of the journey. Damaged goods are no good to anyone. If the temperature changes you can get changes in the product composition that could change the taste. Sales are dependent on high quality and consistency – this is the IDB point of difference – so it must be delivered on or the business will quickly become unsustainable.
Challenges
The challenges along the way can be many and varied. Flights and trains can be late. The Russian distribution lorries can break down regularly as some diesel is very poor quality.
Rented warehousing can sometimes lack the investment required to maintain product at the correct temperatures. Travel in and around Moscow is a nightmare with traffic jams forming at all times of the day due to a poor road infrastructure and very bad weather during the long winter.
NELT is one of four distribution companies that the IDB works with in Russia. NELT was set up in 1995 to sell dairy products but has since expanded its range to sell over 900 products, such as desserts, yoghurts and cheeses. At its headquarters near Moscow, it has large chilled storage houses where 140 refrigerated trucks get filled for distribution.
NELT representatives deal with retailers, small traditional shops and wholesalers in the different regions around Russia. NELT has more than 300 sales representatives with circa 1,000 people employed in total travelling around Russia to various supermarket chains trying to get product onto shelves. The average wage for the sales reps is about €700 per month.
Essentially, NELT representatives are the face of Kerrygold butter and cheese in Russia. Many of the NELT sales representatives will never have heard of Ireland or know anything about how milk is produced in Ireland. NELT chief executive Aleksey Zolotov said: “Ireland is number 55 in the destination list for Russian tourists so knowledge about Ireland is very small. The same way Russian people relate olives with Spain if they know anything about Ireland it’s probably Guinness, Whiskey and Saint Patrick – it’s not butter.”
NELT makes a margin on what product it sells from supermarket shelves so Aleksey explained they want products with a good shelf life and margin. He said: “We want to deal with products that are aiming to grow market share. We are a professional team so we want to deal with quality products only so that after sales service and complaints are minimised.”
If NELT can buy a quality Kerrygold product relatively cheap, because it is new on the market and relatively unknown in Russia, and then it sells for a premium over local butters in supermarkets, this is good business.
There are over 20 million people living in or around Moscow so as a market it is huge in itself.
We discussed the importance of any political decisions for NELT’s business. Aleskey said: “Yes there are a couple of issues that are very important. Our government can regularly ban the importation of goods from different countries so we have to maintain a good relationship with the Russian government. We don’t want to have a lot of product on shelves and then find out that products from that country are banned. Currency devaluations are also very important to track. A 10% swing in currency between the Russian ruble and euro over two months can have devastating impact on margins.’’
Russian habits
I interviewed two Russian ladies to get their view on Irish butter and cheese. Olga works in an advertising agency in Moscow while Anna works at an electronic components factory. I talked to them about how they use butter and cheese, their tastes and preferences.
Q: What do you use butter on? Olga said: “Many Russians eat a type of crispy black bread which goes well with butter. Sandwiches are made every day for lunch and for school kids. I use it for cooking and baking as well.” Anna had relations in France and Canada so butter on French toast and baguettes was one of her favourite meals.
Q: The price of Kerrygold butter is over twice local Russian butter – will this not impact on your decision? “I know the cost of milk that makes the butter and I want high quality butter. We had very poor quality margarines and butter in Russia in Soviet times where the butter sometimes was dried out and flaky. It’s a premium but not too high a premium.”
Q: If you were advertising Kerrygold would you use the picture of green grass and cows or what would attract a Russian person to buy Kerrygold? Olga said: “No I wouldn’t use the green grass image. I’d use an image of the butter on something nice – like butter on a baguette. It’s the taste that sets Kerrygold apart from the rest and if you can show an appetising image then someone can associate the product with something nice. The gold foil wrapping also makes the product look good on the shelf.”
The Irish Dairy Board (IDB) office in Moscow was set up in 2013. Before this, some IDB product was sold in Russia but it was imported from Germany. Now IDB Russia is attempting to build a new entity importing Kerrygold butter and cheese direct from Ireland. Here’s how it works.
