When it comes to Christmas presents for food lovers, there are so many options, from artisan smoked Irish salmon to Michelin starred meals and cookery courses.
For really top-end smoked salmon and other smoked fish, there are several world-class producers in Ireland. Close to Gregans Castle , Birgitta Curtin runs the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna, offering hot and cold smoked organic and wild salmon, as well as trout and mackerel. Frank Hederman’s Belvelly Smokehouse in Cobh is the only traditional timber smokehouse in Ireland where the fish are hung for smoking. Sally Barnes’s award-winning Woodcock Smokery in West Cork specialises in slow-smoked, wild-caught fish. Connemara Smokehouse in Ballyconneely, County Galway, offers several salmon prepared in several different ways, including honey roasted and marinated gravadlax, as well as tuna and mackerel.
All four of these wonderful producers offer mail order service from their websites. Or you could treat yourself to a truly special short break and collect your festive fish in person as some of Ireland's Blue Book houses stay open year-round. If visiting Belvelly Smokehouse in Cobh, either an urban break in Cork city at Hayfield Manor or a countryside stay at the culinary Mecca of Ballymaloe House in East Cork would be a wonderful experience. Woodcock Smokery doesn’t have a shop but can accommodate customers who want to collect their fish on-site in Skibbereen.
Kilkenny has a strong and growing reputation for artisan crafts such as pottery, glassware, and jewellery. Handcrafted tableware from Nicholas Mosse or the beautiful creations at Jerpoint Glass Studio would make gorgeous Christmas presents, and why not combine a visit to these lovely shops with a Michelin-starred meal? Campagne Restaurant in Kilkenny City serves inventive and seasonal dishes with a French influence but a focus on top Irish produce and has held a coveted Michelin star since 2013. The Lady Helen Restaurant at Mount Juliet Country Estate, close to Jerpoint Glass Studio, followed a year later, being awarded a Michelin star in 2014, and offers classical gourmet dining using local produce and herbs from their own garden.
Quality spirits always make a nice gift, and Ireland produces some of the finest in the world. Although the country is best known for Irish Whiskey, down at Longueville House in Mallow, County Cork, William O’Callaghan makes Longueville House Apple Brandy, essentially an Irish take on traditional French calvados, distilled in small, traditional copper pot stills and matured in French oak barrels for at least four years. You can find it at selected stockists nationwide, but can also buy it directly from the source at Longueville House, a beautiful Georgian house dating to 1720, set in 500 wooded acres along the River Blackwater.
Finally, a specialist cookery course makes a wonderful gift for the gourmand in your life, and some of the houses in Ireland’s Blue Book offer the best hands-on cooking experiences you can find. Ghan House in Carlingford, County Louth, has run a cookery school for over 20 years and offers courses in seafood, baking, and entertaining family and friends. Internationally renowned Darina Allen runs the Ballymaloe Cookery School offering a wide variety of short courses, and cookery demonstrations most weekdays. And celebrity chef Kevin Dundon at Dunbrody House in County Wexford runs a cookery school that caters to all levels of cooks.
And of course there is always the gift of an Ireland's Blue Book gift voucher, and because you'll find so many wonderful restaurants and country houses in the Blue Book, there are so many great ways you can use the gift voucher.
Corinna Hardgrave
Food / Travel / Wine Writer
Member Irish Food Writers’ Guild
corinnahardgrave.com