Vadim Zaitsev is the boss of IDB Russia. Vadim has three staff – a sales representative who liaises with the Russian distribution companies; a marketing executive recently hired from Diageo; and an office clerk whose duties include liaising with transport and certification officials. Russian sales and distribution companies deliver and sell Irish butter and cheese around Russia.
Like most places in the world, competition for shelf space is tough in the Russian supermarkets. Recent mergers and acquisitions have made it even more difficult. Pepsico (the giant Cola drinks company) bought WMB (Wimm-Bill-Dann), the second largest dairy processor in Russia. The move was aimed at blocking the growth of key competitors. The other big player in Russia is Danone. Danone recently bought the large Russian processor Unimilk and all its brands to give it a strong foothold in a growing market. Pepsico and Danone now control over 60% of Russian market volume. The scale and power of these two dairy giants shows the challenge facing smaller competitors.
How IDB Russia works
When I was in Russia, the Kerrygold butter was coming from Irish processor Arrabawn. So the chain of events goes something like that shown in the graphic. Arrabawn butter manufactured in Tipperary is marketed outside of Ireland by the Irish Dairy Board as Kerrygold butter. So the butter is manufactured in Nenagh and travels to the Irish Dairy Board chilled warehouses in Dublin, from where it is loaded onto a cargo plane bound for St Petersburg in Russia. From St Petersburg it travels by train in chilled containers down to Moscow where it arrives into a chilled warehouse rented by IDB Moscow.
One of the four IDB distributors in Russia picks up the butter from the warehouse and brings it to their chilled distribution centre and from there is collected by another fleet of chilled lorries and taken to supermarkets all over Russia. The journey can take five weeks by the time all quality audits, tax clearances and transport is completed. A similar journey is completed by Carbery cheese which is now also on sale in Russia.
The challenge for IDB is to maintain quality at all steps of the journey. Damaged goods are no good to anyone. If the temperature changes you can get changes in the product composition that could change the taste. Sales are dependent on high quality and consistency – this is the IDB point of difference – so it must be delivered on or the business will quickly become unsustainable.
Challenges
The challenges along the way can be many and varied. Flights and trains can be late. The Russian distribution lorries can break down regularly as some diesel is very poor quality.
Rented warehousing can sometimes lack the investment required to maintain product at the correct temperatures. Travel in and around Moscow is a nightmare with traffic jams forming at all times of the day due to a poor road infrastructure and very bad weather during the long winter.
NELT is one of four distribution companies that the IDB works with in Russia. NELT was set up in 1995 to sell dairy products but has since expanded its range to sell over 900 products, such as desserts, yoghurts and cheeses. At its headquarters near Moscow, it has large chilled storage houses where 140 refrigerated trucks get filled for distribution.
NELT representatives deal with retailers, small traditional shops and wholesalers in the different regions around Russia. NELT has more than 300 sales representatives with circa 1,000 people employed in total travelling around Russia to various supermarket chains trying to get product onto shelves. The average wage for the sales reps is about €700 per month.
Essentially, NELT representatives are the face of Kerrygold butter and cheese in Russia. Many of the NELT sales representatives will never have heard of Ireland or know anything about how milk is produced in Ireland. NELT chief executive Aleksey Zolotov said: “Ireland is number 55 in the destination list for Russian tourists so knowledge about Ireland is very small. The same way Russian people relate olives with Spain if they know anything about Ireland it’s probably Guinness, Whiskey and Saint Patrick – it’s not butter.”
NELT makes a margin on what product it sells from supermarket shelves so Aleksey explained they want products with a good shelf life and margin. He said: “We want to deal with products that are aiming to grow market share. We are a professional team so we want to deal with quality products only so that after sales service and complaints are minimised.”
If NELT can buy a quality Kerrygold product relatively cheap, because it is new on the market and relatively unknown in Russia, and then it sells for a premium over local butters in supermarkets, this is good business.
There are over 20 million people living in or around Moscow so as a market it is huge in itself.
We discussed the importance of any political decisions for NELT’s business. Aleskey said: “Yes there are a couple of issues that are very important. Our government can regularly ban the importation of goods from different countries so we have to maintain a good relationship with the Russian government. We don’t want to have a lot of product on shelves and then find out that products from that country are banned. Currency devaluations are also very important to track. A 10% swing in currency between the Russian ruble and euro over two months can have devastating impact on margins.’’
Russian habits
I interviewed two Russian ladies to get their view on Irish butter and cheese. Olga works in an advertising agency in Moscow while Anna works at an electronic components factory. I talked to them about how they use butter and cheese, their tastes and preferences.
Q: What do you use butter on? Olga said: “Many Russians eat a type of crispy black bread which goes well with butter. Sandwiches are made every day for lunch and for school kids. I use it for cooking and baking as well.” Anna had relations in France and Canada so butter on French toast and baguettes was one of her favourite meals.
Q: The price of Kerrygold butter is over twice local Russian butter – will this not impact on your decision? “I know the cost of milk that makes the butter and I want high quality butter. We had very poor quality margarines and butter in Russia in Soviet times where the butter sometimes was dried out and flaky. It’s a premium but not too high a premium.”
Q: If you were advertising Kerrygold would you use the picture of green grass and cows or what would attract a Russian person to buy Kerrygold? Olga said: “No I wouldn’t use the green grass image. I’d use an image of the butter on something nice – like butter on a baguette. It’s the taste that sets Kerrygold apart from the rest and if you can show an appetising image then someone can associate the product with something nice. The gold foil wrapping also makes the product look good on the shelf.”
Sunday 23 March 2014
Tuesday 18 March 2014
New York Style Baked Lime Cheese Cake
I did this for an exam in collage the other day, I'd made it before and had the father in law "Dick Power" try it out for me. He's like the man from Delmonte when it comes to desserts and he ate the most of it, so I know its good.
Ingredients:
350g digestive biscuits
120g unsalted butter
900g cream cheese ( Philadelphia )
150g caster sugar
5 large eggs
juice of 3 or 4 limes ( 125ml )
zest of 1 lime
For the meringue topping
3 large egg whites
110g caster sugar
HAPPY EATING !!!!!
Ingredients:
350g digestive biscuits
120g unsalted butter
900g cream cheese ( Philadelphia )
150g caster sugar
5 large eggs
juice of 3 or 4 limes ( 125ml )
zest of 1 lime
For the meringue topping
3 large egg whites
110g caster sugar
Method:
- Preheat oven 160 degrees C.
- Grease 24 cm tin.
- Crush biscuits, add melted butter, refrigerate.
- Whisk cheese and sugar together.
- Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each one.
- Add lime juice, don't worry if it looks thin.
- Pour mixture over biscuit base.
- Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool slightly.
- To Make Meringue Topping.
- Put the oven up to 220 degrees C.
- Whisk egg whites for 2 mins or until fluffy.
- Continue to whisk adding the sugar bit by bit until stiff peaks start to form.
- Pipe it on, see pictures below.
- Put back into the oven for 5 mins or until golden brown.
- Refrigerate.
- Before you serve sprinkle with lime zest.
HAPPY EATING !!!!!
Thursday 13 March 2014
Tuesday 11 March 2014
Gelato Ice cream
The weather has really picked up in the last few days, its bright again when I'm driving to and from work, spring is in the air and summer is only around the corner. This got me thinking about ice cream. This is the simplest recipe for ice cream that I've ever come across and I've tried them all, my wife even bought me an ice cream maker a few years back for my birthday. The good news is you don't even need an ice cream maker for this recipe and it tastes fantastic, a bit like magnum ice cream. I got this recipe off one of my culinary lectures in W.I.T " Michael Quinn ". Its a basic plain vanilla ice cream mix but you can play around with it and add what ever flavouring to it that you want, but even this recipe on its own tastes great and is a fine complement to any dessert. It only takes five minutes to make and a few hours in the freezer, so here goes.
Ingredients:
400g or 1 can condensed milk
500ml cream
4 tea spoons vanilla extract
Method:
Ingredients:
400g or 1 can condensed milk
500ml cream
4 tea spoons vanilla extract
Method:
- Whisk all the ingredients together until you get a nice smooth cream, the same as you would whip normal cream.
- Cover with cling film and leave in the freezer for a few hours until set. Don't worry about crystals forming or anything, no need to stir it, just leave it alone.
- Serve with a heavy hand.
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